Vizio readies release of bargain-price sound bar with wireless subwoofer
An early rendering of what the new faux-surround system will look like.
(Credit: Vizio)Back in January at CES we'd heard that Vizio, which is known for its bargain-price TVs, was looking to make a play in the home audio arena--and soon it will. Slated for a September release, the company is putting out a faux-surround system that includes a slim sound bar and wireless subwoofer for $299.
While its features don't quite match those of the Samsung HT-X810T that we recently reviewed, Vizio is pointing to that product as an indication of how good a deal its sound bar will be. The Samsung, which has a built-in DVD player and stereo Bluetooth along with a wireless sub, carries a list price of $699, though Buy.com has it for $582.94 with shipping. In other words, the Vizio is almost half its price.
The big question, of course, is whether Vizio's sound bar is any good (we haven't heard it yet). If it is, you can expect to see increased pricing pressure in the hot single-speaker (or 1.1 if you count the sub) surround category. For better or worse, a lot people these days simply don't want to go to the trouble of setting up a multi-speaker system that delivers true surround sound.
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter.
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by AVHomeInstalls
September 15, 2008 5:32 PM PDT
- If they use the same Vizio TV speakers it will suck. It can't do Dolby Digital decode and will *attempt* to create surround sound from 4 speakers and a bit of phase shifting. Poor consumers will think they have a real sound system, but won't know better.
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