Soundbar type solution w/o bouncing sound? - Page 5

Congratulations on your 550! Will be looking forward to your feedback on it.

I have the 415 hooked up now and I assume the 550 remote is similar as the 415 uses the "blinking light" approach as well. In my opinion, it is not the best method. I would far prefer an LED readout or some method which showed you your current setting. As it is, you must indeed count the flashes from the min or max setting to know where you are. I can live with it, but it could be better. I also find the 415 remote fairly directional, but that's not too unusual for this kind of gear.

Good luck with your 550!

OK, I finally got time to tear down my gear, clean up all the d*** dust that accumulates on things, and hook up the 415 and 325 so I could do some A/B listening tests. Whew! So hear are my findings so far...

First off, most, if not all, of what I've said about the 325 heretofore applies to the 415 as well. Their sound is very similar. So go back and read posts #21 and #44 and all the stuff about accurate audio and so on applies equally to the 415. So I am not going to repeat all of that here. I did A/B tests using music CD's and TV broadcasts of Spider Man 2, Austin City Limits, and Soundstage, as well as the Terminator 2 Extreme DVD, and other content. I tried to match the sub-woofer and PhaseCue settings and volume levels as much as possible for part of the tests, and then tried to find range differences during other parts of the tests. I'm not going to go into as much detail as some of the earlier reviews since it would be repetitious and probably not that helpful.

Since music is important to me and since I find it a good way to test overall audio fidelity and sound, I started there. I'll focus on one particular CD out of the several I used, since it is very representative of the results. That CD was Lyle Lovett's "Pontiac" - a very well recorded and produced CD with a big sound and a wide variety of instrumentation. From cellos and violins, to saxophones, pianos, brass, drums, pedal steel, electric and acoustic guitars as well as Lyle's signature vocals. It also features big transients, sudden bursts of sound and other nice effects from very soft to very loud passages, from a lone guitar and voice to lots of brass. A good test for any system.

And this CD sounded fantastic on both systems. Everything was clean, clear, and distinct with that "live" feeling sound I've mentioned in earlier reviews. The 415 and 325 both liked this material and I had a great time as I listened for these tests. In the A/B comparisons, I could almost get these two to sound identical, but not quite. They were so close in many ways that I think I can safely say that you could go for either one and be perfectly happy. I think they are very close (sound-wise) and would meet the same basic needs. There were some differences, though. I found the 415 to have a bigger sound, a bigger soundstage, and a broader low end. In my notes, I said 'smoother' but that's not exactly right. It's a fuller sound across the frequency range, more of a balanced response, I think. Not quite sure how to put it. The 325 sounded a little punchier in the treble range and in a few sections of the low bass range, and certainly sounded great. But I liked the 415's sound just a little bit better (to my ears, anyway) overall.

However, I was really impressed with how the 325 held its own against the 415 which is significantly more expensive ($400 vs $300). In pure audio terms they were very close, but the 415's broader low end and noticeably bigger soundstage gave it the edge. Still, I could be happy with either one. Positioned appropriately and well tweaked, if you walked from one room listening to the 415 and went to another and listened to the 325, I don't think you would notice much of a difference. The 325 has a little boxier sound, the 415 more transparent.

As far as volume, the 415 might be a bit louder, but not really a significant difference, in my opinion. The 415 has more power, but the perceived "loudness" is not much more than the 325 (to me anyway). Interesting. Both are loud enough for a large room.

On the DVD and broadcast TV tests, again, I really did not find any huge differences. Both sounded good. Again, the 415 had a bigger, fuller sound overall, but both were very good and very similar in their overall sound. Again I was surprised at how well the 325 stood toe-to-toe with the 415. Again, I preferred the 415 but it was close. Most people's decision will probably come down to the cabinet shapes, sizes and style.

The 415 is very different from the 325 is many ways. For one, it's more the soundbar style with a wide compact cabinet vs. the 325's narrower, deeper cabinet. The 415 and 325 both have 3 3.25" drivers, but the 415 has a 4" sub plus a passive 4" radiator vs. a 5.25" sub in the 325. This, and the bigger cabinet size, may be why the 325 had a punchier bass on some sounds, though the 415 had an overall better low-end, I thought.

The 415 has no front input (the 325 has one front input) both have 2 rear "mixing" inputs. One of these can act as a full-range output to a sub on the 325, the 415 has a separate sub-out. The 415 has all of its controls on the remote. These include mute, power, auto on/off, volume, phasecue, subwoofer (level), and treble. The 325 remote has only volume and mute. The 415 has no controls on the unit, the 325 had volume, phasecue, and subwoofer (level) on the unit. The 415 use std. RCA style analog inputs/outputs, the 325 uses std 3.5mm jacks.

The 415 has no display other than a red and blue LED light (which are behind the black,metal grill). The red (orange? amber?) LED indicates the unit is in standby mode. The blue LED indicates it is active. When you press a remote function, the blue LED flashes. When you reach the max or min setting, the LED stops flashing. You can count the flashes to know what setting you are on. Crude but it works. As I mentioned elsewhere, a display would be nice, but again the ZVOX approach is simple is better. I guess they intend for you to 'tune by ear' most of the time. And that does make some sense for an audio system.

Both have a black metal grill on front and both look nice, IMHO, the 415 is the more 'soundbar' styled unit and has threaded holes on bottom and back for mounting. There are also 4 rubber feet on the bottom. Both feel solid and well constructed, I never noticed any rattling at any time from either unit.

I do find the front input on the 325 to be handy. You can plug in an MP3 player, CD player, or other gear, for example. But that won't matter to a lot of you.

The quick summary would be that both of these units sound good and their sound is quite similar. Your choice will probably come down to cabinet style and controls preferences. The 415's remote makes it easier to tweak the unit from your listening position. But once you are in normal listening mode, that won't matter as much. The 325 will fit a shelf nicely. The 415 can be hung on a wall. Yada yada yada,

5.1 surround or no?

As ZVOX freely admits, the ZVOX units do *NOT* produce 5.1 surround sound or anything like it, really. They *DO* produce a soundstage with width and depth and an overall very good sound. But they do not, for example, "place" sounds in the soundstage according to their 5.1 encoded positioning. The soundstage is really just a stereo field enhanced via the phasecue circuitry to give spatial cues to your ears. You will hear things positioned off to the sides and closer and farther (apparently) and so on. Sometimes you will feel like you are in a dome of sound. But you are not going to hear true surround sound.

But you will hear "big" sound. And it will help give you that "at the movies" kind of experience when listening. And it will be a world apart from what you are hearing from your TV speakers.

Add to that the simple set up and convenience of one box and you have the ZVOX idea in a nutshell. It won't be the solution for everyone, it will be for many.

Thanks! Will do. I can find the thread easily enough, so no worries on the links. And I will do the break-in! I'm really looking forward to hooking this baby up!

Hard to believe that plasma is losing out to LCD's, isn't it? Every time I've done eyeball tests, the plasma sets always win. Every single time over several years. And the viewing angles! And the black levels, and all the other things I know you know. Go figure?

The LCD manufacturers' really exploited all that 'burn in' paranoia to the max, I guess. Oh well. We got ours.

Watching a John Fogerty concert (Soundstage series) does that dude love playing music or what!

I've always liked him, though never a huge fan, but boy does the man love what he's doing. I love seeing performers like that. And a good song writer to boot.

The Soundstage series is superb - if you love music (and who doesn't?) - don't miss it!

Thanks, Dblank! Always happy to have feedback on other choices!

Got a 425 in today! Hope to be able to do some testing and a review this weekend. It's got basically twice the power of the 415, so it should be interesting (and fun!).

Watching some more DVD's with the 415 tonight and rest of this week. So far, I continue to be very pleased with the 415. It's my pick so far with the 325 a close second.

Still using the Mini as a personal music sound system with my internet radio and MP3 player and loving it for that use. Also use it with my portable DVD player - great for that as well. Got the ZVOX shoulder bag for the Mini as well and it's very nice. Well made and you can carry everything easily.

I'm hoping Nautiduck will return and give us more on his take on the 325 and also awellusedwallet on the 550. Good to get a variety of views, if possibile.

Hey! Thanks for the update!

You know, I'm a bit of a caveman myself and remember the days you refer to well. The good old days. But, I will say, I used a nice universal learning remote for years (like the MX-500) and then finally tried a Harmony when I got a cheap one for about $50 (the 550). Now my big deal is that I like programming the key layouts myself on my remotes. I'm very picky and it has to be right, 'cause I have a lot of devices to control. I stuck with my MX-500 for several years. But after I got my Harmony 550 and spent a few weeks fooling around with it, I was like, why did I wait so long?

It truly is a very nice remote and the codes database is very complete. Since you do the programming on your computer via the web and their site (this is actually what put me off for a long time - I did not like the dependency) it is much easier to program than most other remotes. And their "Activities" model works pretty well after you figure out how to use it correctly with the customized buttons and other features.

I can tell you, I would not want to go back. (Now I do spend a fair amount of time tweaking it - almost every couple of weeks I'm adding or changing something, but that's mainly because I now can have it just about perfect!)

So I highly recommend the Harmony system. Just be prepared to spend some time learning how to set it up effectively.

By the way, do either of the remotes you are using having "learning" capability? If so, there are only a few codes to learn, so that would be an easy route to take.

Thanks and let us know how the 550 holds up under your continued listening and use!

Well, I hope I'll have time this weekend. We'll see. I have not unpacked it yet, but the 425 looks massive compared to the 415. The 415 is a very nice size.

Yea, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to work something out, but for the tests this weekend, I'll just make do.

Congrats on the Pioneer Plasma! They're among if not the best by all accounts. Can't believe Pioneer is getting out of the biz. You've got a collector's item now.

Hopefully, ZVOX will keep their sale going. The 425 is pretty expensive even so. Really can't wait to try it, myself. If things weren't so crazy at work, I would have taken a day off just to do so. But can't do that now.

No, not the same. The 315 is the product that started it all for ZVOX. It is very similar to the 325, but the 325 is the "new and improved" model. Here's some info on the improvements the 325 has (from the ZVOX web site):

* More sophisticated amplifier. The amplifier of the 325 has been meticulously fine-tuned, with precise electronic contouring of the system's frequency response to create a very natural, realistic tonal balance.
* More power. The amount of power available to the key center speaker in our PhaseCue array has been doubled, compared to that of the 315.
* Improved subwoofer. The 325 uses a high-mass, long-throw 4x6 subwoofer in a bandpass cabinet that was precisely designed using proprietary software. The subwoofer cabinet is slightly larger than that of the 315.
* Stylish front panel. The 325 uses the new curved metal grille and front panel controls introduced with the ZVOX Mini. The front panel also features a separate input for use with an iPod, PC or other portable device. When used, the front panel input automatically mutes anything connected to the rear panel inputs.
* Remote control. The 325 has a credit-card-sized remote control for volume and mute functions.

So, the 315 is the "little brother" to the 325. I need to hook mine up so I can give you a comparison, just have not had time, but I will. I will say this. I got a 315 off of eBay for $129 from the ZVOX outlet and at that price, it's hard to resist. The main issues will be the power and lack of remote. If your TV has variable audio out, then you can use the TV remote to control volume. If your room isn't huge, the power may not be an issue for you. It might make a good choice for a bedroom, for example.

I'm hoping it handles music as well as the other ZVOX units, as that will likely be one of my main uses for it. Together with PC/laptop videos and DVD's. Another good use for it might be PC gaming. We'll see.

Can't say for sure about sound quality until I test it out, but I'm sure it will be in line with the rest. Reviews on the net have been favorable.

Thanks, Saturation! Yea, we have a good thread going.

Thanks for the link to the 315 review!