Vizio 510, Vizio 210, JVC BA1 another Davyo shoot-out w/ pictures - Page 9

Regarding the serial numbers, I posted at one point that the 510 was "Under Review" on amazon. Essentially they stopped selling the product while they investigated reports of problems (we can only assume it was the LED). This was back at teh end of Nov. It is now no longer under review so you can only hope that is because the issue has been fixed on the most recent supply. But you never know.

I just bought one so I will certainly advise if I have the same issues.

I'm in a bit of a hurry, but am posting now just because I found the Boston Acoustics TVee soundbar is on sale at Ultimate Electronics for $299 (regular price) but with free $100 gift card (for use only at their store). Sale ends today if I remember correctly.

I did purchase the JVC BA1 soundbar for my aunt, had it shipped to my house, and compared it to my Boston Acoustics soundbar. Had my wife listen back and forth too (without telling her which soundbar she was listening to - she cares less, but has a music background and a really good ear).

We both preferred the Boston Acoustics TVee unit, the JVC unit was "clear" but we felt the BA unit had better/more midrange, thus making it a more natural sounding soundbar. To us.

However, there are many shortcomings with the Boston Acoustics unit: Only one input, no optical input, RCA only input, no surround capability.

My conclusion is:

If you are older or a simpleton, but like great sound, and
- you have a television with RCA outputs (some new televisions now do not, so check your set before buying!),
- you don't want any surround effects, and
- you are not worried that your surround processing is being taken away since you've run the audio for all your playback devices to your television set and therefore are getting only a two channel audio signal for your soundbar from your television's RCA out jacks (you are not losing much by doing this with the BA unit, as it doesn't have the ability to process anything anyway)

THEN, I would highly recommend the Boston Acoustics unit.

Let me say, with almost all high-end equipment, there is a 50 to 100 hour break-in period - and I'd not be surprised if this was also the case to some extent with the (by comparison, cheap) soundbars. I have owned the BA unit for over a year, and I listened to the JVC unit right out of the box. I'd expect the JVC unit to sound better over time - with many high-end speakers the improvement is 50%, with soundbars it might be 1% and it might be 15% - I'd be surprised if it was more than this but I'd be surprised if there wasn't some improvement over a few weeks time.

I have not compared the JVC BA1 using the optical out from the television to the BA TVee using RCA interconnects. I thought the JVC unit would come with an optical cable - I will borrow one and do that comparison soon. I will say, I did use a pair of Transparent Audio RCA interconnects from my old high-end system (maybe $180 new) with both soundbars.

Lastly, a higher price does not always translate into better sound, but it would make some sense that the BA unit "should" sound better, as:
- it seems to cost $299 most everywhere, whereas the JVC unit costs $227 to $250.
- the JVC BA1 has more speakers for a cheaper price,
- the JVC unit offers some surround processing whereas the BA unit offers nada, and
- the JVC unit offers inputs for three separate devices whereas the BA unit offers only one.

I think some people don't "get it" and others "need" things the Boston unit doesn't offer, but I think the company did a great job at what it set out to do: produce really good sound from just two speakers (well, two channels, I think there are two midranges and one tweeter per channel) and an amp in a box, for not too much money.

From what I've heard from BA, JVC, Polk, Sony, and Samsung in stores, and from the Boston Acoustics TVee and the JVC BA1 in my home, if you can afford to fork out the $299 plus tax and are only looking for good sound from a simple device, then I'd recommend you purchase the Boston Acoustics TVee unit and never look back. But for many other users, you need to look elsewhere.

[Now, I'd be curious to compare the Boston Acoustics unit with the slightly more expensive Sony CT-350 and JVC BA3 units - perhaps that would be the proper comparison. (Well, the BA3 unit is a lot more expensive, but just out of curiosity, one could compare the JVC BA3 unit without the rear speakers to the Boston Acoustics TVee unit.) I'm not going to take that project on in my home, but I'm sure I'll have the chance to at least compare the Sony CT-350 and the Boston TVee units in a store - I'll report back after I've had the opportunity.]

OK I got my 510 from amazon last Thursday. I've spent the weekend putting it through the paces and I offer my thoughts on the unit. Keep in mind this is only MY experience with the unit, other people's problems are well documented elsewhere.

I purchased this from Amazon for $297 with free shipping. Amazingly they delivered it in just 2 days even though I got the super saver shipping which said it would be as long as 10 days, so kudos to Amazon for that.

Backstory: (Don't read if you don't care why I was looking at this system)
Now this is for my main living room with is a very large room; back wall is about 25' from the TV, the right wall (as you're looking at the set is about 15' but the left side of the room is open to the house entrance way with a 25' vaulted ceiling that has a huge fireplace smack in the middle of it (you could literally rock climb up and around it 360 degrees). So it isn't a room that is easy to set up for. We've been living with the TV speakers on our Sammy 50" 650 plasma, which aren't terrible but lack depth.

I knew going into this that it would cost a mint to get a real 5.1 system to sound great in here so really I just wanted MORE sound with possibly some surround effect. I looked into HtiB set ups (specifically the HT0SS370 from Sony) but there is no way I can easily run cables to the back. I saw a lot of good reviews of the JVC 5.1 soundbar but that soundbar is so large that it would cover up my TV if I placed it in front of it on the TV stand and it's too ugly to hang on a wall (sorry it's true). Thay's when Davyo's post about the VHT 510 caught my interest. A soundbar with wireless rear speakers that doesn't cost a fortune?!?!? Well I waited through the delays and finally bit the bullet.

Set-up:
The 40" wide soundbar, a sub and two rear speakers. The sub was already synched with the main soundbar and I just had to plug in the back speakers and it was up and ready. The remote is very simple but has a neat pull out control pad for the detailed changes (see picture). I placed the main bar in front of my Sammy plasma and it looks well there and has a nice look to it.

Sound:
Note: I am still relying on the simple RCA cables while my optical cables are in the mail, I will update my thoughts once I get the final set up with optical cables and switch from the PS3/Cable/TV done.

Now I just came from a week from my parents house over Christmas and they just finished installing a full 5.1 system with nice Klipsh speakers and a high end receiver, so I somewhat used this as a bench mark.

I used Speedracer, Inception, and Saving Private Ryan for my initial tests. My first thought were.."WOW". Really, I was very impressed at first by the sound all around. The front three speakers carried the dialog very well, nice clean audible voice with good pitch and depth. The rear speakers really put out some nice sound to compliment the front. The Sub was great, with good full sound without overpowering the system. Even with a less than optimal set-up, cable wise, the system did a good job interrupting the signal and giving a good surround effect, there were some instances where the back sound kinda dropped out but I have a feeling using direct optical input will only help with this.

Now, I spent some time in Best Buy today and they had the Sony HT-SS370 on display playing Transformers:RotF. I listened to the system and thought "hum, this kinda sounds better than the 510", as it was really booming and covering a wide range of sounds there in the store, I even thought about buying one just to take it home to test, but decided the wife would kill me if I did. So of course the first thing I do when I get home is pop in my copy of Transformers and I must say after 10 seconds of listening there was no doubt that the 510 sounded as good if not better than the Sony unit. The bass really boomed and bullets whizzed and the transforming swirled all as expected. After this I put all thoughts of looking at any other unit to bed, SOLD!

I even did some gaming with Call of Duty: Black Ops and it was a great experience. Bullets went off in the distance behind me, grenades boomed and choppers whizzed at a nice range and draw in the background.

I tried some music and while it didn't do as well as my stereo system in my other room that has 10" speakers it certainly had a full sound that filled the large room/house nicely. I look forward to playing some Rockband with this.

Complaints:
OK I do have some gripes, being a sound bar the system is limited in it's left/right stereo sound in the front bar, simply because it's only 40" wide, I do wish I got a bit more distance between the sound of the left and right sides, but again this is more a limitation of the soundbar set-up not that the Vizio is bad at, but worth mentioning. Also, I can confirm there is a quite but high pitch ring that comes from the unit (even when it's off). It doesn't bother me as you can't hear it unless your 2" away form the unit, however if this is in a bed-room it could drive you crazy. I can't hear it sitting on my couch even with the TV and everything off.

I did not (at least not yet) run into any of the LED issues that others have reported but honestly I don't think it would bother me if the LEDS did go out, I leave the system in the same mode at all times and I don't know why I would ever change it. Even if I did there's really only three options so cycling though wouldn't be much work.

Conclusion:
I really came away impressed with the 510. I was worried about buyer remose on this as it would be really easy for a sound system to sound terrible in the room where I have it but this system does very well on a modest budget. It gives me a full (TRUE!) 5.1 setup that is easy to set-up and contrl (good for the wife). The only drawbacks are simply limitations to the size of the front bar but I knew going in that there would be some compromise but all and all this system does everything I was looking for at a nice price.

I would certainly recommend this unit.






Rear speaker size comparison.




Neat hide-away remote.

The LEDs that some have mentioned.

$202.49 here: http://www.overstock.com/Electronics...2/product.html

By the way, does anyone know anything about the iPod dock Vizio claims to make in all of their documentation? Heck it's even a dedicated input, yet they don't list it on their website and no one sells it.

I wondered the exact same thing. While I still had the VHT 510, I contacted Vizio by email through their website asking what iPod dock they had for the 510 model and where I could purchase it. I never got a response. They also never published my review of the model. I said good things about it, but I also brought up the LED issue I (and many others) had. I guess their customer reviews section is only for reviews without any criticism.

Well I chated with Vizio online today about the ipod dock. I've found these chat people tend to not be very informed on their products but it's quicker than email so it was worth a shot.

Anyway, they indicated that Vizio does not make an iPod dock, so the comment in their manual is pretty misleading "The iPod and Play/Pause/Previous/Next buttons on the remote control only control a VIZIO-branded iPod dock and will not control a 3rd party iPod dock or MP3 player."

Not the end of the world because really any dock will work with it but it would be nice to have on that I can use the same remote for.

Regardless, I'm still enjoying the unit and the sound it produces. It is it's limitations but overall everything is still working great and sounding good. My optical cables come today so I'll be testing out my optimum sound quality tonight.

I believe the iPod dock is

http://www.vizio.com/home-theater-1/xvthp200.html

When I chatted with a tech support guy a few weeks back, he said the wireless headphones/ipod doc would be released first quarter 2011.

Also to note: The headphones for the ipod doc can be used with the VHT510 (Wireless HD). Which is cool if it didn't cost so much.

I wondered if that is the set they were mentioning but I thought surely they aren't going to charge me $309 just for a compatible dock (with headphones of course).

You're right it looks like a nice set up but jeez it cost more than my vht510. Maybe at half that price I'd be interested.

Well it's been a while time since I posted on AVS but figured I would post some thoughts on the Vizio 510 since that's what we ended up with after shopping for the holidays and reading through this unofficial Vizio 510 thread.

For background, I needed to find a way to up the volume for our master bedroom TV. The wife was complaining that the sound from the TV wasn't loud enough and that I would be drowning out her shows when I have the living room setup on. I have our 60 LG mounted on the wall with nothing else around it for a more minimalistic look. To help with this look, I utilized the linen closet behind the TV wall as the place to store the DirecTV DVR. The DTV Remote controlled the DVR via RF and the TV/volume with IR. The DVR is connected to the TV with HDMI that was ran in the walls.

So my needs were a little unique in that my equipment needed to be hidden inside the closet behind the TV. I couldn't run a full true 5.1 setup as I didn't want to run wires in the back of the room and had no place or desire to wall mount 3 speakers on the TV wall as it would require poking more holes through the walls to get passed the horizontal fire blocks hidden inside the wall. At the same time I needed to keep the front viewing area clear of any other wires and equipment. This is not our primary viewing setup so all that needs to be connected to the soundbar were the DirecTV DVR and an XBOX 360 to play DVDs or stream videos to the TV on occasion.

I first settled on the Sony CT350. I started unpacking it out of the box and placed the Subwoofer under the TV. First thoughts were that I hated having just the subwoofer sitting there in the middle like that. Secondarily, I couldn't move the subwoofer to the corner without drilling more holes in the wall to reroute the HDMI cables since the CT350 ran through HDMI. Thirdly, since the unit was wired, I would have had to unmount the heavy TV off the wall so that I could drill one more hole for the speaker wires through the firebreak studs in the walls. Lastly, our bed and TV is position high off the ground. The Sony's IR port were on the subwoofer. So if I wanted to change the volume on the Sony, I would have had to lift my arm up in the air and point it downward towards the sub everytime I wanted to change the volume. After a weekend of weighing my options and thinking about what needed to be done, I decided to return the Sony CT350 without even powering it up.

Now comes the Vizio 510. I ended up choosing the soundbar primarily for convenience to suit our needs. The Vizo 510 now sits wall mounted below our 60 LG. The Vizio center speaker unit is connected to the optical out from the LG. The power supply for the Vizio (which I didn't know it had an external power brick) is tucked away behind the LG. The subwoofer is located in the back of the room next to our nightstand with the rear speakers sitting on shelves next to both sides of the bed. I was also able to program the DirecTV remote to control all 3 components (TV, DVR, and Soundbar). The volume buttons on the DTV remote now control the Vizio soundbar flawlessly. Unfortunately in order to power on/off the Vizio, I need to switch the DTV remote to AV1 and push the power button. Right now I am just leaving the Vizio on 24/7.

This is my first soundbar as all of my previous and current setups included the traditional 5.1 system. Initial impressions are good for what it is. It filled our 17'x23' bedroom quite well after I played with the settings and upped the subwoofer volume to give it more presence. When I picked up the unit from Costco, I talked to a couple of the salespeople there and asked if they have had any returns on the Vizio regarding the LEDs or humming. They noted no returns that they could remember. My LEDs for status and volume all are working fine for now and I don't have any kind of humming coming from the speakers. But if it goes out, I'll definitely post back here.

That's a nice look you got there fourdoor.

I will say that the convienence of not having to run wires for the rear speakers really was the big draw for me as well.

Sure other systems can do wireless rear speakers but this is by far the easiest and cheapest means of doing so, and the sound isn't bad.

Mr davyo, does that include your YSP-1100?

rxcats: I have a YSP-3000 for sale if you're interested

The JVC BA-1's are on sale all over ebay for around 200 which usually means it's not that great. Bottom line is it's really hard to imagine how 4 drivers can compete with 20 or 40 like a YSP-1100 or 4000.

I owned a YSP-900 for three years. Friend tried YSP-4100 in his home for four weeks and returned to BB. I do not see how the number of drivers is relevant. The BA-1 is at least a true 4-ch device with a simulated 5th ch. The previous generations of YSP's were all simulated surround with all of the problems associated with it. Plus, I have yet to hear a YSP with decent headroom or dynamics. Waiting with great hope for the 2200 to test.

Everywhere on ebay is showing up $250-400. There is one for $230. Amazon is selling it for $275.

IMO, the JVC is a great soundbar for the price

You're looking at the buy it now's. You have to find the no reserve price auctions from best buy outlet and buy.com. Here's one that ended yesterday open box with all the accesories that ended $158. Here's the item #190485087733 if you want to see it. The link is too long.

But even so, at 230 and 275 you can tell it's demand value if only half of the YSP-3000's, 4000, or 1100. Which means there is a reason for that. I see that there are a lot of BA1's supporters here and Im sure they're good, but to me not in the same league with Yamaha.

Keep in mind JVC is a video brand ok like Vizeo. They don't have the R&D and technology in audio as with Yamaha who make top notch 7.1 receivers up there with Denon & Onkyo. They also make good subwoofers, cd players, piano's, keyboards, and of course the exclusive YSP soundbars with the 20 or 40 drivers WITH their patented 5 beam sound processing. Audio is what they're know for.

Try as they may and it's not bad, but JVC & Vizeo real strengths are in video ok not audio. And it works the other way. Just like Yamaha can try in vain but cannot make a front projector like JVC.

Nah, something is not adding up right here..sorry. I don't buy it. I can see returning a 800 or 900 but the 1100 no way jose. I bet either he didn't use a sub with it or used some crappy sony 8" sub with the 1100. I have the YSP 3000 and it's pretty awesome ok. And just because Im in the soundbar forum, don't mistaken me with some college freshman with their 1st set up. I have the ysp 3000 because Im living in a senior community and don't need the 5 speakers like I use to.

Before moving down here, I had many 5.1 systems ok. My last one was great set up with KEF ACE 9000 x 5 paired up with Denon 3805 and a velodyne SPL1200II. So I know a thing or two about surround nirvana. And I can tell you now with my YSP3000 paired up Hsu VTF2.3 that the yamaha by itself more than met my expectations and have no need ever going back to 5 speakers.

And that's only with the 3000. Heck when I upgrade to the 1100 or 4100 there's no way it's going back to bb or anywhere alright.

Well I finally got my optical cables and speaker stands today for my rear speakers (nice deal on monoprice by the way).

I'm getting a nice Dolby 5.1 signal and DTS 5.1 from my blu-ray. I can't say this it is significantly better than my previous set up but I do appear to be getting a better range of sound and better surround. IE the "interpreted" surround from my stereo signal would sometime throw items into the background that perhaps didn't really belong there but the true 5.1 signal puts everything in it's right place (as expected).

Thanks for the confirmation on the 2200 but I think Im just do what I do once in a blue moon and just leap frog and jump to the top and get the 5100. Now I know some of the reviews say things like: well apart from the extra 2 tweeters, the 4100 & 5100 are identical. I don't buy that and allow me to explain.

1st of all, tweeters are damn important and the extra 2 put in there is not for the heck of it. If any of you are into car audio, then you'll know exactly what Im talking about...specifically the tweeters in the component speakers. There is a HUGE difference when you put in a component set with the added tweeters. So much more detail and presence of sound. So in this case with the 5100, I definitely no doubt know the extra 2 tweeters will make all the difference in the world esp if you have it paired up with a better-than average sub like say Hsu VTF2.3 or mid entry Velodyne.

Well I have done it now; I ordered a Vizio VHT510....again. It is scheduled to arrive by noon tomorrow via FedEx. I have been debating in my mind for weeks. Now that Amazon has it for $298.00 with free shipping and no tax, I had to give it one more try. I had the Soundmatters/Aperion Slimstage 30 with the sub, but had to return it. To my untrained ear, it just didn't sound as good as the Vizio even though I know it is much more reliable. It also cost so much more. Since I consider this more of a stop-gap until I get what I really want, I would like to keep the cost down. I feel a little disgusted with myself for buying the Vizio product again only because the company seems almost dishonest in dealing with a known problem with their soundbar. If, or should I just say "when", the LED sound indicators go out, I will just live with it. If there are any other problems, back it will go! Good thing Amazon has an easy return policy.

As for Vizio's customer support. My first 510 had the high pitch buzzing noise. I contacted Vizio via the chat. Told them my 510 was buzzing without anything connected to it. The sent me a return tag without any hassle. The next day (after they received my 510) they shipped me a new one.

This one has a very quite buzzing. You can only hear it in a very quite room a few inches away from the unit. I would have never noticed if I was not looking for it. I plan on keeping this one.

I was very happy with the customer support. Maybe they just need a certain number of failures before they update the CS's script...

So far (2 days) the LEDs are still working.

Hope this one works out for you, it certainly seamed they had some issues on the first batch.

As for the new 520, I'm very interested in it. While I don't think I will get one when it comes out but it is a nice added feature of the current 510. The lack of inputs is my biggest problem with the 510 but that's how things go I suppose, there's always something better next year. They only stated "out later this year" I don't know what that means but it seams like they may have learned their lesson from the VHT announcement considering they missed the release date by about 4 months.

Hey Davyo,
Have you had any experience with the Aperion/Soundmatters Slimstage bars? I'm torn between the Slimstage 30 and the YSP 2200. (two different technologies and I like both on paper)

Update on my Vizio 510. I have had the 510 for a little over 2 weeks and the LED lights are still working. Fingers crossed that they fixed it.

Davyo...or anyone else out there that could help. I purchased the 510, and for the most part liked the unit. Main problem was the optical port would not keep a cable in and got intermittent sound. Even used a 90 degree optical converter. With only one port, was worried that another unit would have the same problem and did not want to hassle with it. Ended up refining it and bought the jvc TH-BA3. Overall the unit is ok. I think the 510 sounded a little better, especially the bass, but that's me. My main problem is a constant buzz from the right rear surround. Can't seem to figure it out. Seems to be the port, since when I switch, it comes out of left. It doesn't get louder hen you turn up volume, but it sure is annoying. Tried changing plugs, power strips, turning off cordless house phone, nothing seams to work. Tried talking to JVC, but they won't let me just return the surround wireless receiver, they want the whole unit shipped back. What a pain. I really don't want to do that. Any suggestions. Much thanks

Thanks for the response. It's JVC that wants you to push till you hear a click. Made sure of that. The cable is new, and pretty good..Acoustic Research. Haven't tried the RC cords, but when I disconnect the optical, it has no effect. The TV, DirecTV receiver nor the Pany blu-ray need to be on for the buzz to be on.