Sony HT-CT150, Sony HT-CT550W, or Vizio VHT215

All three are pretty good soundbars and will sound about equal for the most part,,,, none of them are going to blow away the others.

The best way to decide is by how they hook-up,,,, they all differ a bit in the way they are installed and what cables you have to run to where,,,,, pick the bar thats going to work best for your installation set-up.

Cheers
Davyo

Any other input on the VHT215 and the Sony Ht150?? I can get either or for 250 or there abouts... I am looking to post my Yamaha Yas71 with ipod dock on CL or Ebay soon.. How much should I sell that for? Reason for the change is the other soundbars are very small compared to the Yas... Thanks in advance

Thanks sooo much Davyo for the PM back!! With my budget about I and torn between the Vizio 215 and the Sony 150.. Any input on that would be great.. With that said, Is there anything out there That much better then the two above that I should wait and save? I live in a apartment so it won't be cranking but I am looking for a wider soundfield... No so much surround sound

Anyone else to chime in It would be greatly appreciated..

I don't have experience with the Vizio bar, but am quite happy with the Sony one. I prefer the specs on the Sony slightly (DTS decoding, a center channel, one more HDMI input), but as sound quality is what ultimately matters I'm not sure how much I can help you.

Just rcv'd the Sony 150 soundbar and set it up.. Didn't get a chance to play with it much but though I would share a couple of things... First off set-up is VERY simple and anyone can do it.. Adjusted the Sub and Treble so far.. I have OTA television and via optical there is no audio delay to speak of... Here is what I have:

Vizio Tv XVT37 Lcd: hooked up to SB via optical
Xbox360: hooked via hdmi to the SB
Sony Blu Ray: Hooked up via Hdmi to the Sb
Toshiba Laptop: Hooked up via Hdmi to the SB.. Have wireless keyboard for this..

Now I haven't listened to many sounbars and not a audiophile.. I previously owned a Yamaha YAS-71 soundbar that sounded ok... Problem with that unit is that the dialog was never really great... Servicable but that's it.. Sub was ok.. Overall sound was mediocre for music and a small frontal soundstage for movies... I was lucky to sell it to someone via craigslist..

Short game with NHL2012: Sound was pretty darn amazing imo... Before I would struggle to hear the background music IE arena organ or the PA announcer.. Not anymore.. What a difference.. When I check someone into the boards I hear a loud thump via sub Passes stick to stick sound great.. Never really heard it loud...

Blu Ray: Dialog crystal clear, much wider soundstage... I only watched about 20 min of the Hangover 2... So I really can't comment too much but so far I am VERY HAPPY...

With that said, I was a tad hesitant about the Vizio 215 because I don't think my tv was "arc" compatible... Plus I'm sure they fixed some issues from the previous soundbar but didn't want to take a chance... I will post a review in a month or so when I can spend time with it and get a grasp of adjustments etc etc..

I was deciding between these as well. I just received the Vizio VHT215. I went with that because of the wireless sub. I originally thought I'd get the Sony, but with the connections having to go into the sub, I'd have to play it behind the TV (in a corner) and so thought I'd be better off with the wireless I could place elsewhere.

I haven't really been able to test it yet because the optical cable I ordered at the same time hasn't shown up yet. I did plug it in via my TV's headphone jack, but that was underwhelming to say the least.

That said, I am a little disappointed. Perhaps I didn't do my research well enough up front, but I was expecting to have CENTER settings and while I believe the Sony has it, this one does not, only bass/treble/sub. The reason I got it was because when watching movies, I'm constantly having to adjust the volume because I can't hear the voices in the quieter parts, so to my thinking, being able to boost the center channel seemed pretty important to me. I'm not judging it yet, but I'm hoping it does what I thought it would do even if the mechanics are not exactly as I thought they should be.

Turns out, I have enough room behind the TV to place a wired sub ... as long as I don't have to reach behind there to turn things off/on. So, once I get the cables and can test it properly, I may decide to go with the Sony after all.

I'm also disappointed that it doesn't seem I'll be able to mount the unit to my TV. MY TV stand has a glass table top on which I can place the bar, and that will probably work just fine, but I had thought it would be better to get brackets to mount it either under or above the TV. However, looking at the unit, it doesn't appear that is possible. Wall mounting, yes, but being in a corner, the wall mounting isn't going to be any help.

As far as connecting, I'm a little confused. I think my TV might support HDMI ARC, but the TV manual (LG 47LK520) doesn't refer to it in those terms. Instead is say HDMI CEC ... which sounds like the same thing but until I get some extra cables, I'm not going to be able to tell.

Anyway, if anybody has any thoughts or comments on any of this, I would much appreciate it. It's not exactly what I was expecting but hopefully it'll still do the job and I'll be happy with it.

I own both the CT150 and 550W. For connecting, I'd recommend just making the sub/amp your central receiver and then connecting a single HDMI between the Sony HDMI Out (there's only one of these) to the TV. If you also want audio from broadcast television (I cut the cord years ago), then just connect a single optical cable from the TV optical out to the Sony optical in.

Thanks for the recommendation. It's helpful.

Which one would you recommend between the two? I have a large room I'm putting this in. Thanks!

It depends - is for a TV or a projector? Will you be watching TV, playing movies or mostly videogames?

Mostly TV and movies. It's a 60" LED TV. Still trying to decide between these 2...I have a 15'x20' room where I have the CT100 in, but it's simply not loud enough.

I really want as good of sound quality as I can get. Which one do you prefer?

I prefer the 150 on my TV because I only watch movies and TV shows there. It gets loud enough for my living rm which is 13x18ft (with more loudness to spare for sure). I prefer voices on that one.

But in my gaming room, I use the 550 because it has the breakout box I can place near the consoles (behind me), which are below the projector on the ceiling. The wirelss sub is also key for that setup. The 150 doesn't work there primarily because the sub and receiver are a single unit and work better close to the devices plugged into them.

This is a great thread. Based on the feedback from you guys, I pulled the trigger on the CT150 today and ordered it through Amazon.

My $4,000 Klipsch system is moving downstairs with my new projector and this sound bar will go upstairs with my 46" Bravia.

Thanks for the input. I am considering one of these two bars, and will be using it for both Blu-rays and gaming on a 60" TV. Which do you prefer based solely on the sound quality? Subwoofer placement is not an issue for me.

Sony CT550, the base is awesome, I love it more and more. You just need to make sure to turn down the TV sound completely else you might hear the tinny sound. I did hear the tinny sound intially and I thought I have turn down the TV speaker.
Edited by HDMeister - 2/9/13 at 10:33pm

Anyone know when items shown at CES usually come out? Apparently Sony showed off their latest with the Sony HT-CT600 so that might be something to consider as well.
The only info I've been able to find is here: http://www.whathifi.com/news/sony-reveals-2013-blu-ray-systems-and-soundbar
Those funky new Blu-ray players are starting to show up on Sony's official website so perhaps this isn't too far behind either.
It states: Completing the range will be the HT-CT600 sound bar, which has 330W power output, a wireless subwoofer, and Sony's S-Force PRO Front Surrround 3D virtual surround processing. Like the systems it supports Bluetooth and NFC, and it also has three HDMI inputs and one output.