3 replies to this topic

[ashlee540]

Hi! I have a 23" flat screen VIzio TV and am looking for a sound bar. There is a Vizio sound bar but it is for larger tv's. What would be my best bet?

[8210GUY]

TBH it depends what you want to achieve, and to what level\expense you want to go for, but sound is a very unique thing, what sounds good to one person, may not to another, but my rule of thumb, and I suspect most who are aware would say, get something with a fair bit more power than you need, sound can be horrible when pushed through something thats at it's max handling, eg if 100w RMS is what you want, then get a 200w RMS set up, this way it has plenty of power left over from what you would use, and therefore will not distort or anything, also be aware there is more than 1 format of sound, but RMS is the best one to gauge power. The 2 biggest factors are your property (where it will be used), and the furnishings in it (curtains, carpets etc), and what you want to achieve, and to that end what sort of sound you want to put through it, eg games, films, music and the like, I would imagine better units will have presets to cover such sounds, but cheap units may skimp, also cheap units wont perform as well as a decent unit, by definition of price, you get what you pay for, not a saying thats always true, but it certainly is with this, but again it comes back to what you want to achieve from this. Personally I have never heard of that make, so can't comment on that one directly, but a point to look out for is if it gives any advantage from being used with it's own brand TV, easiest way to explain is on my TV, it will recognise other items attached to it if it's the same brand, and in doing so links the items together, so programing becomes integrated with each other, not sure if sound would yield such a connection advantage, but it doesn't hurt to ask the question. So if you can give a bit more info I may be able to add more specific info, but no matter what you find out, or get told, the ONLY way to buy sensibly is to go to a store and listen to such a unit in action, how you hear it may not be the same as someone else, so IMHO it is very important to anyone serious about getting anything that you want for quality reasons, hence the queries, when you tell us a bit more then I can be a bit more specific for you.

[ashlee540]

Well I'm looking for something on a budget. The TV is a VIZIO VA26L HDTV 10T. So my main concerns are 1. finding something with the ability to be hooked up to it. 2. finding something that fits since many of them are for larger TV's. Thanks

[8210GUY]

Budget and sound do not go well together generally speaking, it's always a trade off, what fills one part of what you need\want, probably wont supply what you need in another area, and if you throw size into the equation, you will get very lucky to find something that ticks all the boxes.

To start with lets look at size, your TV is 25" odd, if you aim to get a soundbar to fit the same space you will seriously limit your choices, at least from what I can see, the average bar I've seen looking is 800mm, the only ones I have seen that come under this are aimed at computers, not TV's, so the main question currently is are you worried about this bar being bigger than the TV ?

I did find the following link, it covers what I was getting at previously in a bit more detail, making you think about what else you may consider in the future, and what to look out for if you do, they also list a few suggestions to decent units, but all apart from the PC option are bigger than 25" as best I can see.
http://soundbarspeakers.org/

Another factor in size is how it affects the sound quality, you can get extremely good small speakers, BUT, be prepared to pay more for them, but generally speaking the size of the casement has a serious impact on what the sound comes out like, especially when talking about bass, my point is if you go for something to sit in the same space as the TV, you may be disappointed in its performance, and again if considering this option you really want to hear the unit in action before you commit, so if you comment about the size as to what you are after I can advise more on that.