Vizio VHT215 Home Theater Soundbar

If you want to add power and clarity to your HDTV's sound system, you have a few choices. You can get a home theater in a box, which means running cables all over your living room. You can set up your own stereo or surround system, which means spending a lot of money in addition to running cables all over your living room. Or you can get a sound bar, which means spending relatively little money and putting a single flat speaker in front of your HDTV. It won't have as much power or sound quite as good as larger, dedicated speaker systems, but it's a good choice if you want to save space and money.

This brings us to the Vizio VHT215, a 2.1-channel soundbar that, thanks to its wireless subwoofer and HDMI 1.4a support with Audio Return Channel, only requires a single cable from your HDTV to the soundbar?and, of course, plugging the wireless subwoofer into the wall somewhere else in the room. At $269.99 (direct), it's an affordable way to amp up your home theater without spending a lot of money or dealing with a lot of wires.

Design
The VHT215 is a light, slightly chunky plastic block measuring 4.1 by 40.1 by 2.1 inches (HWD), with a black fabric grille and silver plastic accents on its sides and feet. It's intended for HDTVs approximately 40 inches or wider; a smaller, 32-inch version is also available, if you have a smaller TV.

Behind the VHT215's grille are two 2.75-inch midrange drivers and one 0.75-inch tweeter for each of the left and right channels. A blue LED display in the middle shows the volume level and other information, and is usually turned off when in use. The top of the soundbar holds small, flat Power, Volume Up/Down, and Input buttons. The only other physical control is a Hub/Client switch on the back that has an unspecified use, presumably for technicians. The back panel holds two HDMI inputs, one HDMI output, and 3.5mm analog, coaxial, and optical audio inputs recessed and facing down and sideways, and the power connection facing out. Since the cable itself has an L-shaped plug, it can also face down or sideways.

The wireless subwoofer is a plain black cabinet measuring 12.8 by 8.5 by 11.3 inches (HWD), with black cloth grilles on two sides and an open port on a third side. Inside, a 6.5-inch long-throw driver pumps out the bass. It comes automatically paired with the soundbar, but it can be paired again using the single Pair button under the subwoofer's power switch and the Input button on the soundbar.

The remote is unnecessarily large and complicated. It only has a handful of buttons, but they're separated by a pointless sliding section. Closed, the remote has a Power button, a Mute button, and a large pad that double as both volume and playback controls. The sliding section has individual Bass, Treble, and Subwoofer controls. There are also three input selection buttons?one for cycling through the Inputs, one for selecting optical audio, and one for "iPod," which according to the manual lets the soundbar play music from a Vizio HD Wireless Audio product; there is no iPod dock accessory and it doesn't activate the 3.5mm input. The remote also has buttons for turning on SRS TruVolume and TruSurround HD features. These buttons could easily have been put on the main part of the remote, and the entire device could have been a much smaller membrane remote instead of the bulky slider it is now.

The VHT215 uses HDMI 1.4a with Audio Return Channel, which means the connection from the soundbar to the HDTV can receive audio data from the HDTV, taking control of the HDTV's sound. That means you can watch and listen to content built into the HDTV, such as from online services or the TV tuner, without running a separate audio cable from the screen to the soundbar.

Performance
Vizio designed the VHT215 more for watching movies than listening to music, but it still fared well in our standard music tests. Our bass test track, The Knife's "Silent Shout," sounded clear with no distortion, and the subwoofer put out enough bass to rattle nearby objects without rattling anything inside it. It gets suitably loud for small parties, and while it can't replace a more powerful stereo speaker system, it can come close when space and budget don't support one.

For movies and television, the VHT215 sounds good for its size and price. Thanks to the wireless subwoofer, it made even cartoons like Regular Show sound epic whenever a scene called for it. Dialogue is clear at both very low and very high volumes, which is important for watching movies. In a rap battle, the bass thumping of the music had force, and the rhymes could be correctly identified as ill.

Vizio claims the SRS TruSurround HD feature in the soundbar can provide surround sound without rear speakers. But like most systems that claim to offer that, digital signal processing simply can't deliver the same experience. TruSurround HD mode made the audio sound slightly fuller in the front, but it doesn't come close to reproducing the surround effect with actual speakers behind you. If you really want surround sound, get the Vizio VHT510 ($359.99, 4 stars), which combines a soundbar and wireless subwoofer with two rear speakers to offer the correct imaging.

If you want a simple speaker system to give your home theater a boost without running many wires, the Vizio VHT215 is a great choice. It sounds clear, and its subwoofer packs enough punch to make you feel the action in movies. Its remote is unnecessarily bulky and complex, and its surround sound feature doesn't work as advertised, but the VHT215 is otherwise a very solid upgrade over your HDTV's built-in speakers.

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