So, you’ve decided to upgrade your home theater audio to surround sound. You could research hundreds of different speakers, spend $500 on a receiver, meticulously hide wires inside your molding, and eventually end up evicted from a home with a fantastic sound system because you ran out of money for rent. Or, you take the easy way out, buy a Vizio wireless surround sound system, and get back to enjoying your shows.
These systems come in a few different configurations, but most people will want to buy the 38" model, which you can usually find somewhere in the neighborhood of $200. There are also larger models with flat subwoofers that can fit under a couch, but they cost nearly twice as much.
Setup takes minutes: The sound bar incorporates your three front channels, and plugs directly into your TV, no receiver required. The wireless subwoofer sits in the back of your room, and the two rear channel speakers plug into that. So yes, you’ll still need a run a few wires, but in most rooms, you can just hide those behind a couch. This image does a pretty good job of illustrating how it works.
From the first time you power it on, this thing just works. I’m no audiophile, and I’m sure you can buy systems that sound better. But I personally find the audio quality to be fantastic, and it’s so simple and affordable that it almost feels like cheating.
An older version of this system came in second to the SONOS PLAYBAR in our sound bar Kinja Co-Op, though the Vizio’s is significantly less expensive, not even accounting for the wireless subwoofer and satellite speakers.
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