VIZIO V-Series 2.1 Home Theater Sound Bar with Dolby Audio, DTS Virtual:X, Bluetooth, Wireless Subwoofer, Voice Assistant Compatible, Includes Remote Control – V21x-J8

Now Recommended – Read updated review
NEW EDIT AND UPDATE BELOW!What a disappointment. This particular Vizio soundbar is twice defective. Do not buy this soundbar. I am most disappointed because I also own a great 65″ Vizio TV and an older model soundbar used in the bedroom. This one/model I purchased for my office and was planning to use it with a Panasonic plasma TV. Yes, the plasma is now considered old/outdated TV technology. However, it has a beautiful picture and works great.The following is my experience with this soundbar and Vizio support. The first SB I received would only work for about 5 seconds and then silence. And BTW – this SB is really easy to set up. Just plug in the power cord to the subwoofer, connect the power cord to the SB, and plug in the HDMI-ARC cable from the TV to the SB. Once you do that the SB recognizes the input and begins working. Easy! However, it would only stay on for about 5 seconds and then turn off. After my initial troubleshooting, I contacted Vizio support. We tried everything several times and nothing resolved my issue. (actually Visio’s issue now) Vizio then shipped me a complete replacement. I did have to provide them (Vizio) a CC so they could place a hold for the price I paid Amazon in case I didn’t return the SB.The second/replacement SB I received at first worked great. For a while. Again, the setup was easy and the SB worked and sounded great. The next morning I turned on the TV and SB and it worked for about 3 hours. Then it failed. Once again I tried troubleshooting it. No luck so I called support again. This time after about 1 hour – 15 minutes with Level 1 support and without resolving the issue I requested a call back from a higher level support. Crickets. No call back after waiting several hours.There is something very strange and wrong about this SB. Once it turned itself off I discovered that if I lightly touched the SB it would come back on – for about 5 seconds and then shut off. One time I got it working again and then slightly scooted it – and it shut off. Something is very wrong with this SB and I haven’t a clue why it doesn’t work properly. Vizio doesn’t seem to know either. It’s such a simple SB as it’s only the bar/speaker and subwoofer. Very similar to the one in my bedroom which has been awesome! Bottom line – do not buy this model of Vizio soundbar.EDIT and REVIEW UPDATE 8-27-24After all of the above I resend my Do Not Buy suggestion and 1 star rating. Here’s why….I received a phone call from a high level customer rep and support person and on the day I was going to return both SB’s. Now it’s working great. During my discussing with the support rep I mentioned that I could simply touch the SB and it’d start working for 5 seconds before turning off. She then suggested that I move the SB away from the TV as far as the cables allowed. (I had the sound bar positioned right next to and centered in front of the TV screen.) I then sat the SB on the floor about 4-5 feet away from the TV. And guess what? It started working perfectly and did so for a short test period. As you can see from the photo, I now have the SB sitting just below the TV on a shelf. It’s been working perfectly and the sound quality IMO is really good from a fairly low cost SB and subwoofer setup. It seems that this 12 year old Panasonic plasma TV emits some sort of magnetic or other field/wave that interferes with the SB. Strange. Anyway, I’m very pleased with the SB and now recommend it with 5-stars.

really easy to set up on dish, decent sound
While this is not a high fidelity unit, it is way better than what comes out of the TV. Took all of 10 minutes to set up with dish control and now volume controls seamlessly with dish programs. Sun is small but does a decent job. Worth the price

A simple and modern way to add speakers to a Midi piano.
After researching a small amplifier and speakers to get some sound from my SL88 Grand, it dawned on me…it’s 2024, why not just use a soundbar/sub combo? I ended up using the optical output of my TV/monitor to connect to it and it works great. It’s not “performance” loud, but it suffices to fill a room with the sound of the instrument.

Really Nice
Plenty of power and good sound. Bluetooth connects to my phone every time, and stays connected. If I leave it connected and then leave and come back, it automatically connects before I get in the house, if I still have music playing on my phone from driving in my car.