Best Place Subwoofer Home

Review by David J. Osborne "DaveO" : Intense, pleasing sound

Edit, Jan. 28,2011: I've used this amp for several weeks now with lots of audio sources, and I am more and more pleased with its sound. It's taken me this much time to learn the amp's characteristics, and now I'm just learning to relax and enjoy what it does. It's really an excellent sound source. Years ago when I was getting my first really good system for CDs I was told that "you have to run a lot of music through it before you really know it." That was true, and it's true with the 575. People call it a "break in period," but I'm not yet sure if the "break in" is with the gear or with the ears. ************** Pros: full, intense sound with great separation, staging, and depth; sharp but pleasing peaks, and a strong, rich bass, all expertly blended by designers with great ears for the limits of the gear, and it's an elegant looking unit that in no way makes the TV perched on top of it to look too far above the furniture it all sits on. It all looks and sounds "just right" to me. Cons: it's pricy, relies on its own remote, (at least on my setup), is nowhere near "surround sound," (Zvox makes that clear, though), it doesn't have the bass that a big subwoofer makes, and in my TV room, doesn't throw sound far to each side without cranking up "phase cue" and washing out the essential audio impact. However, I'm learning that the Zvox's sound in my room's environment, as I learn to adjust settings, is full, satisfying, and 3D within a stage that extends just a bit beyond the TV's size. I really do like it. And I'm an audiophile and bass-oholic. My audio system in another room has 325+ quality watts per channel and two 400 watt powered subwoofers. I don't play it loud, I play my music for depth. My Zvox sat on the floor for three weeks while I awaited delivery of my 50" plasma and my Oppo Blu-Ray. Its performance during that time was all that could be expected of any rectangular black box. But I was optimistic. Now that I've run some TV and music through it, I know I have a fine product. Setup is definitely easy. All I had to do was attach the optical cable from my Samsung plasma and plug it in. There were adjustments to be made after that, but the Zvox was cooperative, and still is, as I fine-tune the system to my particular ears. A few little annoyances: I'd hoped to be able to control volume through the TV's remote, but I think that won't be happening. I've read reviews that suggest plugging in a 3.5mm device just to shut down the TV's speaker output, but Samsung's 3.5 doesn't override its speakers. And it was suggested to set the speakers to "external," but that also leaves Samsung's speakers on. Other TVs are obviously different. Plus I think there's no way to adjust to having the TV's speakers on while the Zvox is on. The resulting sound is just an annoying out-of-phase mixture of noise. So we're going to live with two remotes because of the volume control: the TV's, and the Zvox's. That's not so bad. The Zvox remote is precise despite the lack of a volume bar on screen. If the sound's too loud or soft, just point the remote at the Zvox's blue light and press, and a quick flicker of the blue light seems to correspond to the desired increase or decrease of volume. I don't find myself readjusting the volume after one try ... the Zvox's adjustment with a typical button press seems always to be just right. After only a week's ownership, I know I have more to learn about the system's performance, but today I reached the point where I feel I know enough to describe its characteristics, and I'm really, really pleased and looking forward to more neat music DVDs and Blu-rays and well produced movies.

Review by J. Hamilton "ProChef" : High Quality Sound - Convenient, Easy Installation

I have been using this for about three weeks. I am impressed. Watched "The King's Speech" (Blu-Ray disc) last night and sound quality was excellent. Musical passages were full and rich (Beethoven, Mozart). Bass response is excellent. Unit is in family room on concrete subfloor. Noticed I could feel the bass in my feet 20 feet away on wood floor of kitchen. I don't see any need at all to supplement with additional sub-woofer. Treble is excellent as is mid-range. Adjustments to both sub-woofer, treble and "Phase Cue" (the simulated surround feature) are all noticeable. I tend to set all to minimum and set the volume then adjust sub-woofers and treble. Unless I am watching a movie I leave the phase-cue at minimum. Watched Wolfman (Comcast OnDemand) the other night and used the Phase-Cue - it works well - I could hear/sense the sound spreading out to the right and left. I noticed that I needed to adjust the treble back down but that's easy enough. I see that people are unhappy with the way that the remote works. I thought it was kind of awkward at first but now I have no problem with it. I don't need to see where the volume is (the bars that appear on the TV screen) - I can hear where it is. I just look at the blue blinking light on the IncrediBase to make sure that the adjustments are being made. TV sound is off. IncrediBase goes into standby mode when TV is turned off. Turns itself back on when TV is turned on. Just give it a few seconds. I am using an AmazonBasics Toslink Digital Audio Optical Cable (6 Feet/1.8 Meters) to connect the TV/IncrediBase. Excellent cable, excellent price. Don't forget to remove rubbers protectors from ends of cable. IncrediBase is on TV stand with glass top - works well. Have someone help you position it though - it's heavy, and it has suction cups on its feet. You'll want to line it up as well as possible before you set it down because those suction cups really take hold. It's not impossible to reposition, just difficult for one person. ZVOX recommends that your TV be anchored to the stand or a wall. I have a Panasonic TC-P50S30 Plasma HDTV (an excellent TV, by the way, which I also plan to write a review for) sitting on top of the IncrediBase. Although I wasn't too worried about it tipping or moving I thought it was cheap insurance and worth the piece of mind to stabilize it. I bought something called a "Stabilibar" from standsandmounts.com and installed it on the back of my TV stand and to the VESA mounts on the TV. If you're wondering if you even need to supplement your TV's speakers, I would say you probably will. There is no contest. My TV's internal speakers don't even come close to providing the full, rich range of sound that the IncrediBase does. After all the research I've done to find my TV, I have learned that this is common in most TV's. I highly recommend the IncrediBase. Full, rich sound. EASY installation - no messing around with multiple satellite speakers and wiring.

Review by K. FINK "Pop" : very pleased

Have a room that I was Using 5.1 with my Pioneer plasma. You had to be sitting in just the right spot for it to be effective. Now with the Zvox I get stunning sound where ever I sit. Is it 5.1? No. Is it a great sounding system? Yes. The hype is not over stated,this is the product for the room where 5.1 won't work.I also have my sirius radio hooked up, sounds great. My ipod is also connected,not so good. Over all I am very pleased.