There are two reasons why you need a soundbar in your living room. First, your TV’s built-in speakers aren’t very good. Second, TV dialogue can be hard to hear (see reason one). Surely you’ve noticed that sometimes you have to turn up the volume to catch what’s being said and then everything else seems too loud. Any soundbar will help, but the Zvox AV357 share: Specially designed to amplify sounds. Originally priced at $350, the Zvox AV357 currently retails for just $150 – the lowest price on record.
ZVOX
Zvox AV357 24″ Wooden TV Sound Bar
150 dollars250 dollarssave $100
Tired of reading subtitles? The Zvox AV357 has 12 levels of sound enhancing goodness so you can capture every spoken word without having to read it. This is the lowest price in the product’s history.
$150 on Amazon
Zvox has a few of these “AccuVoice” soundbars in its lineup, but the AV357 is one of the few to come in a wood veneer enclosure. If you’re not a fan of the typical black metal look of most electronics, you may find this more suitable for your decor.
It’s 24 inches wide and designed to sit in front of your TV; This particular soundbar cannot be wall mounted unless you supply your own rack.
Zvox provides one of the best instruction manuals I’ve seen, with large print, clear illustrations, and lots of setup information. It clearly explains how the soundbar is connected to your TV’s optical audio port. Unfortunately, there’s no HDMI option here, so you may not be able to control the soundbar with your existing TV or cable box remote – though it’s not without some bounce. The AV357 can be manually programmed to accept voice and mute commands from most clickers.
If you don’t want to mess with that, Zvox’s remote is great, with clearly labeled tactile buttons.
The unit consists of a total of three speakers, including a center specifically for sounds. There’s also some electronic wizards at work in the form of Zvox’s AccuVoice technology that helps truly isolate and enhance dialogue. While I haven’t fully tested this model, I’ve tried a few other Zvox speakers (including one that made it into Yahoo’s list of 2023’s best soundbars), and trust me when I say AccuVoice works really well. There’s also an output leveling feature designed to reduce the volume of TV commercials, and three virtual surround sound levels (although using the latter disables AccuVoice).
I particularly liked the large, easy-to-read LED display on the front of the soundbar. It uses numbers to indicate volume and abbreviations to assist you with mode selections.
My only real complaint is the lack of Bluetooth connectivity; you cannot use it as a speaker to stream music from your phone or tablet. (Zvox offers an “Alexa ready” feature, but that only means plugging in an Amazon Echo speaker.)
That limitation aside, the Zvox AV357 is a great choice for older TV viewers or anyone with hearing problems. And at this price it’s hard to miss.
ZVOX
Zvox AV357 24″ Wooden TV Sound Bar
150 dollars250 dollarssave $100
Tired of reading subtitles? The Zvox AV357 has 12 levels of sound-boosting goodness so you can capture every spoken word without having to read it. This is the lowest price in the product’s history.
$150 on Amazon
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Originally published