Customer Ratings & Reviews

About five years ago, we bought a nice 4K TV. We’d originally planned to buy a speaker system or sound bar to go with it, but we felt that the built-in speakers were “good enough” and that an upgrade wasn’t urgently needed. We were wrong. This sound bar represents a huge upgrade from the built-in speakers. Bass is much punchier and it’s a lot easier to understand speech in shows and movies. The sound quality is superb, the price was reasonable and it was extremely easy to set up. This thing is great. My only real gripe is that the included remote isn’t great. It looks and feels cheap and because of the way the sound bar is designed, you need to point it at just the right area for it to actually take effect. But this is mostly a minor annoyance and isn’t worth taking a star off of — though maybe a half star would be appropriate if it were possible. Anyway, if you’re looking for a big upgrade from TV speakers and don’t want to spend a fortune, I can’t recommend this enough.

The ZVOX SB500 is a great sounding sound bar. The sound quality is much fuller and richer than what comes out of the new high-end 65 inch 4K TV I recently purchased. The SB500 also has an input to connect a sub-woofer, but it is really not needed as the bass that comes out of this unit is surprisingly sufficient. I also enjoy the AccuVoice feature which does make the vocals easier to perceive even at a low level. With that said, it is significant to note that (in my opinion), a sound bar (any sound bar) is not intended to be a replacement for a full audio system. If you want to have a true 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound experience, you should be looking at a high-end receiver with separate front, center, and rear speakers. For the record, I also own such a system, but normally only use it for movies or music I want to be enveloped in. But for day to day television viewing, I prefer the SB500 which is easy to set up, easy to use, and sounds great for what a sound bar is intended for. One last thing, the Customer Service at ZVOX is great! They answer the phone quickly when called, are knowledgeable and understandable. I would recommend this sound bar just for the quality of their customer support.

I own a Sonos system, and I considered the Sonos soundbar for my television set. The price difference got me to the ZVox, which was sturdily constructed, had great sound (equal to Sonos, which I love) and came in at $200 cheaper. The interface is a bit clunky with a cheap plastic remote, which could easily be upgraded by the manufacturer, but I do like the ability to play music via Bluetooth through the soundbar. While not the most sophisticated device aesthetically, it gets the job done, has great sound, give the aura of home theater without the price.

When watching movies on my TV these days, I often need clearer dialog. I'm at that age (60's) and my old Denon soundbar, even with voice mode selected, forced me to have subtitles almost always turned on for movies. Dialog clarity is supposed to be a strong point for ZVOX, so I picked the SB500. I also tried out at home 2 other soundbars from Polk and Yamaha with voice enhancement in my price range under $400 (on sale), but the ZVOX SB500 won out. It's certainly a noticeable improvement for movie dialog, but doesn't quite work miracles for me (superior to the others, though) - really depends on the particular pitch range that you have issues with and the program material itself. Many contemporary movies are just engineered for sound effects over dialog, so even with the ZVOX, there are still a few times when I feel a need to flip on the subtitles (YMMV). Still, there's a noticeable improvement and less dependency on subtitles, and that's what I was looking for. The voice enhancement feature can initially sound harsh or sharp, but based on what I've heard on other soundbars with a voice mode, this is just the way the technology works by boosting highs and mids. The ZVOX has separate equalizer adjustments for bass and treble, so the sound can be further tuned to better suit me and I find this feature to be extremely desirable and useful. The bass output is really quite good and clean, and yes, it can be felt, which is somewhat surprising for a standalone soundbar with no external subwoofer (but there's a port to physically connect one if you wish). But if you want monster bass that feels like it's turning you inside out and about to blow your roof off, you'd need to hook up an external sub (I haven't felt a compelling need to try that yet). The build quality is excellent and the appearance is solid and exceptional. The unit is somewhat tall and if placed directly in front of the TV, it most likely will block the receiver for the TV remote. But there's an option to lay it down on its back, which is how I have it. The only drawback to this position is the visual display is facing upwards, so you have to stand near the unit to see what's displayed. Too bad there isn't a secondary display for this position. Music playback is good (for a soundbar) and benefits from the equalizer adjustments. Again, the ZVOX doesn't work miracles with crystal clear dialog on every last movie that I've watched, but it's a welcome improvement over my old soundbar and overall I'm satisfied and pleased with this product.

The sound is good and the voices sound much clearer than my TV, but I don't think it's the best choice for the room I have it in (large open space). Would be perfect for a smaller room.

This model is extremely well built and sounds terrific. The only thing I could caution someone about is if you big on low end you may need to add an additional subwoofer or reposition it to get the best sound for your room. I also wish there was a display for when it is positioned with the speakers facing up. However, this is the best sounding bar I've ever had and I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for one for a small to medium sized room.

My wife and I have gotten away from multi component sound systems that require a lot of space. We wanted something that wouldn't need much space and would highlight voices from TV/movies. We first had a ZVOX AV200 TV Speaker, that impressed us so we decided to step up to the SB500. The SB500 puts out great sound for an all in one, easy to use product that includes Bluetooth and highlights voices. A little pricey but we are happy. Should we have gotten a trial subscription to Tidal with this purchase?

I bought this because all the reviews said it was excellent. I totally agree! if your looking for a soundbar because you have a hard time hearing movies and tv shows with a lot of background noise this is the soundbar to buy. It filters out that noise and makes it easier to hear. I wish I could try the more expensive one and see if its any better, although no complaints on this one.

I have purchased and tried 2 other soundbars and returned them to BB before buying the SB500. I wanted to be able to hear conversations better and was tired of wearing headphones. When I spoke to the ZVOX reps they recommended the SB400 for listening to conversations but you trade off the better base of the SB500. The SB500 is also larger but I find that it is worth the extra expense if you have the room and you don't need a woofer. I have used it to listen to various TV programs, movies, DVD and Blue Rays and it so far has performed to expectations. For the price range it performs great.

I've paired this with my Samsung KS8500 using an optical cable and the sound is simply fantastic for a soundbar. This thing has some fantastic base and I am in love with the 2 main feature modes for Accuvoice and Sound Leveling. Accuvoice really makes a huge difference on programs where the voices seem muffled compared to other sounds. No more cranking the volume to hear talk and then lowering it quickly when the action kicks up and things get too loud. The sound leveling also has been useful for certain sources to level things out. For a soundbar this thing is pretty beefy, be aware of its size before purchasing. I had this setup using my Harmony Hub remote which by default will turn inputs on and off when you start or turn off activities. In the instructions for this soundbar it tells you to leave the soundbar on all the time, as it will wake when it detects input. I had issues with the original setup where when Harmony turned the soundbar on it would not turn itself on consistently. I changed the setup to leave it on, and haven't had many issues since. The difference is, it doesn't truly wake itself up and be ready to use from sleep mode. When starting my activity with the soundbar in sleep mode I have to hit an input key (like volume up) in order to get it to wake. This is a little annoying, but I am very happy with this soundbar otherwise. Movies and games sound amazing.

It was very easy to set up thanks to well done instructions. In addition, customer service is prompt and clear by phone or email. I never use the TV speakers anymore. This sound bar accomplished my goal of enhancing the dialogue track. Overall most pleased with the selection of ZVox

Due to loss of hearing I was unable to understand a lot of dialogue when watching a movie. With this sound bar and it's dedicated speaker to dialogue I can hear everything! Made a world of difference towards movie enjoyment. Have had for a little over a year with no issues.

We exchanged a Larger sound system for this Zvox sound bar and couldn't be happier ! It sounds great and dialogue is incredibly clear . It's just enough sound and works just as the manual said it would.

It makes dialogue easy to hear and understand. The three levels of surround sound allow you to customize your listening environment. It also has a balance feature which maintains similar sound levels when changing channels or sound sources.

ZVOX = Happy Hearing! I have severe hearing loss and always needed the tv so loud everyone else was miserable! WE cannot believe what a difference this ZVOX makes with hearing the voices on tv CLEARLY! We don't have to have the volume blasting! My husband doesn't have to repeat everything for me! Don't even need the closed captioning turned on! This is a GAME-CHANGER! Prompt delivery! Even did a price-match! LOVE this! Easy to install!

We had another sound bar for our TV, but I was constantly upping the volume so I could try to follow conversations in shows. Even that didn't help much. Speech was still muffled. I was very frustrated, but not as much as my very patient wife, who had to put up with my constant sound adjustments. So I did some research about which sound bars handled folks like me who had hearing loss. I was skeptical, but bought this. WOW!!! What a difference, like night and day. We can now both hear dialogue in TV shows with the sound set at one level. Clearly. I have 10% hearing on one side, and only 60% on the other. Thanks to the technology in this system, I am enjoying my TV shows again. This bar has three "Surround" adjustments for different types of shows, as well as something called "Accuvoice" for especially challenging sound tracks. By the way, the "Sound Leveling" feature also works well. Commercials no longer jump about ten decibels. I am so glad I tried this product. Really added to my quality of entertainment enjoyment.

It is one of the best for the buck Sound bar on the market. The only thing I can say is a con is that the bass isn't too loud, other than that it is good.

Bought the item on a Wednesday and Sunday it went on sale. Called Best Buy and they said they will refund difference. Great. The product: solidly constructed and easy to set up. Placed as recommended it's 5+ inches high so may block tv sensor, but can be placed on back to make height about 3"...but that sacrifices seeing the display. No biggy. Dialog can now be heard! Amazing. Surround Sound settings pretty much all the same. But remember, it's a soundbar. It sounds great with music and the remote is responsive; as well as learning the cable remote easily. If it lasts it will be great. So far, so good.

We purchased a sound bar recommended by the sales person when we bought our new Sony flat screen TV. Obviously the sound bar was better than the TV audio but it never met our expectations. After a lot of research we settled on this sound bar and are so glad we did! It has exceeded our expectations by far, and we are very happy especially after setting it up with our existing television remote. Now we don’t have to use 2 remotes anymore. The AccuVoice feature is a huge plus. The sound bar is also easy to set up. Definitely recommend!!

I first tried entry-level JBL. It was on-sale. It was harder to set up and quality was disappointing fror such a well known brand. I took it back, got a second one and took that back. Sales rep recommended ZVOX SB500. It had a built-in subwoofer instead of a box that had to be paired like JBL. Much better quality, especially With a hearing issue. Very glad I made the switch. Shows volume level, unlike JBL. Can set up 3 levels of simulated surround-sound. Compatable with Comcast remote.