VIZIO SB3651-F6 36" 5.1 Home Theater Sound Bar System, Black (Renewed)

2.0 out of 5 stars

By Kimberly K. - Reviewed in the United States on August 23, 2020

The sound bar is REALLY Good! However......

LOVED THE PRICE POINT AND REVIEWS OF THIS UNIT, so I took a chance. Out of the box, the sound bar, surround speakers and sub look incredibly chic and is EXTREMELY simple to connect and utilize. Remote is pretty cool, and simple to use. I have been able to “Bluetooth” pair several devices to it, which is cool for utilizing the in home amazon music network that we have established and use DAILY. ******Here is where the issue lies****** Now mind you it could be user error 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️, however I am pretty tech savvy, or at least good with directions 😅😉) And for the life of me, I CANNOT get the sub (that has the surround speakers connected to it (via cables)) to pair. I have FOLLOWED the directions to a “T”. Went so far as to do a soft reset, disconnected EVERYTHING, started over, tried googling trouble shooting, used the troubleshooting feature in the Vivió SmartCast app, uninstalled, reinstalled, tried several different WiFi and Bluetooth modes, and FOR THE LIFE OF ME, I am unable to get the sub and surround speakers to pair with the sound bar (or any other Bluetooth device for that matter). ••I realize this is a review, however, if you’ve got the “magic fix” to my issue, PLEASE let me know. Lol•• If I can get this thing functional, I will update the reviews, if not, sadly I will have to return. 😢

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Tiffany M. Bryant - Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2019

Sounds great if it works

Have this connected to the HDMI ARC and it loses connection every time the TV is turned off so have to set it back up each time . The remote control works when it wants to . They got me on this one . Too much trouble to send back

5.0 out of 5 stars

By DataComa - Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2020

GREAT BANG for the buck! Easily achieve a movie theater experience in 400 Sq ft!

So I was going to upload photos but I think the pictures are pretty clear on what you are getting overall! First a couple of things to note: 1) The speaker mount holes are a mere 5 mm screw that is about 1 mm thick. They are very light but the "surround" is not overly distorted and I would say about 20 feet away from the main sound bar you can immediately notice the left, center and right channels within the same audio sensitivity (think decibels or loudness). 2) The app does not allow a cast without a Vizio TV that supports "Smartcasting" - a proprietary Vizio set up to help support their TV (not bad considering Quantum is a great pick for a TV). 3) The DTS:X Virtualization is not solely for Movies but works wonders with all 5 channels enabled under "Surround" and the right equalizer preset enabled. 4) "Tru Volume" is a must IMHO for any high quality source (I use HDMI ARC or up to 12 bit via Bluetooth) since the rear channels can automatically adjust to the decibels of the front channels. Without TruVolume a lot of Stereo sources which are upscaled seem to sound "imbalanced" and even live news reports can sound "grainy" without it enabled and music can sound a little distorted from a non native 5.1 source. 5) These speakers fire at their best "straight" and the subwoofer is in its optimal position when the sound is hitting about 1 ft away from "a wall" (you can see the subwoofer is also "straight" firing). 6) I was reading elsewhere people ditching this particular model due to the lack of dialog enhancing features (which improve clarity) but in all honesty the preset modes (DIRECT, MOVIES, MUSIC) worked fine and I had no problem with the dialog and haven't touched the balance of the standard factory preset. 7) Do not use Bluetooth for 5.1 sound! The reason is connected to your TV it is likely the incoming source will upscale stereo (2 channel) rather than play 5.1 natively. Also the HDMI ARC will offer the highest bit rate for audio! 8) HDMI ARC issues exist with some models and I remember reading someone else complain that the highest volume cannot be achieved as the result of limitations with the soundbar. On my TCL Roku TV the volume would not go beyond a level of "38" however there is a way to achieve very high levels of sound at over 100 dB from about 20 feet away simply by disabling the native "receiver control". On my Android TV the remote for my TV only adjusts the LED lighting on the side of the sound bar with no indication of the volume level from the TV whatsoever. This is nice if you are into creating a "theater mode". However be very careful when you are adjusting the volume outside of the soundbar's remote as the results may offer unintended jumps in the volume levels. 9) The added HDMI-IN is a very convenient way to "double" the occupied port on your TV especially if it's mounted on a wall like mine. 10) As others have complained the menu on the remote is a kind of e-ink that is hardly visible in low lighting. As a result I recommend using the app (though it has happened that updated settings will not "stick"). 11) There have been issues with some STREAMING sources that have made audio seem "echoey" most notably: Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Purge: Anarchy made dialog almost "inaudible" in some scenes. However switching the preset to DIRECT (to not modify the source's audio), disabling DTS:X Virtualization, and keeping the Surround channels on allowed an "ordinary" bit rate to not get distorted when creating the virtual channels. 12) Left Center and Right are CLEARLY audible in terms of position and virtualization makes them almost impossible to discern "centrally" from a front facing sound bar. Vizio made a GREAT sound bar and it looks very stylish. 13) My only caveat is with the tiny LEDs that indicate volume level and several settings. There are no lights on the top where inputs can be switched or volume can be adjusted. However I presume it's to keep the sound bar as LOW PROFILE as possible and they even offer a night mode (see what I read about virtualization enhancing where audio is "coming from")

1.0 out of 5 stars

By carl maultsby - Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2019

Not what I was looking for.

The bar cuts off whenever it wants to. Can't get the sub woofer to with the soundbar. Over all this deal was a bust.

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Ryan Campbell - Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2020

Stopped working after 30 min

I got this for my parents and after 30 min it made some beeping sounds and stopped working. Would love a refund or a working model. It was great for the 30 min it worked!

3.0 out of 5 stars

By J. Griffin - Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2020

Good for TV, Bad for Wifi, Spotify and Casting

Good product connected to your TV, but not so great as a stand alone speaker system. Before buying, it was hard to know which system to get and compare features for particular use cases. There was very little info on Casting from Spotify. I tested Bluetooth and wifi on Google home, chromecast via Spotify. I am technically proficient. At first, to test, I set up as stand alone. Set up Bluetooth, which works fine, but not ideal if you leave the room with your phone or want to use your phone for two sound purposes simultaneously. Wifi and casting... Not good at all. It was super tedious to get going, and it just kept being a pain to cast and connect. I use Spotify a lot. It just never connected reliably. Installed app on phone, One Plus Android, updated firmware of soundbar, etc. Set up on Google Home multiple ways. None were reliable. The worst is - they default the speaker to eco mode, that drove me bonkers. Don't use, you have manually go to the sound bar and power out on, every time. Ultimately, it gets one stars for Spotify and Casting. You can get it to work, but it is finicky, it never worked automatically. It must cases music only came from the soundbar and not the sub woofer or two rear speakers! Otherwise it sounds quite good for the money.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By ryan mauchamer - Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2020

Great sound and came in great condition

bought referbed and you would never be able to tell...everything is top notch! Very happy