Vizio S4251w HTiB Sound Bar with Wireless Surrounds, Subwoofer Preview

Vizio's S4251w sound bar with wireless surrounds and subwoofer had us shaking our heads—not only at the price, but also at the features Vizio includes at prices that seem too incredible to believe. It's like they have completely different ways of sourcing their products than everyone else. It is easy to understand how they've gone from relative obscurity to marketplace relevance (if not dominance) in such a short time. 

At first the Vizio S4251w sound bar threw us for a loop. A sound bar with a wireless sub we understand. There are ton of similar products on the market. Next, they added surrounds that connect to the subwoofer rather than the surround bar. Okay, that's a bit different but not outside the realm of our imagination. Frankly, we like the idea. Surround Bars have a hard time creating a convincing surround experience and perhaps people will be more likely to use surrounds if they can be connected to a wireless sub—a subwoofer which will likely be placed near the back of the room anyhow. But then they announced that it is Bluetooth compatible. Bluetooth? So you can bypass your receiver, TV, and everything else to stream music? That's pretty "out there", but surely the price will reflect...$329.99?!?

Okay, we're being punked right?

Let's back up. The S4251w HTiB system includes a 42", three-channel sound bar to reproduce the front three channels. We think this is a very good solution as many people are upgrading (or have already upgraded) to a flat-panel display and now they are looking to upgrade the sound. That often means, in scenarios where aesthetics take precedent, a matching sound bar. The left and right channels feature two 3" drivers and one, .75" tweeter. The center channel sports two 2.5" full range drivers. This is an interesting choice and shows that Vizio is focused on giving you a better-than-average movie-watching experience. Since the center channel mostly reproduces the midrange vocals, the need for tweeters to reproduce the highest frequencies are less important for this channel. What it needs is a lot of output so that you can hear it over the other speakers. The left and right speakers are much more likely to have to reproduce higher frequencies for explosions and music so they've included tweeters.

Vizio has included enough inputs to get by with the S4251w sound bar. There is a stereo RCA analogue audio input, a 3.5mm stereo mini-jack (for use with your portable device though they have included an RCA to 3.5mm cable), a coaxial and an optical digital audio input, and a USB input. According to the spec sheet, the S4251w can only accept .WAV files through the USB port which is a bit strange. With the Bluetooth compatibility that may be moot for most users. There is no real information on the Bluetooth version but at this price point, if it works at all it will be enough. Vizio has included an LCD remote with the S4251w which displays status information—a very useful feature.

The S4251w sound bar can be wall mounted with the included bracket or placed on a shelf with the included feet. It weighs in at a very manageable 8.9 pounds. While HDMI is not on board, the S4251w supports Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Surround and has access to DTS TruVolume and DTS Circle Surround sound enhancement DSPs. Vizio has rated the S4251w sound bar 90Hz-20kHz, though we don't know how much variation is in that measurement. Vizio is quick to point out that they measured an output of 102 dB with less than 1% Total Harmonic Distortion with the S4251w.

The S4251w subwoofer is wireless and can be placed up to 60' away from the sound bar (likely in a vacuum with no other possible sources of interference). Expect about half that distance in your room. Vizio rates the S4251w subwoofer from 40Hz-90Hz. That sounds remarkably accurate (on the low end), though their press materials call it "room-shaking bass". We suppose it depends on what your room is made of though you're going to have to abuse that 6" driver pretty hard to do so. The 90Hz top end is a bit worrying and we're hoping it can extend a bit past that so that the sound bar and the sub mate well. The sub is quite small and light making it easy to place. At 6.93" wide by 12.52" tall by 15.86" deep and 14.7 pounds, you can probably have your kids carry it around the room until you find the best place for it. Clearly you'll want it towards the back, since the surrounds also connect to that unit.

There is really no information on the S4251w surround speakers other than their size. If you read the press materials and the website quickly, you may come away thinking that the surround speakers are wireless. But that doesn't seem to be the case. Vizio has specified that the S4251w kit comes with RCA cables for the surrounds. From what we can gather from the pictures, it looks like the S4251w satellite speakers will need to plugged into the subwoofer (likely the reason the sub is located next to the couch in all the promo pictures). The S4251w satellite speakers measure 3.18" wide by 7.42" tall by 2.77" deep. They should be easy to place though Vizio shows them on stands. Those don't seem to be included in the kit.

Conclusion

The Vizio S4251w has a lot of interesting features but none so much as the price. At $330, performance takes a backseat (likely in the trunk) for value and convenience. And the Vizio S4251w has both in spades. With a wireless subwoofer and surrounds that connect to it, you are looking at a product that is designed with the actual end-user in mind. At $330, it's practically an impulse buy. We see Vizio selling a lot of these.

For more information, please visit www.vizio.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.