Review: ZVOX Z-Base 550

Written on Jan 2, 2009 by Steve and filed under Reviews, ZVOX Audio

The ZVOX Z-Base 550 is a new low profile sound-bar style sound system that doubles as a base for your TV.  ZVOX has several “Single Cabinet Suround Sound System” products, but the Z-Base 550 is the first one that is meant for this double-use.  If you’re looking for a compact sound system that offers better audio than your TV, the Z-Base 550 may be an option for you.

Product Description and Details

The Z-Base 550 enclosure is constructed of MDF (medium density fiberboard) and measures 3-5/8″ tall, by 14.5″ deep, by 28″ wide.  It is designed to handle TVs with screens from 26-50″, with bases that are less than 27″ wide and less than 14″ deep.  According to the manual, the TV needs to weigh less than 90 pounds.

The 550 also looks very good.  It’s painted a matte black with a black perforated metal front grill – it’s sleek enough to look good underneath your TV, but simple enough to blend in well with your setup.

Moving inside the enclosure, the ZVOX marketing materials state that they don’t skimp on materials or speaker technology.  There are five 2″ main speaker drivers that use ferrofluid and neodymium magnets and the 5.25″ subwoofer uses a “high-mass long-throw design in a ported enclosure”.  To prevent any magnetic interference from the speakers to any electronics next to the enclosure, the 550 is magnetically shielded.  A 60 watt amplifier drives the speakers and the system has a frequency range of 45Hz – 20kHz.

The virtual surround sound that can be output by the 550 is provided by ZVOX’ proprietary PhaseCue system.  ZVOX is fairly quick to mention that this system is not equal to the surround capability of a 5.1 system.  Their stance is that the 550 is the best quality, most simple to set up system that will give you some surround sound capability in a single enclosure system.

As far as inputs, there are simply two sets of RCA inputs.   Your primary device should be plugged into Input 1 since the second set of inputs don’t work unless there is something plugged in there.  The two sets of inputs automatically “mix”, so that if you’re playing audio from two devices, you’ll hear audio from both.  The only other “input” is the jack to plug in the AC adapter.

If you have a separate subwoofer, there is a single RCA output from the Z-Base 550.  The output from the 550 on this jack is a full-frequency, monaural connection, so your subwoofer needs to have a variable crossover.  ZVOX suggests that you set this crossover to be at 90Hz.

In the box with the 550, ZVOX includes the remote control, a 2 meter RCA to RCA cable, a short (but complete) manual, and the power adapter.

Setup, Usage, and Performance

Setup couldn’t be more simple – just plug in the power cable and connect the audio output jacks on your TV to the Input 1 jacks on the back of the Z-Base 550.  By the way, take a quick breeze through the manual – it’s very short, but has lots of good information and once you read it, you’ll never have to refer to it again.  Once everything is powered up, you can control the volume of the 550 using its remote, but it’s probably easier if you link the volume to your TV volume.  Most TVs have the ability to set audio output to “variable” so that when you increase your TV volume, the output signal is louder as well.

The included remote control is the only way to adjust the settings of the Z-Base 550 (unless, of course, you have the TV audio set to variable output).  Frist, you can mute, toggle the power, and toggle the auto on/off functionality.  By default, the 550 will power itself on a couple seconds after it detects an audio signal and then will automatically power off after 2-3 minutes with no audio signal.  The Auto On/Off button defeats this functionality.

From there, you can adjust the volume, PhaseCue level, subwoofer level and treble level.  For each setting, there are 9 levels.  You can tell if you’re maxed out (or bottomed out) if the blue LED behind the front grill doesn’t flash when you push the buttons on the remote.

Now that we’ve set things up and we know how to use it, then how does it actually sound?  Well, in a nutshell, overall quality is better than your TV speakers (even if they provide virtual surround sound), but not quite as impressive as a full multiple-piece home theater system.  The PhaseCue surround effect is quite good with programming that is capable of it (newer movies and sports).  You’ll definitely need to  adjust it to your ear.  I found that for sports, like a football game, a higher level of PhaseCue created a nice effect of being in the stadium, with fan noise all around you.  However, during movies, I needed to turn down the PhaseCue to make the dialog a little clearer.  At high levels of effect during movies, you hear more of the background noise to the detriment of any dialog.  The 550 manual actually gives some pointers to this effect.  As you would expect, the PhaseCue surround effect is also most effective right in front of the enclosure.  The surround effect changes as you move away from that central axis, but it’s a wide enough to work in most setups.

One thing that I was disappointed about was the level of bass coming from the subwoofer.  It may just be my preference, but I couldn’t quite get enough oomph out of the Z-Base 550.  Its size makes it just not able to get that seat-rumbling effect possible with a dedicated subwoofer unit.  The ability, then, to connect an external subwoofer will come in handy for those who like as much bass as I do.

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a speaker system that gives your TV a bit more oomph and are looking for something that’s simple to set up or you have another good reason for not getting a full 5.1-capable home theater system, then the ZVOX Z-Base 550 is certainly worth consideration.  However, a current price of just under $500 puts it at the higher end of the soundbar market, so you definitely need that good reason for ruling out a full 5.1 home theater system.  You do get a high-quality speaker enclosure with high-quality speakers that can double as a TV stand.  The audio output is good to excellent, just not with the power that you’d find in a full system.  The virtual surround sound effect is also very good and easy to customize its level.

4 out of 5 stars

Where to Buy

At the moment, the Z-Base 550 can be purchased directly from ZVOX Audio.