The Zvox AV357 sound bar is on sale on Amazon

There are two reasons why you need a sound bar 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). You’ve probably noticed that sometimes you have to turn up the volume just to catch what’s being said, and then everything else seems too loud. Any soundbar will help, but the Zvox AV357 soundbar will help a batch: It is specifically designed to enhance vocals. Originally priced at $250, the Zvox AV357 is currently on sale for just $150, the lowest price on record.

Zvox has several of these “AccuVoice” soundbars in its lineup, but the AV357 is one of the few that’s encased in a wood veneer case. If you’re not a fan of the typical black metal look of most electronics, you might find this one suits your decor better.

It measures 24 inches wide and is designed to sit in front of your TV; This particular sound bar cannot be wall mounted unless you provide your own shelf for it.

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 to connect the soundbar to your TV’s optical audio port. Unfortunately, there’s no HDMI option here, which means you might not be able to control the soundbar with your TV remote or cable box – not without a bit of a hopping anyway. The AV357 can be manually programmed to accept volume and mute commands from most remote controls.

If you don’t want to mess around with that, the Zvox remote is excellent, with clearly labeled tactile buttons.

The unit consists of three speakers in total, including a central one that is dedicated to vocals. There’s some electronic wizardry at work, too, in the form of Zvox’s AccuVoice technology, which helps really isolate and enhance dialogue. While I haven’t tested this exact model, I’ve tested several other Zvox speakers (including one that made Yahoo’s list of the best soundbars of 2023) and believe me when I say that AccuVoice works great. There’s also an output leveling feature designed to turn down the volume of TV commercials, and three levels of virtual surround sound (although using the latter will disable AccuVoice).

I particularly like the large, easy-to-read LED display on the front of the soundbar. It uses numbers to show volume level and abbreviations to help you through mode selections.

My only real complaint is the lack of Bluetooth connectivity; You can’t use this as a speaker to stream music from your phone or tablet. (Zvox touts an “Alexa-ready” feature, but that just means connecting an Amazon Echo speaker.)

That limitation aside, the Zvox AV357 is a great option for older viewers or anyone who is hard of hearing. And at this price it’s hard to pass up.

Amazon

Zvox AV357 Soundbar for 24″ wooden TV

$150$250save $100

Tired of reading subtitles? The Zvox AV357 features 12 levels of speech enhancement goodness, so you can catch every word spoken, without having to read. This is the lowest price in the history of the product.

$150 on Amazon

If you have Amazon Prime, you’ll get free shipping, of course. Still are you not a member? No problem. You can sign up for your free 30-day trial here. (And by the way, those without Prime still get free shipping on orders of $25 or more.)

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Originally Posted 2 February 2023, 21:23