VIZIO - M-Series 5.1 Home Theater Sound Bar (M51a-H6)

VIZIO has good middle of the road soundbars, which is enough since you are settling for second level sound quality anyway for modern features like Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and convenience. I paid $249 for mine in 2021. Frankly, it doesn't compare to a true channel based AVR/Amplifier system with dedicated speakers, but it will suffice. I have a VIZIO M-Series M51a H6 Soundbar that fulfills my needs for the family room, but I also have a Sony STR-DH750 7.2 Channel (5.1.2 setup) AVR system in my Retreat for a greater home theater experience.

I always recommend selecting a Soundbar from the same manufacturer of your TV. I have the VIZIO M-Series M51a (H6) Soundbar mated with a M-Series M65Q6-L4 TV and I keep the firmware on both up to date. I haven't had any major issues and when there's an issue, I simply reboot both units.

Can't you bump up your budget to $400? You can get this Vizio M51AX-J6 (this is mine, it's excellent) or it's sibling vizio m51a-h6. These are solid sub-$500 choices that come in at or around $300-$350. Look https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/vizio/m-series-m51a-h6

When I googled the M51-h I saw it for $299..

I bought Vizio M51A-H6 from Sam's $199 on 2023. It's 5.1 Dolby Atmos system with subwoofer and two rear speakers

Out of the 2, the LG is better but not by enough to really warrant the price difference. Gotta Vizio.

It's this one: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sku/6583400.p?skuId=6583400&sb_share_source=PDP

I'm in the same boat. I got the vizio m series h6 from amazon for 380$ and it will be delivered tomorrow,I'm not sure if I should cancel that and get this samsung, is it a huge difference?

I actually ended up sticking to my vizio since I see this samsung is not really wireless so you need to connect the rear and the front speaker to the receiver and people mostly said it's just better than the tv speaker. The wire did it for me tho. I don't wanna wire my living room front to back so I have to always be careful that me or a guest won't tip off of it.

This m series h6 does not have receiver,it just the sw to rear. Also 4 years is not really bad.I don't think Samsung last that long.

I have that Vizio 5.1 and it's definitely worth it for the price

Got a Vizio 5.1 sound bar setup hooked up via HDMI arc Latency isn't bad, it's like on average like 85ms (more or less depending on the system and game). I only had to get it to 300ms on Fortnite Festival but that's just standard for some ungodly reason.

I have the 5.1 version of this that I bought years ago and I still love it. It’s being used right now! I can’t believe the amount of bass from the cute little sub.

On 10/30/24 i purchased a brand new M-series Vizio 5.1 dolby atmos soundbar from walmart. This unit was brand new in the box, with all hardware still in sealed plastic bags. After setting up unit, it would not switch to the hdmi port consistently. Once it did, it would continue to switch from whatever imput to a random imput. I called the tech support. Gave them the serial number. They checked serial number and went thru over 40 minutes of troubleshooting before it was determined the unit was faulty out of the box. After checking, he determined I bought the unit that day, and it was under warranty. I was told I would get a unit the NEXT DAY ( I asked if I might get it by the next monday) He asked me to verify the purchase, by texting the reciept. I sent him a copy, he asked for a better version, sent him that. He approved the exchange. Got my email addrees, mailing address etc. Was told I would get an email regarding sending the unit back. I never received any phone call back, or email regarding the faulty product. So here we are Tuesday, November 5th and I still have not received the promised unit. THis company sold me a lemon. Now a week later, they tried to say i bought the product in July! After this over an hour on the phone with them approving giving me a WORKING UNIT! So, now they say my unit was not brand new, that it was bought before, and they do not have to do anything about giving me a broken BRAND NEW unit out of the box! They said deal with walmart. A I live 30 miles and a bridge away from Walmart. B They allready approved and never said anything about it being renewed when I was troubleshooting it! SO now they are selling renewed as new? Such horrible practice. I want a brand new working system like they promised! This is the worst. I bought a brand new product and now they dont want to give me a replacement because of the replacement cost. They also said they were going to give me this years model as well!

Vizio M-series? Really good 5.1 for the price range for sure. V-series has a major issue though

Found a Vizio M series for 80 bucks, it was a steal. It’s really good

M series is what i would buy. Reviews have looked like it punches above its price point.

[Here’s a list of top soundbars for under $300](https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/best/by-price/under-300) The Vizio M series is probably your best bet for a budget soundbar and overall sound experience. Note that dialogue usually only comes out of the soundbar itself and not the surround speakers, the surrounds are there to add an immersive experience for action scenes where sounds are coming from behind/around you but generally dialogue is limited to the soundbar itself due to the audio mix, so focus on a soundbar with good dialogue vs thinking that adding surround speakers will make your dialogue sound better.

I own number 6 and another Vizio one that isn't on here, the first version of the Elevate sound bar. The m series listed is in my bedroom and it's actually a pretty good soundbar I kind of wish the sub and the surrounds were slightly bigger but it still has a good sound stage with clear dialogue. The Dolby Atmos speakers are on the bar towards the center so it's kinda hard to make out over head effects without doing it virtually. The 2020 version of the Vizio Elevate is in my living room and it's an amazing soundbar! It's a 5.1.4 setup with the Atmos speakers on the bar and the rear surrounds facing up. The ones on the bar rotate up with Atmos is detected. The sub is 8" and it really packs a punch, can be a bit overpowered but you can turn it down to your liking. The sound stage is huge with clear dialogue and having 4 ceiling facing speakers for Atmos really helps hear anything that's mixed for over head effects. This soundbar doesn't really get much love but I think it's really great especially if you can find it on sale, it's normal price is $1,000 but right now Best Buy has it for $540 which is actually a great deal for this soundbar.

Congrats OP! I did this early last year. I went from a basic ass Bose sounds to a Vizio 5.1 with atmos. Had to get a sound isolation pad under my subwoofer because I’m in an apartment building

Vizio's sound bars are surprisingly great. I have an old 5.1 system. The only issue I've encountered is one where it shuts off randomly, but maybe the new systems like that one don't have that problem.

3.1.2 is the soundbar with 3 integrated speakers (Left, Center, Right), 1 subwoofer, and 2 upfiring speakers integrated into the soundbar that bounces sound off your ceiling. It will not give you real surround sound compared to a 5.1 or 5.1.2 atmos system. I would go with Vizio if you want surround sound (Left, Center, Right, Rear Left, Rear Right, Subwoofer). Vizio also has Atmos-Surround solutions with their Elevate series.