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

When I saw that deal post I wanted to jump on it for absolutely no practical reason. At this time in my life I wouldn't pay full price. Right now I'm using a Vizio M51a-H6 which I think sounds pretty good. I would have gladly paid the deal price for that upgrade.

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

https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/vizio/sv510x-0806 Rtings review is out.  In short it’s mediocre, and it can only do 2.0 over LPCM and has no HDMI inputs at all, so Nintendo switch is stereo only and other game consoles would need to be set to DD/DTS. As a result I wouldn’t recommend it, the older m51 series is better in every way, and there are bars at this price range that will properly do 5.1 LPCM.

EDIT: Woops I thought you were talking about the older higher-end m51-ax51.  But does it still work properly? Have you actually tested that it’s the proper channels?  In the Nintendo switch settings when you do sound test do you for sure hear 6 distinct sounds each from its own individual speaker? Also what TV and what firmware are you on? For me I don’t get 5.1 LPCM over eARC.  I get a simulated 5.1 that appears to be 5.1 but for example in the switch test the bass doesn’t activate and rear speakers get activated when they shouldn’t and the rear left and right are the same, and that’s the symptoms I’ve heard from pretty much anyone who has extensively tested it, even on PC.  Usually with an LG C series OLED.  In other words the surround is messed up. I have to use HDMI-IN for LPCM, from any source(PS5, switch, PC), to get proper surround.

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.

My tv speakers were so bad I bought a cheap Vizio 5.1 and it’s great for my needs Left right and sub and I think two more speakers in bar Has a pretty good Bluetooth to stream pandora from my phone Paid $139 on Amazon refurbished several years ago. I noticed just this week that Walmart has news ones for $199. But I wouldn’t over look refurbished on Amazon. Warranty not bad

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

It totally depends on the soundbar. I am still impressed with the Vizio 5.1 system’s ability to produce a really nice sounding virtual atmos experience. I also have a Polk Mini ax and in my opinion it doesn’t compare to the Vizio. I also have a Vizio 5.1.2 system and I’ll still stand by that system as THE top of the line budget system. Saying all of that I’ll conclude by saying, none of those systems match my Sony HT-A9, but I wouldn’t expect them to. I had an LG SP7Y and took it back within hours of purchase. It soured me on LG soundbars quickly. Also, if you’re looking for a budget system, don’t count out ONN’s 5.1 or 5.1.2. They both are surprisingly good.

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.

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

Be careful with soundbars and TV combinations with a PC, I cannot get my x570 PC to pass 5.1 channels through the TV (LGCX ) to the soundbar (Vizio M-series) via eArc.

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!

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.

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

How does the Vizio 5.1 use Dolby Atmos and not have upfiring speakers? I’m asking because I’m mounting it to the ceiling (golf simulator build and have to put it above a net so I don’t destroy it) so I specifically bought that one because it doesn’t have the upfiring speakers but still has atmos

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.