VIZIO - M51ax-J6

I got the m51ax-j6 which is pretty much the same. It’s a great little system that immerses you enough. I thought of upgrading too for the deal price but If I were to pay $1300+ I’d just go for a full home theater system

I had a Vizio soundbar, it was Vizio M51ax-j6 and it said it had Dolby Atmos, idk what you mean by "true Dolby Atmos" but I loved that soundbar, and if you have the tv in like a room or an small/medium size living room I think it should be more than enough, I only changed it because I went all out in a Q990D (which is definitely an upgrade but is not day and night different like it is going from tv speakers to a soundbar)

A Vizio M51AX-J6 is close to that price range (if you pick the right time for a sale, it should drop into that range). I have one, and I love it. It's a 5.1 setup with satellite speakers (if you don't have the space to position the satellites optimally, it has a front-surround mode where all the speakers sit together in front of your tv), and it supports uncompressed PCM as well as the lossless versions of Dolby and DTS. The DTS will be especially helpful, since the C5 can't play DTS on it own, but the HDMI-in port on the soundbar can allow external devices to access DTS (the only caveat being that the soundbar only supports HDMI 2.0, which is enough for a 4K Blu-ray player, but if you want to play games, you'll have to choose between 4K or 120 fps, instead of both at once).

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

The reason I'm suggesting that you bump up your budget is because after about a year, you're going to be de-sensitized to any sound from a 3.1 system. The difference between these Vizio DTS DTX supported surround sound systems and even a high quality 3.1 is dramatic. I've had it for about 2 years now in February and I did a lot of research when I chose the one that I purchased that I suggested. I found that even if I jumped up to about $700 the system that I purchased is competitive because the atmos feature is really hard to pin down. The other issue is a lot of these high-end systems they have proprietary logic, in the operate on different channels and they could interfere with your Wi-Fi. That could be even possible on the low end of the systems that you're looking at.

It's truly crazy how good these "mid range" Vizio systems are. I have the M51AX-J6 after researching for quite a while. I was hesitant to drop $800 or more without getting an idea of how a surround setup will sound in my media room. I almost pulled the trigger on an Elevate but opted to start with the ax-j6 and see. Now, after two years, I'm scared to try to replace it. It's great with music and movies. I'm kind of one of those guys who if I pay $600 more for a product to replace one that I have now that works very well, it BETTER BE SMOKING GOOD and blow me away. When I saw the 990D systems had that "bricking" failure after software upgrade, I was shocked anyone would buy them right now.

If you don't mind sticking with Vizio, I've bought two of these [Vizio M Series M51ax\-J6](https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/vizio/m-series-m51ax-j6) - one for myself shortly after it came out, and one as a gift back in November. Paid a bit over $300 for the first, roughly $170 for the second one - a refurbished deal on ebay. Very good sound, more than loud enough for my apartment, good bass, clear dialogue, decent satellites, eArc, DolbyA/DTS. If you can get one for under $200, doubt you'll regret it.

i have that same situation so i bought a Vizio M51AX-J6 Soundbar 5.1 with dolby atmos and dts:x. The rear speakers are hardwired to the wireless sub.

I'll say this as a Vizio 5.1 owner, it's alright. It's very light, plastic and simple. Plug into your earc connection, that's the only choice you have. There's no remote (which I'm ok with, tired of too many remotes). The app sucks. It's slow to connect and move around. The sound quality is cool. I'm not an audiophile. I don't have the ears for that anymore. But my 4k blu rays of Dune Part 2, Deadpool and Wolverine, and LOTR all were pretty fun. The tiny sub put out more bass than I expected. The sound is very localized, you know which speaker is making noises. I came from a 10+ year old Vizio sound bar, but the price for this one ($160 black Friday) was very tempting. This will be the last Vizio product I buy. I'm saving up for a standalone 5.1 later. But for right now, it's fun. I don't expect it to last ten years, like my last one did. Don't expect to be amazed, just enjoy the boom and rumble lol

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 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.

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.

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.