Stand and Deliver
As the video capability of high definition flat panel televisions has become increasingly sophisticated, it seems as though the audio quality of these panels has been heading in the opposite direction. As more and more consumers move toward external audio solutions, a slew of companies have moved to provide simple, compact home theater audio systems. ZVOX is primarily an internet-based company that has been producing compact sound systems/bars for more than five years. The company has sought to set itself apart from the crowd by designing the simplest solutions -- single cabinet surround sound systems -- of which the Z-Base 550 Low-Profile Single-Cabinet Surround Sound System is the most recent effort.
Z Who?
ZVOX is a collaboration between president and product developer Tom Hannaher and speaker designer Winslow Burhoe. Together, their combined experience at such companies as Acoustic Research, Advent, Cambridge Soundworks, EPI, Genesis, Boston Acoustics, and Energy has encompassed more than a fair share of quality sound. In the interest of full disclosure, my introduction to quality audio began with friends in high school who owned Genesis loudspeakers as well as requesting (well, begging actually) my parents buy a pair of Advent loudspeakers for my graduation present.
ZVOX is a company with a decidedly biased point of view when it comes to designing sound systems and their design choices are clearly spelled out on their website. Hannaher and Burhoe strongly prefer analog and have limited digital circuitry in their designs. Unlike many other companies that use plastic to decrease cost and increase design flexibility, ZVOX only uses wood -- in the form of Medium-Density Fiberboard (MDF) -- cabinets because wood just plain sounds better. They do not use digital processing, but instead employ analog, phase-manipulated sound to create their virtual surround sound. ZVOX refuses to use tiny drivers to create smaller designs at the expense of audio quality.
ZVOX is more concerned with audio quality and accuracy than with surround sound effects, so if a discrete surround sound experience is of primary importance, you may need to look elsewhere. Indeed, in my conversation with Tom Hannaher he detailed their systems' audio priorities in the following descending order; audio accuracy, vocal clarity, dynamic impact, bass, and, lastly, surround sound.
Previous ZVOX designs have enjoyed pretty much unanimous positive reviews, but placement of the diminutive yet still substantial speaker module can present a challenge for some. The new Z-Base 550 answers the question “Where the hell do I put that sound bar when my television sits on an equipment rack or inside custom cabinetry?” At just 28” wide, 14.5” deep, and 3.5” high, the Z-Base 550 can sit happily beneath the pedestal base included with most flat panel televisions, only raising the set a few inches above its current height on an equipment rack or cabinet.
As long as your TV's built-in pedestal stand or attached feet measure in at 27” wide by 13” deep or less and the TV's total weight is no more than 90 pounds, then you're in business. My 46-inch Panasonic plasma was at the high end of the weight limit, but posed no problems for the 550. Most 52-inch and below LCD and plasma flat panels should be supported but check your specs (and measure your base) to make sure.
Z Design
The twenty pound cabinet houses five 2” front-firing speaker drivers (three mono center channel drivers, one left and one right channel drivers), a 5.25” down firing, rear ported subwoofer, and a sixty watt amplifier. The 550 comes with a small external power supply, a two meter RCA-RCA interconnect, and a credit card sized remote control. In an effort to keep the front panel clean, there is no display other than a small blue light which serves to indicate that the unit is powered on and flashes to indicate remote control directives. The rear panel includes a main power switch, two mixing analog inputs and an external subwoofer hook-up for those who want even more bass.
The 550 employs two design concepts which function to help the cabinet disappear and create an open sound with a wide soundstage. First, the ZVOX Infinite Compliance system connects the left and right channel front speakers with an acoustical tube which ZVOX claims creates a "bigger" sound. Second, their Phase Cue system mixes various levels of in phase and out of phase signal into their left and right channel drivers which creates a wider sound stage. The Phase Cue system is user adjustable with nine levels of adjustment. ZVOX recommends lower settings for listening to music and higher settings for watching television/film.
Fit and finish are quite nice for a unit at this price point. The side panels have a hand lacquered, high gloss black finish. The top of the unit is a more rugged matte black vinyl to handle the panel's platform with resistance to scratching. The face is a well fit, handsome metal grill. A nice surprise, but not on display, is a brushed metal rear plate (is that the opposite of face plate?) which houses the few input/output jacks.
Z Set-Up
Setting up the 550 was ridiculously simple (other than the lifting of my 90 pound plasma panel). Once the ZVOX unit was settled under my panel, setup simply involved plugging the unit into an AC source and connecting the RCA cables from the output of my panel to the input of the 550. I used the second set of analog inputs to connect my CD player. As the inputs are mixing (if you have both sources playing, you will hear the sound from both units), the second set of inputs is best left for music sources as you would be likely to have the television turned off when listening to these. And speaking of turning things off, if your TV has a "speaker on/off" setting in the audio set-up menu, then set it to OFF to disable the TV's own internal speakers. Once you hear the 550 in action, it's unlikely you'll ever want to hear your TV speakers again.
In terms of using a mixing input paradigm, vs. discrete input switching, ZVOX's thinking here is this; instead of putting money into input switching which would increase the product's price point, why not have the consumer use their TV for that? All video sources are already plugged into the TV already, so why complicate things unnecessarily? Indeed, the biggest challenge to the setup was venturing into the wire jungle that is the rear of my entertainment center.
Z Ergonomics
The 550 was generally easy to use, but I did have my quibbles. One feature I loved is the input-sensing auto power on/off function. You select this by pressing the auto on/off button on the remote. With this feature enabled, simply turning on your panel turns on the 550 one second later. Turn off your panel and two to three minutes later the 550 turns itself off. This feature makes using the 550 for television viewing every bit as simple as using your TV's built-in speakers, and if your TV has variable line level outputs (most flat panels do) or your cable or satellite set-top box has its own variable outputs, then you can safely tuck the ZVOX remote into a corner somewhere (believe me, you'll want to) and control the volume from your TV's remote or cable box remote. Of course, the ZVOX remote can also control the volume as well as other advanced features such as phase cue level, subwoofer, and treble levels, but these are not things you're likely to adjust often.
And this is exacerbated by the lack of a front panel display. Without a simple visual indication on the unit itself, counting button pushes on the remote with the corresponding blue light flashes on the unit's front panel is the only way to determine the volume, phase cue, subwoofer, and treble settings. The remote's consistent lack of reliability made it more difficult to set and change these settings. Hoping that I had just received a bad remote, I requested another and ZVOX, to their credit, sent out another remote immediately. Unfortunately, the second remote functioned similarly.
In addition, there is no way to control the unit's advanced functions without the remote, so loss or damage to it will be an issue. Fortunately, there are some possible workarounds. For television viewing, I tended to set the phase cue, subwoofer, and treble levels and leave them, only using the volume control to set a base volume level for TV watching. Once volume was set, I used my cable box/dvr remote to change volume for commercials, etc. Alternatively, it should be possible to program a universal remote control to operate the unit, but I did not have one available to try.
In a perfect world, I would have liked to have a more substantial, more reliable remote, and at least a temporary (disappearing?) LCD or LED display on the front panel with a better indication of volume and phase cue levels. Oh, and would a left/right speaker balance function be too much to ask?
Z Performance Highlights
The Z-Base 550 can produce terrible sound and yet I liked it a lot. Huh? Clearly, the frigid weather in New York City lately has left this reviewer delirious with cabin fever. Well, despite my neurotic tendencies, I assure you I am sane. Allow me to explain.
Some people like their audio systems to make everything sound "good," even if it's bad. Recall the extensive use of separate equalizer boxes in audio systems in the past. Alternatively, high end audiophile control units (preamplifiers) rarely have any controls other than volume and balance. Quality audio systems lay bare the source material rather than trying to color/manipulate it. As the saying goes, "garbage in, garbage out."
The 550 quite clearly falls into the audiophile category. If you use it to play poorly recorded, compressed audio then don't be surprised when you get virtually unlistenable audio from the 550 (well, at least to an audio snob such as myself). But use it to play back high quality audio recordings from good CDs, LPs, DVDs and Blu-ray Discs - even broadcast HDTV programs and movies - and glorious sound shall emerge. In short, the 550 is highly accurate and will quickly reveal the quality of the source material. As a long time audiophile with a $20K plus reference two-channel audio system, my preference is audio accuracy/truth. This, however, may not be everyone's preference.
Z Sound
Needing the help of a worker in my building to lift my panel while my wife slid the 550 in place, my first listen to the unit happened midday when I had little time before needing to leave for an appointment. I turned on my panel and MSNBC came on. The sound on the 550 was unremarkable and indeed, sounded like it was coming from a box. Flipping around to other stations which included talk shows, soap operas, etc. resulted in the same. A film on HDNet brought the sound out of the box a bit, but still sounded compressed and bright. Hmm… I left for my appointment a bit concerned.
Returning later, I turned to a recording of the Rockefeller tree lighting show I had dvr'd a few nights earlier. Voila! The 550's box disappeared replaced by a wide soundstage and open, airy sound with a lush, warm midrange and surprising extension/weight on the bottom. Ah, now I get it. I'm dealing with an accurate sound system. The 550 is telling the audio truth. Most prime time television sounded great on the 550 with clear dialogue, voices with weight and body, and a deep, solid bottom end. With the generally high gain on most television programming, the 550 had plenty of power to attain satisfying levels. When some programming tended toward a bit of brightness at higher volumes, bringing the phase cue down a notch or two usually removed the rough edge. The competition between the 550 and my high-end Panasonic TH-46PZ800U panel's own sound system was no competition at all.
Over the past three weeks listening to broadcast television, CDs, and standard DVD and Blu-ray Disc film soundtracks, the 550's sonic signature remains the lack of any significant sonic signature. Just as with crappy standard definition images that looked OK on your old 27-inch tube TV but look horrid on your huge new high resolution flat panel HDTV - so goes the 550 with audio sources. Feed it something bad, and you'll get bad sound. But feed it something good and it will sound absolutely wonderful. Delicate airy highs, warm, rich, detailed midrange, and a deep, satisfying foundation have emerged from the 550. The point here is that the 550 is capable of producing highly satisfying audio. When it doesn't you can pretty much point your finger at the source material (well, a little more about that later).
To evaluate the 550's ability to reproduce acoustic instruments and voice, I turned to the Holly Cole Trio. On Girl Talk, a simple CD recording of acoustic piano, acoustic bass, and Holly Cole's vocals, the 550 rendered the acoustic instruments remarkably well, no easy feat for a budget speaker system. Ms. Cole's hardy, soulful vocals came through with all of the warmth, clarity, and raw emotion intact. But it was Susan McKeown and Lindsey Horner's obscure, stunning recording of Irish influenced, seasonal offerings, Through the Bitter Frost and Snow, which demonstrated the real ability of the 550. The reproduction of Ms. Mckeown's voice and Lindsey Horner's acoustic bass with such musical accuracy and satisfaction should not be possible on a playback unit in this price range. I am very familiar with this recording and I have seen Susan McKeown and Lindsey Horner live many times in small, intimate clubs and this recording played on the 550 is what they sound like. Powerful, oh so tuneful, and superbly recorded acoustic bass occasionally played with a bow reproduces in lovely fashion. I admit that beautiful music passages played back with accuracy and conveyed emotion give me goose bumps and I got them multiple times listening to this recording on the 550. Indeed, I only planned on sampling a few songs, but ended up listening to the entire CD.
To further explore vocals, I tried the Reference Recording HDCD of John Rutter's Requiem featuring the Turtle Creek Chorale and the Women's Chorus of Dallas. This recording presented the 550 with some challenges. Reference Recordings are recorded properly at very low levels relative to other CDs to allow the headroom necessary for large dynamic swings. To get realistic sound levels required turning the volume up on the 550. This resulted in some brightness to the pipe organ and louder choral passages which I attribute to the 550's amplifier limitations. Quieter portions of this recording, however, were absolutely gorgeous with a deep foundation from the pipe organ and the chorale portrayed properly as a collection of individual voices. The last selection, A Gaelic Blessing, was stunning and, once again, had me wondering how a sound system at this price point could sound this good.
I recently purchased the Rhino reissue of the classic Yes album, Close to the Edge. Played on my reference system, the reissue is a horrendous disappointment compared to the original LP (no, not a faulty memory, I still have the LP and played it to compare). The CD's sound is compressed, lacking significant bottom with a forward, biting, bright midrange. Interestingly, the disc sounds better in my car's colored audio system which pushes bottom and seems to warm the midrange. Playback on the 550 sounded much the same as my reference system with an insubstantial bottom and forward, bright midrange. Sounded like garbage. Switching to the Cowboy Junkies phenomenal one microphone recording, The Trinity Sessions, and once again I'm listening to real music. Ah, audio truth.
Where the 550 began to demonstrate its limitations was on some more demanding DVD and Blu-ray Disc soundtracks. Don't get me wrong, the sound system still accorded itself well, and absolutely destroyed the TV's built-in speakers, but there are limits of both physics and economics at play here and the 550 cannot entirely make these disappear. On soundtracks without thunderous low frequency information, the 550 did a great job. For instance, on the wonderful DVD, Rushmore, the 550 shone with clear dialogue and a nice bottom end demonstrated by a solid, weighty presentation of the organ in the chapel scene as well when Max gets punched in the eye. The 550 did a great job with the British invasion soundtrack, but I did have to push the 550 to its limit to get loud enough sound levels with the generally lower gain on film, compared to CD and television signals.
Where the 550 falls short is on action packed soundtracks, especially Blu-ray Disc with high resolution codecs. It appears that the high resolution soundtracks have even lower gain than their legacy counterparts as I need to crank up the volume higher on my reference system when watching blu ray. Watching The Dark Knight, Iron Man, and Cloverfield on Blu-ray Disc, the 550 strained to reach significant sound levels. Still the 550 presented sounds such as helicopters, gun fire, metallic clanking, motorcycles, etc. with tremendous realism. Dialogue was clear and dynamics were reasonably good. What it could not convey was the tremendous low frequency information on these soundtracks, but with a rated bottom of 45 Hz, this is not a real surprise. Explosions, general destruction, the massive footfalls of Clover lacked real impact on the 550 relative to systems with greater power and low frequency capability (and price tags an order of magnitude higher, I might add).
While ZVOX makes it clear that their systems will not present surround information as effectively as a multichannel, separate box system, they do hint that sounds will appear to surround the listener. While better soundtracks did tend to make the box disappear with sound seeming to emanate from well to the sides of the unit, I only once heard sound from my side (crickets in a night scene from The Constant Gardener on HDNet). I never heard sound from the rear. Being a two channel kind of guy, that never really bothered me. But for those looking for real surround sound, you're probably better off looking elsewhere as ZVOX makes pretty clear on their website.
In fact, presenting a solid soundstage was perhaps the greatest challenge for the 550. Again, with a speaker system this small and right/left speakers only two feet apart, I wasn't expecting much in this area. Even when the 550 was able to disappear, objects/instruments were not presented in a stable position and moving my head a foot to either side made them move around a bit. Indeed, in my sitting position, about eight to ten inches from dead center, I consistently had abundant left side information, but not much right side (which is why I would have liked to see a balance control). Moving my head over to dead center, the right side of the soundstage opened up. Again, I have limited soundstage expectations in a compact unit at this price point, but I wonder if a balance function could have helped here. Of course, turning the Phase Cue effect down minimized or eliminated this instability, but at the expense of soundstage width.
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Turn-Offs:
Final Thoughts:
With the Z-Base 550, ZVOX has attempted to provide a compact high performance sound system to replace the almost universally terrible speaker systems built into most flat panel HDTVs and at this task, they have been wildly successful. Although the remote's flakiness and the lack of a visible display were irritating to me, a universal remote should minimize the importance of these issues. At a relatively low price point ($500), the 550 prioritizes audio accuracy, vocal clarity, dynamic impact and bass response and will give you some semblance of surround sound as well, though that's clearly not its strong point.
While the Z-Base 550 is not likely to satisfy the serious audiophile or home theater guy/gal for their main rig, it does provide a simple and straightforward replacement for a TV's built-in speakers or can provide a worthy compact system for a second home, or for a bedroom or den. From its performance, the 550 clearly leans heavily toward audiophile ambition in lieu of mid-fi mediocrity. If you want to hear the dialog, enjoy the music, and at times, simply lose yourself in what you're watching or listening to, then the Z-Base 550 may just be exactly what you're looking for.
Where to Buy:
Manufacturer's Specifications:
Manufacturer's Contact Details:
ZVOX Audio
59 Thomas Road
Swampscott, MA 01907
phone: 866-FOR-ZVOX (866-367-9869)
fax: (781) 623-5532
web site: www.zvoxaudio.com
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