| Author | Message | ||
     Fresnobuell |
I have had the Vizio VSB200 40" soundbar for many years. I believe it's toast. Its recently developed an overheat issue and cuts sound for about 20-30 seconds. I have always liked this VSB200, felt it produced good audio & never felt compelled to upgrade to a more expensive unit. Anyone have a recommendation? I already have a subwoofer, so ideally I would just be in the market for the soundbar. | ||
| Greg_e |
Open it up, find the solder joint that's bad, and solder it back in place. That's guess number one on what is wrong with it. Since you are already looking or a replacement, there is little risk. | ||
| Pwnzor |
I recently bought a sound bar that came with a subwoofer for my daughter and son-in-law... It was around $120 and MAN was I impressed with the sound quality of that thing. Used the TOSLink to attach it to the TV and I was literally stunned with the results. It was a Vizio, so it think it will be pretty hard to go wrong with whatever you get. | ||
| Sifo |
I've got this one... https://www.vizio.com/home-theater-system/sb3621ne 8.html Quite happy with it. I don't blast it, but it fills the room at a comfortable level and the sub gives the bass a nice punch. | ||
| Hammer71 |
Bose solo 5. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Not if you want to crank it. In my experience (personal and professional), Bose is good stuff at low sound levels. Crank 'em up and they lose a lot of punch. In the pro audio world, it's B uy O ther S ound E quipment. Don't get me wrong, I love my noise cancelling earbuds for airplane use and for mowing grass (although they suck at the range or on stage)...I just don't like the lack of crank-ability out of their gear in general. At ambient (social, as in you can talk over it) sound levels, I agree that Bose is hard to beat...but you can get similar performance, for less dough, AND get crank-ability, out of a lot of other brands. I've never been wronged by JBL, especially anything in the Control Series. | ||
| Sifo |
I had (still have, just never set it up after the move) a BOSE surround sound system. 5 satellite speakers and a big sub. It was OK, but really had to be set up for a single position in the room. Wires had to go everywhere, so installation was a mess, or you had to find a way to hide the wires. I ran them down through the floor from the main unit, and back up through the walls to the speakers. PITA to install cleanly. In the new house, I got the sound bar for a fraction of the price. Installation was super easy. Sound is plenty good to enjoy most movies. I'll make someone a deal on the BOSE system! | ||
| Zacks |
Sifo, I have that same one. Stopped using it. If I have it hooked to the sat box, it's all fine. Connection is the Toslink. If using it connected to the TV output, there's a .5-.75 sec delay in the sound. Looks like everyone is lipsyncing badly. Really annoying watching a ballgame. So, I know it's the TV, but having to switch 4 different remotes blah blah and then when powering on the soundbar, it's at about full volume. Know it's coming, but still rattles everything. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
I will take a stab at it. I was hoping someone might chime in with what might be causing the sudden overheat issue. I have run it in identical conditions for years so it must be something within the soundbar. Do you want to elaborate to this electrical newb as to why a broken solder joint would cause it to run hotter? Thanks! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Is it actually, physically hotter? Or does a bad solder joint make it *think* it's getting hotter (like a bad cylinder head temp sensor)? First thing *I* would check inside is heat sinks. They're little aluminum ribs that are screwed to resistors (black squares), and usually attached to large pieces of metal, like the chassis. Heat sinks are usually mated to the chassis with heat sink paste - exactly what it says, it's a grease-like substance that is designed to facilitate transfer of heat from the sink, to the chassis, across the gap without losing efficiency. Heat sink paste dries out over the years and turns to powder, or more of a barrier than a conductor. Clean the paste, get some new paste in there, and see if that helps any. It comes in a tube like super glue - squeeze it, schmear it on the mating surfaces, reinstall the parts. | ||
| Greg_e |
Yeah, I was going to come back with the heat sinks having dried up goo on them. There are two things whch could be heat related. The general heating causes the solder to flex over time, causing cracks which eventually get to be a no-contact problem. When it cools down, everything contracts and you get function again. Bad heat sinks could be causing the amps to over heat and shut down. Also look at the capacitors in the power supply section, they can get old and tired, causing a higher internal resistance, which causes more current draw, which causes more internal heat. You might have some that blew the goo out. And finally, there could be some big load resistors in there, these run HOT. Hot enough that they can melt the solder and cause the cracking/open condition. Be prepared to take a bunch of pictures inside, a lot of this can be fixed by visuals. (Message edited by greg_e on July 30, 2019) | ||
| Ourdee |
I'll make someone a deal on the BOSE system! You might use the Bose in the garage. | ||
| Hootowl |
“They're little aluminum ribs that are screwed to resistors (black squares)” I think you might mean transistors. The only reason to waste power (usually) dumping heat from resistors like that is in dummy loads or regulators. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
I took a looksy into the unit last night and didn't see anything amiss--granted it would have to be so obvious it would slap me in the face. Followed the power wires around figuring this would probably be the source of the heat. It seems to be warm when it cuts out so I am going to guess it's actually heating up. It did occur to me this issue coincided with the addition of an AirTV box for my Sling TV setup. The AirTv box was a few inches behind the soundbar. I moved it farther back. Perhaps the extra heat from this device is causing the soundbar to overheat? Maybe. Time will tell. | ||
| Skntpig |
I bought an open box Samsung soundboard woth a sub. I think retail was $300 and I paid $179. Pretty good sound for the $ |
