Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am reviewing the S3821w-CO 38 inch 2.1 Sound bar (since it seems some of these reviews are mixed together!) I got this item from an after-Christmas sale at Walmart for $150, but I've noticed that if you watch this item in Amazon, you'll catch it at roughly the same price point on occasion. I have a 55-inch Vizio 3d television, and the speakers on the TV are typical for flat screen...decent midrange, but terribly muddy high notes and almost nonexistent bass. After reading reviews on a number of soundbars in the $200 range, I settled on this one because of the favorable reviews, and yes....because it was also on sale. But boy am I glad I did. First, the pros: This soundbar connects easily to your television and has enough connection options for pretty much any television configuration. I recommend the Digital optical cable (which it comes with!) if your TV has that option. You probably won't get any better quality. But if your set doesn't give you that, you still have "regular" digital, the standard red/white audio, and a 3.5 jack as well. The sound is absolutely fantastic for the price. Of course there are better systems, but you're not going to find them on a similar budget. I've had full 5.1 channel audio systems at home before, and this 2.1 actually does a very impressive job replicating the full surround you'd get with bigger setups. After a quick install, I popped in my test blu-ray -- Star Trek VI. Yes, I'm a sci-fi geek. The opening notes of the introduction rumbled through my living room like never before, and the subwoofer performed beautifully when placed behind the viewing couch. The sounds of the energy wave practically shook the windows, and the scenes of the Klingon ship coming into view were a perfect demonstration of the surround sound capabilities...not to mention the deep growl of the engines coming from the subwoofer! Now, the cons....yes, there are some. Of COURSE this isn't exactly like a full 5.1 channel audio system. If you're buying this for a very large room, you may be disappointed. The treble and bass are both adjustable, but I have noticed that the treble is a little tinny at times when the soundtrack hits high notes. And finally, the settings on the soundbar are represented by codes of LED lights, and you're going to need the setup manual to make sense of them.....other than volume, they are not remotely intuitive. FInally, when you pair this with a Vizio TV, you will need to change your TV settings so sound goes only to the external speakers....otherwise you're going to be turning up the TV sound every time you change the volume on the soundbar. Despite those challenges, I'm still giving this 5 stars. Like I said, this is probably one of the top systems you're going to find in THIS price point. If you're on a budget, or you don't have a giant room to fill, then this is the sound system for you.