Anyone know the Wharfedale Vista 150?

wonko

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I am looking for a sound bar for my Dad that sounds OK and I came across the Vista 150 yesterday in Richer.

I listened to it and it sounded surprisingly good, but I can't find any reviews of it or even many people selling it other than Richer.

Even on the Wharfedale site it doesn't seem to exist. Anyone had any experience of one?
 
Heya! I've heard the original vista, without sub and was really very good for what you pay, still get it for around 120.. It's reviews were fairly favourable, maybe a touch over bassy but can be adjusted.. I've heard the one in question briefly and a very capable product, I wouldn't have any issue with buying it whatsoever. What make TV does he have? Other considerations could be the canton dm50 soundbase, the jbl sb400 if you can still get..absolutely fab and now a very good price, and has hdmi ins and out, the htxt1 from 2013 now order 200, or even a pair of active speakers, all depending what's mist important, surround decoding, or a good 2.0 / 2.1 system that's also going to be good for music as well as TV/film? :)
 
Cool. Thanks for the response. I actually bought the Vista 150 yesterday. I listened to a bunch of other sound bars in the price. The Canton DM50 was on my list, but unfortunately it was no longer available. I was initially attracted to the JBL SB400 but was seriously put off by the awful owner reviews on JBL's own site!

Anyway, I listened to the following:

Yamaha YSP1400
Yamaha SRT1000
Wharfedale Vista 100
Wharfedale Vista 150
Cambridge Audio TVB2

I suspect I properly annoyed the staff at Richer with my obsessiveness, but to be fair, they were really cool about it, letting me get on with it with my own testing material.

The Yamaha SRT1000 sounded surprisingly good. The fact that I like a separate sub swayed me, otherwise I would have been tempted. That and the fact that it properly ugly! At least to my eyes.

I didn't like the sound from the YSP1400 at all.

The Vista 100 sounded very nice, and at the price it's a bargain. However, I really wanted something that could handle low frequencies well and that's not really what it's for.

The best sounding were the Vista 150 and the TVB2. I would have bought the TVB2 because of the remote learning (I don't care about having 15 remotes, but I get that it could be annoying for someone else). There was little in it, sound quality-wise between these two. Unfortunately it was out of stock and I couldn't wait. Dad will just have to get used to having an extra remote.
 
Great to hear some thoughts on the Vista 150 and that it sounds good. As you say, there isn't a lot of detail out there.

If you are able to; do you have the dimensions (mainly height) of the soundbar? Also are any displays, status lights from the bar and subwoofer visible in use? Can they be switched off? I often find these distracting!

Thanks!
 
I'm going to be setting it up this afternoon. I'll take the measurements and check for the status lights and let you know.
 
brill news - hows it sounding?! Interesting to hear that the jbl has a hit and miss reliability! good to know! :) agree with the ysp1400 - seems to just lack something and its rather huge! be great to hear what you think of your new unit once its up and running at home!
 
Right, the dimensions are approx:

Sound bar: 850mm long x 70mm deep x 86mm high
Sub: 250mm wide x 270 deep x 315 high

Set it up and watched it last night. It sounds OK. Better than the TV, no doubt, but I wasn't blown away. Maybe at this price point you can't be and I'm used to a proper AV setup at home. Still, it wasn't bad.

There are no LEDs on the sound bar at all unless you press the remote. I think the sub has a permanent green LED at the bottom right, but I put the sub behind the TV. I think it needs spikes, too, if you're putting it on carpet, but it doesn't have any.

I tried it connected through optical and also with the supplied headphone cable (mini-jack to stereo RCA). With optical, I couldn't get it to go terribly loud. Enough for comfortable listening in a large room. Maybe the TV isn't putting out a very high level via optical. The headphone input gave a much higher max output. Also, quality-wise the the analogue inputs sounded fine so I might just leave it like that. It's easy enough to switch between the two with the remote anyway.

I kinda wish I got the Cambridge Audio, but in the shop it didn't sound any better. Or did it? Arghh. You need to be able to try them at home before buying!

/edit: gotta say I was listening very critically. Everyone else was happy and/or oblivious. :)
 
Thank you for the comments on this soundbar. Interesting that it is only OK and not very loud on optical.
 

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