Customer Reviews

Boston Acoustics TVee Model 25 Sound System with Sleek Sound Bar and Wireless Subwoofer (Black)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this soundbar ( from BesyBuy as I had a gift card )for my LG 55LW5600 TV. The sound from the TV is subpar, but that is expected nowadays, and I planned on purchasing an LG soundbar.What finally swayed me to this unit was the fact that you program it to read your tv remote so you have one less remote hanging around. I may get one of the universal remotes at some point but for now it was a selling point.

I read some reviews and checked it out on the MFG's website and can say in all honesty it is exacty as decribed. The sound is not true surround sound but is absolutly wonderful, I live in an apartment and have to be aware of my neighbors so full blast is not an option. The most I've had this up to is about 25% and it is very loud with the wireless subwoofer. I'm not sure why it is not shown in the photo of the product but it is about 12" square and fits under my end table completely hidden. The bar itself, while a bit bulkier than some others on the market, works great with my tv, the rubber legs are close enough together that I put it right on the tv stand and the height brings the top of the bar just under the bottom of the screen. When it is dark the bar itself disappears.

A COUPLE OF NOTES:

If you have an LG tv with the magic remote it will not operate the sound bar only the regular tv remote, I think because one uses IR and the other uses RF.

The MFG recommends you turn off your tv speakers, but doing so leaves you at the mercy of the sound editing for your media. I particularly hate it when I have to sit through a movie with the volume control in hand and constantly raise and lower the volume. With my TV's smart sound/clear voice option it is no longer a problem but the tv speakers need to be on.The issue arrises that when you use the remote to adjust the soundbar volume the tv volume adjusts at a slightly different rate so after a while you get loud distored sound from the tv speakers and little or no sound from the soundbar. To fix this I turn the volume all the way down on both using the remote, then manually adjust the volume on the sound bar up a few notches, I can then use the remote for a day or two before the tv speakers try to overtake the soundbar speakers. It may sound complicated but it takes about 5 seconds to do.

I have only used my soundbar for watching bluray, streaming tv, and computer games so I can not speak about all the other features. Also I have never owned another soundbar so I can only compare to my tv speakers and my old sony analog surround. This unit blows them away.

Overall, I am pleased with the sound these speakers produce. They are very clearly superior to my television speakers. I can now stream music to my network enabled television and it is good quality stereo sound. The easy cabling, no need for a stereo receiver, and compact size are all terrific. These features and the fact that I purchased them with frequent flyer miles are what allows me to give this product a 4 star rating despite the problems.

Now the problems/annoyances:

Given the simplicity of this system, I thought it was going to be very easy to set up. It wasn't, but for reasons I did not anticipate. The grill came with a paper decal affixed to it. It was stuck on there so badly that it took me about 30 minutes to clean it completely. First I manually peeled, then I used a razor blade, then I finally cleaned with Goo-Gone. This was time wasted as you will see below.

Programming would have been easy if you could easily get the speakers to enter programming mode. You have to push the power and volume up button at the exact same time to get it to work. It is very touchy and once you have the volume up button programmed, you better get it right or your ear drums will get a nice beating. I didn't have a problem with the programming instructions, but I believe many people would. In step 3, it tells you to push the volume up button, but really you are supposed to be pushing the button you want to program. This is implied but many people would not get this. (One Tip: it says that programming the listening mode, power, and input source are optional. I wanted to program listening mode so I could switch to streaming music from the couch. I used the "Live" button on the DVR for this command. It's a good one because you can press it repeatedly for a toggle on most occasions.)

I will verify right now that what was said in another review was very accurate, your remote will not work anywhere to the right of this unit while the grill is on the soundbar. Removing the grill will correct the problem. I contacted BA customer service about this and they claim that they can correct the issue if you ship the speakers back to them (post paid by them). They told me they would adjust the IR sensor. When I asked them for more details on what they would actually do they said "we can pull the sensor cover and this will open the angle at which the sensor can detect our remotes signal". Fortunately my wife likes the look of these better without the grill, so I won't be taking this option. Too bad I wasted so much time cleaning the darn thing. Customer Support was very responsive. I have no complaint in that respect.

My final problem has to do with streaming Netflix. I cannot do it with the speakers powered on. Both my TV and the wireless subwoofer are transmitting in the 2.4 Ghz band and they are interfering with each other. This is documented on BA's website. They recommend that you change the channel that your wireless router broadcasts on. I have tried this but haven't found a channel they can coexist on yet.

Summary: This is a very nice product but it comes with some built-in problems. If you look at the product reviews and the BA website, you can identify the majority of them all up front. If you can live with these and like the price point these speaker are for you.

I will review the second one I received as the first one had a faulty TOSLINK connector in the back and had to be exchanged.

The main unit connected easily to the TVs' (an LG LW5600-series tv) digital optical audio out via the included TOSLINK cable and to the included DC power supply. The sub-woofer just needed to be plugged into a wall outlet. Both units worked immediately with no adjustment.

Programming the sound-bar to accept volume commands from our remote was very difficult, with some settings accepted and some not. But that might have been due to the fact that the speak grill blocks the infrared receiver lens from any direction to the right of a direct perpendicular. The lens is slightly to the left of the buttons on the front-right of the unit. If the remote is on a straight line in front of, or to the left, of the lens, then the remote works. However, the grill blocks the signal from the remote if even slightly off-center to the right. Imagine even a 5- or 10-degree angle to the right of the TV and your remote won't work.

One solution is to take the grill off. Then the remote works fine even at a fairly large off-center angle to the right. But we didn't purchase this so that only a person sitting on the left side of the couch, or in the armchair on the left side of the room, can work the volume of the TV. This was an extremely poor design choice.

As for the sound, I like it. Both the sound-bar and the sub-woofer produce good sound.

First off, realize that this is not true surround sound, nor is it trying to be true surround sound. This sound system is for someone who doesn't want speakers and wires all over the place, and is willing to sacrifice 3 or more channels of sound to get there.

I was actually going to buy the Samsung soundbar (HWD550) purely based on specs and price. We walked into a BestBuy to hear the sound in person before buying on Amazon, and we were floored at how horrible the Samsung soundbar sounded. It was going for $150 over thanksgiving, but below it was the BA TVee25, for $350. Curious, we pressed the demo button, and was amazed at how much better it sounded. We opened the amazon app on our phone, scanned the barcode, and found it cheaper on Amazon. The sound difference is worth the price difference.

My family room setup wrt the TV is wider than it is deep, and this seems to help the illusion of surround sound with these speakers. Soundbars with "fake" surround sound work off of noise bouncing off the rear walls to give you that illusion, and this will work better with wider rooms vs. longer rooms (wrt the tv).

After plugging the system in, and setting it up in about 10 min, the sound was rich and full. Very strong in the midrange, decent bass (coming from a bass junkie). I do wish it had better tweeters though, it seemed to be a little lacking there. I have an 12 x 20 family room, and it was more than enough power to make movies/tv/music uncomfortably loud when turned up to about 70%.

Because of the design of the subwoofer, which points downwards into the floor, I have a feeling that people with hardwood (or non-carpeted) floors get the most out of it. I have hardwood floors, and the bass coming out of the sub is fantastic. I can imagine though that if your TV room had carpet, it would be a lot more muffled. For those of us with uncarpeted floors, the bass literally shakes the floor, or maybe I just have crappy floors :). The sub has a convenient volume knob so you can control how much bass you want out of the system. I would recommend you park it in the back corner of the room, near the couch you normally sit on to feel its full effect.

I did have issues with the wifi signal in the room after I turned on the speakers. This is expected, and not a fault of the speakers. Microwave ovens, and bluetooth sync'ed devices can interfere with wifi signals. I solved this issue by changing the channel my router was using. Try channels 1, 6 and 11. Channel 11 worked for me and I didn't have any wifi problems after that.

I love the fact that the soundbar can easily be programmed to use your existing remotes. This definitely helps reduce remote clutter. It was so easy to program too, there are no complicated remote codes or anything. You just point the remote you want to use at the soundbar, and it will learn to recognize the signal coming out of it.

Some people will complain that this system doesn't have HDMI Arc ports, but it has optical audio, which is all you need (and the cable is included too). I do wish I could do bluetooth music pairing with my phone, but in reality, I would probably just play music through my Xbox.

Overall, I am very satisfied with the quality of the sound, the simplicity of the setup, and the performance of the subwoofer.

Bought this BA Model 25 from Video Only for $220. It is the model 25 not the older one. It is a good addition to a flat screen TV because the sound from all flat screens is weak. Not 5.1 and not as good as a real surround sound system but it does sound very good. The bass is nice with punch and the dynamic range is full.

The future that lets you program this to use with your remote is easy to set up and a great future. 5 stars for that. No need for multiple remotes, I programed it for my cable remote.

Someone else pointed out that you should turn your TV volume down / off so you only hear this unit. Would defiantly recommend for the price I paid 5 stars @ $220. Not sure about it for $350.

Ever since I bought the LCD TV I could not find a volume level of the build in speakers that would be comfortable for both myself and my wife. The standard speakers in my Panasonic 32" sounded just too shallow. Very often I could not hear the dialogs in the programs or movies and when turned up the volume I would hear wife complaining that it was too loud. I browsed the internet and read loads of reviews for cinema systems starting from 5.1 to 2.1 with and without the virtual souround. Due to a small size of room and the fact that I could not afford the clutter of 6 speakers the 5.1, even though the best solution for home cinema, was not an option for me. Focused then on Yamaha recent range of soundbards that seemed to have a lot going for them. But what I could not accomodate was that the main unit/subwoofer had to go in on the shelf underneath the TV, as there was no space for it in our TV stand. Finally I found the BA range of soundbars that come with dedicated subwoofer that could be positioned anywhere and out of sight. I wanted a simple solution that would not need much control other than volume adjustment - and boy what a great simple unit this is.
First things first - size. It is around 800x150x100mm (wxhxd) big and fits very well on the shelf under the TV. It could go on the same shelf as the TV itself but then you would have to elevate the TV by at leats 7-10cm. Would be perfect when hung on a wall. The setup - it is one of the easiest things to connect and set up I have ever come accross! All connections take about 5 minutes to accomplish and the unit is ready to go. One great feature is the fact that it does not have its own remote control - it can be programmed to use your TV remote - the whole operation takes 5 minutes and is well described in the flyer that comes with the unit. My advise would be to program the volume +/- buttons of the unit on the remote keys that are not in use with your TV/set top box. This way you have independent volume control regardless if you can disable the speakers in your TV or not. I have it setup using the optical connection with TV having all other external signal sources (blue ray, satelite box) hooked up to the TV first. This way I do not have to switch sources on the soundbar itself. There might be some tweaking to be done with your WiFi home network as the wireless connection between the two units can slow the network down - this happens when the WiFi operates on the same or adjacent WiFi channel. The solution is simple - get into the admin setup of your router and change the channel - I have mine setup to 1 (changed from 8)- no problems there at all.
And the last and most important thing - sound quality. This is where the soundbar excels. I'm not an audiophile or anything but in my opinion it produces rich and dynamic sound with all frequencies naturally produced. The sound is crisp and easy to listen to even with suden kick of low range frequencies (my wife hated that on the build in speakers). The subwoofer does a very good job filling the room with low frequencies that are not overbearing.
And the best of all - finally both I and my wife have found a volume level that is comfortable for us both. Very much recommended!

I bought this sound bar from the BA Refurbished products website. This bar was added to a Samsung 42" LCD. The sound is nice and full. We have the subwoofer turned up to medium and we get more than enough bass for our tastes. There are two sound modes - music and movies. We aren't real techy or sound people so this is enough for us. An adjustable equalizer and many settings would have been too much. I will second what the other reviewers say and add that it doesn't really matter if you are to the right or left - the remote works much better from straight on. We paid $199 for the refurbished model and feel that we got our money's worth. I don't think I would be as happy with the product if I had paid $300+. On the other hand, I don't really know how it stacks up to cheaper or more expensive sound bars. For what we paid, and what it does, I am happy.

bought this to complement our new lg6500. The size of our room, combined with how we view the tv (diagonally across the room) didn't seem to make sense for a 5.1/7.1 system. That meant the best option (to me) would probably be a sound bar. I went to Best buy to listen to several. They had 3 to listen to - Sony, Samsung and BA - all the entry level units. Of the three, my wife and I felt that the BA sounded the best (as good as you can tell from a crowded store). I wasn't too thrilled by the price, as I am cheap, so I went to BA's site. fully backed refurbs were 239.99 with an additional 25% off. I was sold immediately.

the shipping was quick and the setup was extremely simple. as other reviews mentioned, it fits perfectly under the tv. The bass out of the subwoofer is indeed impressive (hard floor - not carpeted and behind the seating area in the corner). While this might not be audiophile sound to most, it still sounds great to me. Sound easily fills the room and we aren't close to pushing it. I also like that there's a grill - I'm not a fan of exposed speaker cones like I have seen on some units.

I haven't tried programing for the remote yet, but i must admit that I'm not terribly concerned with it. I think that the system is well made and performs well thus far, but it is unlikely that I'd have purchased at the full price. Definitely worthy of consideration.

I can't believe they put a glued sticker on the front of the speaker grill. Like the other poster it took me 30 minutes to scrape and clean the stupid sticker off. I took off 2 stars for that alone. Otherwise, it sets up quickly and works very well. The sound is very good for a sound bar.

I bought this sound bar based on the reviews I read. So far I am pleased with the performance. The only bad thing I see is when you're listening to music loud such as rap with hard hitting bass. The sub will get hot and cut out until you back the volume down and it cools some. This can be annoying especially if you're drinking and want to hear some loud music. Other than that it sounds great and the sub has great bass despite being small..