ZVOX IncrediBase 575

The IncrediBase 575 is a somewhat large soundbar which can be placed directly under your TV. This is a powerful unit which can fill even the largest room with surround sound of high clarity. This is the perfect system for those who are looking for powerful sound, but you shouldn’t expect a whole lot of extra features for the price of $700. One of the best parts about the IncrediBase 575 is the powerful bass. With most soundbars, buying a subwoofer is mandatory if you want to enjoy the full experience. With the IncrediBase 575, you won’t feel the need of a separate subwoofer because the system packs a powerful punch.

Design
The design of this audio system is as simple as it gets. The IncrediBase is a rectangular box which you will most likely place directly under your flat screen TV. The unit is covered by a black metal grille and it doesn’t draw attention to itself. If someone doesn’t know that you own a soundbar, he or she might mistake it for a TV stand. You shouldn’t worry about the fragility of this system because it can support up to 140 pounds, which is more than enough, no matter how large your TV is.
Some people consider the design of the IncrediBase 575 a problem. If you have a wall mounted TV, you will probably have a hard time finding the perfect place for the soundbar. You also have to make sure that your flat screen TV isn’t already placed too high. At a weight of 45 pounds, the IncrediBase 575 is 5 inch tall and this will affect the viewing angle. The unit is 36 inches wide and 16.5 inches deep. This means that many TV stands will be too small and they won’t be able to accommodate your new soundbar. Because of this, you should always take some measurements before you decide to buy it.

Besides the grille on the front panel, there is not much to look at. You will notice a blue LED which will light up when you press almost any button on your remote. You will eventually get used to the lack of a display panel, but not having one is obviously a disadvantage.
You will receive a remote control with the system, but it isn’t the best one in the world. You would expect a simple layout considering the fact that it only comes with 11 buttons, but this is not the case here. All of the buttons are similar in size and differencing one from the other is quite difficult. The remote control is larger than it should be and the power button is placed in between two identical buttons, instead of the classical top right or left side of the remote. The lack of a backlight only makes things worse.

Setting up the IncrediBase 575
Behind the front grille, you will notice five drivers which measure 3.25 inches each and two subwoofers which measure 6.5 inches each. Adding a subwoofer is not necessary, but it can be done through the subwoofer output jack. The total power of the amplifier is 133 watts.

The IncrediBase 575 soundbar comes with two sets of analog stereo RCA inputs and you will receive a stereo analog audio cable with the package. Considering the $700 price tag, you would expect far better connections such as HDMI. The main problem with the connection is that the inputs are mixed. This means that if you plan on connecting two sources at once, you will hear them both at the same time. As a result, you will always have to disconnect cables when switching between sources.

If you connect a source to the system, it will automatically power on, which will prove to be a great feature in the long run. When you turn your TV off, the soundbar will wait for around 3 minutes and enter into idle mode, which will save some energy.

Sound quality
When it comes to sound quality, the IncrediBase 575 performs excellent in certain departments. You won’t complain about the power offered by this soundbar and the woofers are better than what you get from similar units. The fact that you don’t have to add an extra subwoofer is certainly a plus. This unit performs great no matter how large your room is and you will never feel the need to crank up the volume to maximum.

Surround sound is present, but you shouldn’t expect an excellent performance. PhaseCue and Infinite Compliance are responsible for the soundfield created by this soundbar. If you want to get better surround sound from the system, you just have to adjust the PhaseCue and take a look at the result. After you play around with the settings for a couple of minutes, you will have nothing to complain about. The system is great with CDs for listening to music and it will deliver clear dialog and unbelievable explosions when watching movies. Action flicks are particularly attractive since you will be able to hear and feel every explosion or gunshot.

Pros and cons
This is the soundbar you need to buy if you have a large room. The system is very powerful compared to most units on the market and one of the best parts is that you will hear strong bass sounds.

On the downside, the IncrediBase 575 doesn’t come with a whole lot of inputs and outputs. If you are looking for HDMI, you need to find some other system. The remote is large, it comes with only a few buttons and it doesn’t even have a backlight. Some people will also feel the need of some type of display and others will crave for Dolby digital decoding.

Conclusion

In the end, the IncrediBase 575 is perfect if what you are looking for is power. The system doesn’t come with a lot of features, but it can offer sound clarity in most cases and it will fill a large room with powerful sound.

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