Vizio's first Atmos sound bar goes on sale for $499

Vizio has announced pricing for three 2018 Dolby Atmos sound bars, which will also incorporate Chromecast for multiroom music streaming.

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Ty Pendlebury is a journalism graduate of RMIT Melbourne, and has worked at CNET since 2006. He lives in New York City where he writes about streaming and home audio.

Expertise Ty has worked for radio, print, and online publications, and has been writing about home entertainment since 2004. He majored in Cinema Studies when studying at RMIT. He is an avid record collector and streaming music enthusiast. Credentials

Ty was nominated for Best New Journalist at the Australian IT Journalism awards, but he has only ever won one thing. As a youth, he was awarded a free session for the photography studio at a local supermarket.

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Ty Pendlebury

Sept. 18, 2018 7:56 a.m. PT

2 min read

2018-vizio-atmos-soundbar-hero-preview — Vizio's flagship 2018 sound bar includes Dolby Atmos effects in the front and rear.
Vizio

Vizio on Tuesday announced pricing and availability on its 2018 Dolby Atmos sound bars, including the first 36-inch model, which is on sale now for $499.

The three bars will not be compatible with the rival DTS:X standard, but will come with a wireless subwoofer, and two will also include rear speakers.

The 2018 models are as follows:

Vizio SB36512-F6: 36-inch, 5.1.2 Atmos sound bar with surrounds, $499, available now
Vizio SB46312-F6: 46-inch, 3.1.2 Atmos sound bar, $799, available later in 2018
Vizio SB46514-F6: 46-inch, 5.1.4 Atmos sound bar with surrounds and 10-inch subwoofer, $999, available later in 2018

The three Atmos bars will include Wi-Fi connectivity and with that comes Google Chromecast . Chromecast lets you stream from apps such as Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio and Google Play Music. It also allows voice control via Google Assistant. The three speakers also feature one-in/one-out HDMI 2.0 ports.

The Dolby Atmos bars follow the release of the company's $100 SB362An-F6 36-inch sound bar, which we found to be excellent value for money. Given the performance of the 36-incher, we have high hopes for the new models especially as the market has yet to see a budget Atmos sound bar.

Yamaha and Samsung both released their first Atmos sound bars in 2016, but despite having waited this long it doesn't appear Vizio has lost too much ground. Only now is there enough content to warrant buying an Atmos system, and those bars were north of $1,400 when they first appeared.