Truly Disturbing....Results From Our Ugly TV Contest.

We were pleased and horrified by the entries we received for our "Ugliest TV Contest" -- where was asked people to submit photos of the wired-up messes in back of their televisions. Wow. We knew that "wire hairballs" were a problem, but we saw some real catastrophes! We've seen razor wire on prison fences that was less scary than the back of some of these TVs. The winning photo was awe-inspiring. It was like looking into the Grand Canyon of Wire.

We also loved the one where the owner had wedged in a small fan to cool his DLP TV. It was interesting to note that some of the ugliest messes used high-end interconnects and speaker wire. Those tangled jumbles of glowing blue cables were hypnotic, big, hot expensive messes (many of those cable sell for more than the price of a complete ZVOX system).

 Thanks to all our participants. It was great fun. We will do it again. Click here to see all of our entries.

3D TV, 3D Sound And 3D Marketing.

Several years ago goofy demonstrations of 3D television started showing up at the Consumer Electronics Show. They were goofy because all they did was highlight the (limited) capability of a technology that had no good content. We would walk by these silly displays without giving them a serious thought. But really decent 3D TVs from Samsung, Panasonic and others, as well as movies like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland -- and the floodburst of 3D titles that will soon hit us -- have changed all that.  3D TV is here, and it's probably here to stay.

Right now a good 3D TV is going to cost you more than $2,000, maybe a lot more. And then there are...the 3D glasses. Because the first generation of 3D TVs requires special electronic glasses that synch up with the TV via a Bluetooth connection. And the glasses cost about $150 a pair.

So let's do a "value equation." Let's say you buy the "small" Samsung 3D set (46") for $2,599.  Then at least two pair of 3D glasses, $300. BluRay player with 3D capability, $200. Total: $3,099. And what are you going to watch? Right now there is ONE 3D movie available in the correct format on a BluRay DVD (the children's movie Monsters vs. Aliens).  There should be between 50 and 100 available by the end of the year, including Avatar.

So if you're like us (and most of you are, we think), you're going to wait a bit before running out to buy a 3D TV. The good news is you can buy a ZVOX system today and get three-dimensional sound with your current DVDs and the 3D discs you buy in the future. We've been promoting our "room filling three-dimensional sound" for six years -- because our systems really do create sound with a sense of depth to it.

And unlike many of the "3D compatible" sound systems that are about to flood the market, we pay a lot of attention to old-fashioned concepts like...fidelity. Accurate tonal balance. Crystal-clear vocal reproduction. Dynamic bass.  We continue to believe that the number one criterion for choosing a sound system should be good sound -- not "3D compatibility,"

True confession time...

Until a couple weeks ago, I didn’t use a ZVOX as my main TV system. I had one downstairs in the den on the “kid’s TV”, and I had a Mini under my computer monitor. But upstairs on the big Toshiba in our living room we had a full-blown 5.1 surround sound system. Denon receiver, Cambridge SoundWorks tower speakers, center and rears, and a Velodyne powered subwoofer. We don’t watch a lot of movie these days but when we do, we really like to experience the “home theater” effect.

Anyway, we were recently rearranging our living room furniture and I started thinking how nice it would be to get those huge speakers out of there, not to mention the receiver with all the buttons and lights that was like a homing beacon to our newly mobile 8 month old. I thought my husband would resist but he surprised me by agreeing to give it a go. So, we packed up the speakers and receiver, took the rear speakers off the wall (yay!) and put a IncrediBase 575 under the Toshiba. I already knew the system sounded good but I had no idea how much nicer my room would look without all that extra equipment and speakers in it. It’s clean and neat and sounds great and there is nothing for the baby to mess with. Unless of course he gets his hands on the remote….

Bottom line? The 575 has successfully replaced our 5.1 surround sound system, without causing causing home theater withdrawal…even for my husband.

-Kate, ZVOX Audio Internet Marketing Manager

How Ugly Is The Back Of Your TV? It Could Win You A ZVOX Sound Bar!

We are amazed at the giant "wire hairballs" that seem to grow behind TVs. About eight years ago, we decided to reorganize all the wires behind a TV, and found two cords that weren't connected to anything! It's as if the other wires mated and had offspring! So we're having a contest to see who has the ugliest "wire hairball" behind their TV. The winner gets a ZVOX Z-Base 550 surround sound system with one cabinet, a one-page owner's manual, and one connecting wire! Contest deadline is April 30, 2010. Send your images to info@zvoxaudio.com -- and put "Ugly TV Contest" in the message line. Click here to size up the competition....

ZVOX Is Now Top-Selling Home Theater System At Imaginary Electronics Store, "The Buy More."

A little over a year ago we were pleasantly surprised when the folks who produce the NBC TV show Chuck asked us to supply ZVOX surround sound systems for use as props. Since then we've set our DVRs to record every episode, so we can slo-mo the scenes where you can see our stuff. We particularly like the episode where a "Buy More" clerk, fantasizing about the cute new "Nerd Herd" employee, starts making out with a ZVOX carton. 

When we started ZVOX in 2003, it was a challenge to get retailers -- real or fictional -- to take us seriously. They were so committed to the formula of "five speakers + subwoofer + receiver = big sale + happy customer" that they couldn't think "inside the box." Now when we approach retailers they seem to treat us like visionaries because we were pushing simple home theater before it was cool. And simple home theater is cool. Our new 575 IncrediBase system challenges the performance of a good five-speaker surround sound system -- but without all the boxes and wires.

We firmly believe that in a few more years, traditional 5.1 surround sound systems will be considered exotic -- something only hard core home theater buffs would buy. Sort of in the same category as vacuum tube amplifiers and expensive turntables for audiophiles.

The future of home theater sound...is simple.

Slow Tech Home Theater.

I admit it – I am a sucker for fast-changing high tech products. I own three iPods and and iPhone. My laptop computer, now two years old, is hopelessly out of date, soon to be replaced by a faster, fancier, lighter model. I just ordered an LED backlit LCD TV to replace my three year old HD flat panel.


So now that I’ve finished the full-disclosure about my addiction to fast-tech, let’s move on to “slow tech,” which I define as “products that maintain their appealing usefulness for a period of five years or longer.” Here’s a short list of examples:

• The lightweight curved-handled snow shovel I just used to clear my driveway. The curved handle is a brilliant idea. We’ve had it for about six years. Looks like it should last another 20 unless I accidentally run over it.

• My white Krups coffee grinder. It’s got to be 20 years old and works as well as it did the day we bought it. Ann liked it so much she went out and bought a new one about a year ago, but it doesn’t work any better than the old one – so we keep using the old one.

• My Tivoli Model One table radio. Henry Kloss gave it to me as a Christmas present the year before he died. It’s small, simple, stylish and sounds good. As long as FM stations keep broadcasting, I’ll hang on to it.

• Our Jenn-Air countertop electric grille. Of all the appliances installed when we remodeled our kitchen in 1984, this is the only survivor. Still works like a champ and hasn’t gone out of style.

• My Cambridge SoundWorks 740 table radio. I know. Two table radios on the list – and that doesn’t count my 37 year old Advent Model 400 which I gave away to a friend 30 years ago and which still works very well, thank you very much. The 740 is my bedroom sound system (we do not allow television in the bedroom), and it does its job perfectly. It deserves to be on this list.

• Although we’ve only had it a few weeks, I suspect that our new Dyson ball vacuum cleaner will make this list. Its design is simple and clever at the same time, and it seems to be very robustly constructed. I’ll bet we’re still using it ten years from now.

And now, the shameless pitch for ZVOX:

Another new addition that should make the list is my ZVOX IncrediBase 575 system. I installed the original prototype 575 as my living room home theater system last summer, and it’s hard to imagine replacing it any time soon. It’s stylish in a simple way – visually integrating with the TV so you basically don’t notice that it’s there. It sounds remarkably good. And most importantly, its technology won’t go out of date. Five, ten, even twenty years from now the 575’s technology won’t be out of date. And I’ll bet it will still work fine, look fine and sound great. One reason for this is our ears. They are analog devices. They hear sound waves created by other analog devices – speakers. There is no way to digitize this final stage of the listening process, so it is not very likely that some new technology will pop up making our speakers hopelessly uncool. Of course we can be sure that several companies will claim to have created this new technology. But those people are even more shameless than I.

A new definition of the value of technology: the dollars-per-year equation.

I tend to buy a new laptop computer every two years. I usually pay around $700. So keeping up with laptop computer technology costs me about $350 per year – less than $30 a month. Not a bad deal.

My iPhone 3GS cost me $300, plus about $70 a month. And I’m guessing that in two years, there’ll be a cooler one that I have to have. So having an iPhone costs me about $82.50 a month. Expensive but, for me, worth it.

The ZVOX 575 is our most expensive system. 700 bucks. But it should reasonably last 20 years and stay stylish and fully functional – just like my Krups coffee grinder. $700 divided by 240 months is $2.91 per month. If I replace it after 10 years, that’s still less than $6 a month.

All of this reminds me of my favorite bumper sticker of all time. I saw it in the early 1970s on a Volkswagen Beetle. It said, simply:

I MAY BE SLOW, BUT
I’M AHEAD OF YOU.
Further reading:
Slow-Tech: Manifesto For An Overwound World, by Andrew Price. http://www.andrewpricebooks.com/

Home Theater Movie Night – The Cure For Mid-Winter Cabin Fever

Winter in New England is often synonymous with isolation and cabin fever. I write this as a sit in my home on a Monday morning, avoiding going into the office because it is snowing outside and we just watched a police car go by our house traveling in a manner that is best described as “sideways.” With weather like this it’s really tempting to just hunker down and stay inside, by ourselves, until maybe April.


But I’ve reached a point in my life where I KNOW that isolation is not good for me. I don’t belong to a church. I don’t enjoy going out to watch sporting events. And since I stopped drinking, I don’t go hang out with people in bars.

So I have a suggestion. For myself, and for you. Invite two or more friends over to your house to watch a movie. Make some popcorn or order takeout. Or maybe even make a big pot of chili. Try to pick a movie that will get people talking. I’m doing it this upcoming Friday night at 7PM. The Big Lebowski. It’s going to be fun. Everybody will get in a “Dude” frame of mind and say “shut the f*ck up Donny.” I’ve already got a great HDTV and a ZVOX home theater system, so all it will cost me the $9.99 I paid for the Anniversary Edition DVD of the movie and about $20 for chili materials, corn chips and soda. And it will be a little easier to make it to April.