A Tale of Christmas Present, Supply Chains, and Today's Technology
My wife's sister asked for a gift suggestion from us for this Christmas, so my wife asked me about a suitable gift in the price range we use to exchange gifts with her sister. I said, "Hmm...how about a sound bar for the 55" Vizio TV we bought for ourselves last Christmas. That might make listening to the news easier for our ancient ears. But, if you do suggest that, tell her the brand of the TV and suggest a matching brand for the sound bar."
She did. Her sister ordered one such sound bar from Best Buy, because they offered free delivery to us from their store about five minutes away from our new townhome. It arrived yesterday about 7 PM, in an odd-shaped box that accommodated both the soundbar and the subwoofer that came with it. I deferred setting it up until this morning.
According to her sister, the particular one she ordered was the only Vizio model that was in stock at our local Best Buy. Apparently, all of the newest ones are in containers somewhere and nobody knows when they'll be available. The one she ordered was almost out of stock, too. I suspect this is going to cause problems for people who want the latest, greatest, technogifts this Christmas.
Anyhow, I hate installing technology. I understand it, despite my 76-year decrepitude, because I have been an early adopter of technology for several decades. But, it's often a pain to install nevertheless. So, I unboxed the thing, which resulted in a 13-gallon kitchen trash bag full of broken up styrofoam packing blocks and plastic bags, along with a difficult-to-collapse cardboard box.
Cables. There were many cables in the box. Power cables. Three types of audio cables. There were batteries for the impossible to open remote control for the soundbar, too. Which audio cable should I choose? I pulled the TV, along with its heavy base unit, away from the wall and inspected its rear end. Aha! It had a fiber optic cable socket, which matched one of the cables. Easy peasy. So, with the TV still on, I arranged the soundbar and the subwoofer on the base under the TV, plugged in the two power cords and the optical cable, and hit the on buttons on both of the new devices. Sound emerged. The tinny built-in speakers on the TV were still on, but a trip to the TV's menu fixed that. I used the soundbar's remote to set the volume to a good level, and pushed everything back against the wall. I quickly discovered that I would not need the soundbar's remote, since the TV's remote let me adjust the volume.
So, the new remote went into a drawer in the side table, probably never to emerge again. And, that is the reason to buy accessories that match the brand of the device they will accessorize. Everything just works. Even old geezers like me can successfully install the accessories without fussing over instructions and menus.
How does it sound? Fine. I suspect it will sound even better the next time we watch a movie and crank up the volume a little. Thanks, Sis-in-law!