Details

Only 3.5" high, the ZVOX SoundBase 555 home theater system can be placed beneath your flat-panel TV* -- so you can have surround sound without adding a lot of clutter to your room. It requires no external speakers, subwoofer or speaker wires.

The 555 reproduces TV shows, music and movie soundtracks with lifelike accuracy – including crystal-clear vocals and thunderous bass. And ZVOX PhaseCue® II virtual surround processing delivers remarkable three-dimensional sound.

The entire system – speakers, amplifier, virtual surround technology and powered subwoofer – fits into the super-slim cabinet. With only one connecting cord and a one-page owner’s manual, it is truly "plug and play." The wood cabinet is robustly constructed using fully-braced MDF -- not molded plastic. Beautiful hand-lacquered high-gloss ebony end panels create a stylish look.

Great Sound

The most important feature for any home theater system is high quality sound. The 555 uses five high-performance speakers, a built-in powered subwoofer, a real wood (MDF) cabinet and a 70-watt Class D digital amplifier to create warm, natural sound and surprisingly powerful bass.

PhaseCue Virtual Surround Sound

With ZVOX you don't need a room full of speakers for home theater sound. The 555 uses the proprietary PhaseCue virtual surround system to give you rich, three-dimensional sound with movies or music. With music, PhaseCue creates a very wide soundstage--it literally sounds like you are listening to speakers eight feet apart from each other. When listening to a good movie, the soundtrack will envelop you, putting you in the middle of the action.

The benefits of PhaseCue vary greatly based on program material. Live music and well-recorded modern movie soundtracks will deliver rich, three-dimensional sound, pulling the sound out from the speakers and into the room to literally surround the listener. While no virtual surround system will give you the exact surround effects of a good 5.1 system, the ZVOX 555 does a remarkable job.

Green Design

The 555 uses a highly-efficient Class D digital amplifier. Even playing at quite loud volumes, it usually uses less than 10 watts of total power. And standby power usage tends to hover around 0.1 watts, making it one of the "greenest" audio systems ever made. The 555 is Energy Star qualified.

Setting A New Standard For Vocal Clarity

ZVOX systems are known for their remarkable vocal clarity. The 555 adds a stunning new feature: Dialog Emphasis (DE). When you push the "DE" button on the remote control you engage a circuit that mimics the functions of a hearing aid. The frequencies used by human voices are emphasized and compressed, while other frequencies are minimized. No other speaker system provides such an easy-to-use and effective method for improving the intelligibility of television dialog.

Uses Your Remote Control

The new Z-Base systems can be programmed to respond to your remote control. The illuminated display walks you through a less-than-a-minute programming cycle. Then your TV remote...or cable box remote...or satellite receiver remote...or ANY remote...can control volume, mute, power and input functions of the ZVOX system.

Taming Commercials That Are Too Loud

If you've ever been blasted out of your chair by a too-loud commercial, or by a cable channel that's twice as loud as another channel, you'll love the new Output Leveling (OL) feature on the ZVOX 555. Just push the "OL" button and a sophisticated compression system takes over, making soft sounds louder and loud sounds softer, so there are fewer jarring moments when switching channels or when commercials come on.

Disappearing Display

The 555 features a four-digit display located behind the speaker grille that shows the current setting for volume, bass, treble and PhaseCue (virtual surround)--and also shows when you have engaged the Mute, Output Leveling (OL) or Dialog Emphasis (DE) features. A few seconds after you stop using your remote (or front panel) controls, the display disappears completely.

Connect Your iPod and Other Devices

The 555 has two analog audio inputs, one optical digital input, and one coaxial digital input, plus a front-panel 3.5mm analog stereo input for convenient connection of your iPod or other portable audio device. Any specific input can be selected using either the remote control or the slim-line module below the speaker grille.

Wood (MDF) Cabinet With Hand-Lacquered Side Panels

The 555 features a hand-built cabinet of MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard) with beautiful hand-lacquered high-gloss end panels. Its low-profile design blends perfectly with flat-panel TVs. Most people don't even notice the ZVOX 555 until they hear it.

What's in the Box?

ZVOX Z-base 555, 1 stereo RCA to stereo RCA connecting cable, multifunction remote control with programming instruction sheet, power cord, one-sheet safety instructions, operations manual, Quick Start guide.