Sound quality: Cambridge Audio's TVB2 delivers sound quality that falls in the fair range, meaning that it has sonic shortcomings that leave a lot to be desired when listening to music but don't rule it out for dialog. In Music mode bass has good impact and goes fairly deep, but is somewhat prominent, boomy, a bit muddy. The midrange is somewhat muffled. The treble is fairly extended, but subdued. It doesn't do a good job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), is congested, and lacks detail. The Film mode doesn't sound much different from the Music mode, the TV mode is similar to the Music mode but the bass is slightly subdued, and in the Voice mode the bass is significantly subdued. There was no significant difference in sound between the HDMI, Optical, Analog, and Bluetooth inputs. The sound bar can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Very good overall Setup: Programming the soundbar to respond to a TV remote was quick, easy, and straight forward. The instructions say that the unit is HDMI CEC capable, but no instructions for enabling/disabling this feature are provided. All appropriate cables for TV connection are included. Ease of Use: This model can work seamlessly with a TV - it can respond to the volume and mute buttons of an HDMI CEC compatible TV's remote when it is connected to the TV via the HDMI ARC ports (provided the feature can be enabled), or you can program the soundbar to respond to the volume and mute controls of the remotes of many TVs. If you decided to use the soundbar's own remote you'll find it cluttered but not difficult to use. The soundbar console itself has power, source, and volume controls that are adequately identified but are on the right side where they may not be easy to see or access. The console lacks a mute control but it can be unmuted by pressing one of the volume buttons. The console display has power, mute DSP (digital sound processing) mode status, source selection, and a numeric volume level display that can be seen from the typical listening position.
Features setup and ease of use: Good overall. Setup: Pairing a Bluetooth device required a long push of a well marked button - easy and straight forward. Optional NFC pairing is available for use with Bluetooth devices that have that feature. Ease of Use: The soundbar's remote is cluttered but is not difficult to use. The soundbar console itself has power, source, and volume controls that are adequately identified but are on the right side where they may not be easy to see or access. Although there is no mute control the console can be unmuted by pressing one of the volume buttons. The console display has power, mute DSP mode status, source selection, and a numeric volume level indications that can be seen from the typical listening position.
