Nathan Rizzuti, dedicated to Gadget Review for over 4 years, specializes in home entertainment technology and purchasing decisions. Outside of work, Nathan finds solace in playing bluegrass. With 50 months of consistent contributions at GadgetReview, Nathan’s expertise lies in navigating the realms of home entertainment technology and aiding purchasing decisions. His insightful articles, such as “Oh Ballers of Pittsburgh, Where Art Thou,” reflect a unique perspective that resonates with readers.
The Vizio M Series M51ax-J6 offers a powerful and immersive audio experience with Dolby Atmos support. Its neutral sound profile and customizable options are versatile. For the price, it works for those seeking to improve the sound over built-in TV speakers.
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Table of Contents
Product Snapshot
Overview
With a 5.1 setup, the 2021 Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6 brings immersive surround sound to home theaters. This premium speaker boasts an outstanding, neutral sound profile, which is as good for movies as it is for music and podcasts.
Supporting Dolby Atmos and featuring discrete surround speakers, this system provides a remarkable immersive movie soundstage, standing out among the best speakers on the market.
It gets really loud, making it a good choice for larger rooms. Equipped with a dedicated subwoofer, this system accurately reproduces that deep rumbling bass that is great for action movies and EDM music genres.
Connectivity options on this speaker include optical, combined HDMI ARC+Out, full HDMI In, 3.5 mm, and USB. However, wireless streaming options are limited to Bluetooth.
This system has a low latency of all ports, so there’s smooth syncing between the audio and video feeds. Learn more about the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6 below and see how it stacks up against the highest-rated sound bars in the industry.
Best For
Large Rooms
Consensus
our Verdict
The Vizio M Series M51ax-J6 suffers some downsides, such as latency issues, subpar Voice Assistant integration, and potential connectivity problems, such as periodical Bluetooth dropouts and connection failure with the subwoofer and rear speakers.
Additionally, the instructions for pairing can be confusing, and it constantly seeks pairing options Soundwise, it has a powerful and immersive audio experience with Dolby Atmos support.
Its neutral sound profile and customizable options cater to various audio content. Its bass is thumpy and impressive, but the treble isn’t crisp and overpowered by the bass.
While the soundbar has a good stereo soundstage, it lacks advanced sound enhancement features like a graphic EQ. The build quality is sturdy and has nice physical button controls, but the fabric coverings may not be the most durable.
ReasonS to Buy
“Powerful and balanced sound quality
The soundbar excels both for movies and music, as it comes with Dolby Atmos support and plenty of sound customization options to adjust bass and treble. It delivers a dynamic soundstage with booming bass, clear mids, and high yet balanced trebles.
Good surround sound
The soundbar delivers a high-grade 5.1 surround sound setup, including discrete surround speakers and a subwoofer. The overall profile is powerful for cranking up movies and music while providing a neutral sound and accurate sound.
Voice Clarity
With an excellent center channel, the soundbar excels for dialogue-heavy content, like TV shows. Additionally, the soundbar features a dialogue enhancement feature to focus sound performance on vocal frequencies, making them more clear.
Bass Response
The dedicated subwoofer provides powerful bass for music with low frequencies and high-quality movie content, specifically action sequences.
Reason to Avoid
Poor latency and limited connectivity options
Lacks smart features
The soundbar isn’t as functional as others in the category, given it lacks a built-in voice assistant or a dedicated smart app to control via a smartphone.
Subpar remote
The small control panel on the remote is hard to see, making it difficult to navigate and frustrating.
Vizio M51AX-J6 Specs
Bluetooth Enabled
Yes
Depth
3.5"
Dialogue Enhancement Feature
Yes
Energy Star Certified
No
Equalizer Settings
Basic
HDMI ARC
Yes
Height
2.2"
Number of Audio Channels
5.1
Subwoofer
Included
Surround Sound Supported
Dolby Atmos, DTS TruVolume, DTS Virtual:X
Voice Assistant
Amazon Alexa
Wall Mountable
Yes
Weight
5.5 lbs
Width
36"
Wireless Connectivity
Bluetooth
Wireless Subwoofer Connectivity
Yes
Works With
Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant
All Specs
Test Results
These are the most important criteria to test for Soundbars based on our comprehensive Testing Methodology.
Low End Roll Off (Hz)
35.125
High End Roll Off (Hz)
13,472.794
Max Volume Test (db)
96.7
Latency (ms)
39
THD @ 80dB
0.32
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With a 5.1 setup, the 2021 Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6 brings immersive surround sound to home theaters. This premium speaker boasts an outstanding, neutral sound profile,…
With a 5.1 setup, the 2021 Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6 brings immersive surround sound to home theaters. This premium speaker boasts an outstanding, neutral sound profile, which is as good for movies as it is for music and podcasts.
Supporting Dolby Atmos and featuring discrete surround speakers, this system provides a remarkable immersive movie soundstage, standing out among the best speakers on the market.
It gets really loud, making it a good choice for larger rooms. Equipped with a dedicated subwoofer, this system accurately reproduces that deep rumbling bass that is great for action movies and EDM music genres.
Connectivity options on this speaker include optical, combined HDMI ARC+Out, full HDMI In, 3.5 mm, and USB. However, wireless streaming options are limited to Bluetooth.
This system has a low latency of all ports, so there’s smooth syncing between the audio and video feeds. Learn more about the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6 below and see how it stacks up against the highest-rated sound bars in the industry.
With a wider stereo soundstage, the Vizio M Series m512a-H6 is better for music than the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6. Additionally, unlike the m51ax-J6, it has…
With a wider stereo soundstage, the Vizio M Series m512a-H6 is better for music than the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6. Additionally, unlike the m51ax-J6, it has two up-firing speakers, producing a better Dolby Atmos soundstage. That said, the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6 gets slightly louder. You can learn more by checking out our Vizio m512a-H6 review today.
With the lower audio latency on all ports, the Vizio M Series m51a-H6 syncs the audio and video feeds in movie dialogue scenes better than…
With the lower audio latency on all ports, the Vizio M Series m51a-H6 syncs the audio and video feeds in movie dialogue scenes better than the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6. It also produces deeper extended low bass, making it better for movies and music than the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6. Check out our Vizio m51a-H6 review for details.
Producing deeper extended low-bass, the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6 is better for movies and music than the Sonos Arc, it also has equalizer presets as well…
Producing deeper extended low-bass, the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6 is better for movies and music than the Sonos Arc, it also has equalizer presets as well as a full HDMI input, unlike the Sonos Arc. On the other hand, the Sonos Arc has a built-in voice assistant system unlike the Vizio M-Series m51ax-J6, which needs connecting a third-party device to benefit from voice assistant features.
