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Sony Soundbar with Wireless Rears

23K views 154 replies 39 participants last post by  DaveGill 
#1 ·
#3 · (Edited)
I wouldn't get down on yourself for the unpredictable peculiarity of timing. And you're not locked into anything.

There are two ways of looking at your situation

You haven't taken delivery, and can return the whole thing.

We have no idea yet how this soundbar sounds, and you may have done the right thing by ordering a complete sound system, as it might yield a better, overall sound.

I'm just glad that someone is offering an alternative to wireless options from Philips, whose most interesting models may not even be sold in the US! Moreover, the Sony unit has an actual center channel, versus the 4.1 setup of most of the Philips soundbars.

In any event, the die is not cast.

Cheer up!
 
#5 ·
The Philips B5 looks to be a real upgrade from the 7180. with larger drivers all around. And the Philips Zenit 5.1 eschews 4.1 altogether, providing respectable size speakers in front, center and rear. But Philips has no plan to market either of them here, in the backwater swampland of America!

The new Sony looks to be better than the reflecting HT ST7 and 9. Nothing like real rears!
 
#7 ·
It's available in England, and there are a couple of great reviews of it on Amazon UK.

The other day I ran the gauntlet by calling a not very well informed Sony USA representative, and then being transferred to a nonexistent Sony Store number. It was very frustrating.

Before I gear up for another try, perhaps you can give it a go.

When I first posted about it, it seemed like an ideal solution, given that the drivers that Sony uses are excellent. It seems like an ideal soundbar.
 
#13 ·
Well picked it up and set all the speakers up. I don't have any of my sources connected yet but I have the HDMI ARC connected to the TV and trying the built in Netflix app on the Vizio m70-C3. The volume can be controlled by the TV remote but I find the volume has to be maxed out to get just a decent volume. Any ideas why?
 
#14 ·
That's anomalous, for sure. There's no way, IMO, that a 550 Watt system would put out insufficient sound levels.

Is there an Audio menu option for the Sony?

There is also an automatic room correction/calibration that must be run, based on the little I've read on the device.
 
#16 ·
Have you tried updating the firmware on your TV? 5.1 problems with Netflix were pretty common at one point, and updating the firmware was one fix.

Are you connected through streaming or HDMI?

I hope you can watch a Blu-Ray soon, and give us a review! :)
 
#20 ·
Well so far it's sounding pretty good. I've been busy rewiring everything and reprogramming my Control4 system to accommodate it. Once I get it mounted under my TV I'll be able to get a better sense of how it sounds. Although I can already tell I wish it was a bit wider. The R/L separation doesn't seem as good as I'd like it. One happy surprise is that it can be controlled via IP. I was able to find a Control4 IP driver for it.
 
#21 ·
I am remodeling my livingroom and was thinking I'd replace my aging 5.1 setup with a new soundbar with surrounds. My old setup is Polk Monitor 10B's, Polk rear surrounds, CS400 center, Polk PS200 sub, and a Yamaha RXV-995.

I bought the Sony HT-RT5 today from Costco, in fact I have it playing some Joe Bonamassa right now.

Here's my overall soundbar opinion, based on only hearing this soundbar, a Sonos setup and listening to the Bose 5.1 soundbar setup.

My tests consisted of watching Saving Private Ryan in DTS, Eagles hell freezes over in DTS, then several BT sources such as my laptop and streaming Pandora via my S5 phone.

First I calibrated the system with the included mic setup. It seemed to put the rear surrounds a little low, but did notice that my rear right was farther away and boosted its level by 1 dB.

Saving Private Ryan - On my older system, the bullets flying in the beginning of the movie have very distinct direction. Theres a scene where rain starts, you can hear it hit leaves, then the puddle below followed by footsteps. At the end of the movie there is a tank scene where the tank rolls into town, it has very low bass. I was very disapointed with the soundbar for several reasons. First, the bar is not long enough to get real separation, and the transfer of sound from side to side and front to back such as a bullet shot is very hard to hear. If I didnt know what to expect, I would have never noticed that effect in the movie. The sub is very positional, its crossover is too high, you can hear where the bass is coming from if its not out front near the TV. Its also very singular note sounding, more of a thud than a varying low frequency.

For the Eagles DVD, it was simply very poor sounding. With no separates in the soundbar, the treble is VERY weak. DTS separation is poor though you can hear things from the individual speakers, hearing it on my previous system leaves this very lackluster.

BT music is just OK, again not having separate drivers and a one note subwoofer leaves the music not very inspirational.

I think if Sony decides to make this type of system with their Hi Res components it might be a decent system.

IMHO the Sonos has a better frequency range and is more full sounding, but obviously more than twice the price. I would put this Sony system on par with the Bose system.

As I write this I am experimenting with the various settings. The football setting is nice (NO is winning over Atlanta), it boosts ambient noise to make it seem more like your in a stadium. The Cinema Studio 9.1 ch setting is better for movies than the other settings, however it still seems like the bar is only one speaker, not 3. They could have done more with the effects to simulate a wider sounding bar.

It is nice looking, and obviously the lack of wires lets you put things in easy places, however if you dont have a plug handy, the power cords will be as ugly as speaker wires.

The rear speakers are front facing, if you dont point them at you, you cant really her them well. They seem to have a narrow field of sound dispersion.

Maybe I was expecting too much, but I realize now that the system is made from mostly 2-3" full range drivers, thus the limited frequency range.

Honestly the system sounds bland to me, I will be returning it. I will have it for a few more days if anyone has any questions.

This has made me reconsider using most of my old setup, maybe replacing the Yamaha with a new HDMI/BT/Network capable receiver, and maybe some decent ceiling speakers for the rear surrounds. I cant imagine I will be satisfied with a soundbar other than for regular TV watching.
 
#23 ·
An issue I'm running into is the sound volume on my Dish Hopper ran directly into the soundbar hdmi 1 has low sound. You have to crank it up to max to get any real volume. Have you noticed this? I don't have this issue with BT or with my Nvidia Shield TV. I don't see anything in the menu sytem on the Hopper for any kind of internal volume that might fix this issue.

I was about to pull the trigger on the Sonos setup but what bothered me was spending that much money and it not supporting the newer features formats (HDCP 2.2, HDMI 2, DTS) and not having HDMI switching.
 
#26 ·
I am also seeing this issue, on some sources I have the soundbar almost at max to get a reasonable sound level, though switching to another mode such as Cinema or Music arena significantly increases the volume.

Can you do a test to see if you notice the HDMI video signal passed from the soundbar to the TV is changed? I noticed that my Bluray discs looked like crap last night though I suspect its from a setting on the player I need to adjust as its seeing a different source than the TV. I dont believe that an HDMI signal can be degraded, but I'm not an expert.
 
#31 ·
I really wanted this setup up but I have two issues. The volume is just to low when using Dish through HDMI with it. Also though I like the bass during big action scenes there is just to much gap between the small drivers and the sub so during normal watching there doesn't seem to be any lows. All other features I really like. The supported formats, the HDMI switching, the IP control, and blue tooth streaming. It's a shame because the price was perfect. I'd say for the price it's still a bargain even with the issues though I wouldn't want it with something as large as my 70" Vizio.
 
#32 ·
Totally agree with the above summary.

I feel there is an overall lack of perceived power, and if you turn off the sub you quickly realize your listening to several 2" full range speakers. The sub does a good job, but its tasked with too much gap filling and thus its directional. If you put it in the back of your room you can easily pinpoint where the sub is.

The lack of treble is what killed it for me. Its not musical at all, and there is just too much detail missing from the really good DVD's.

If Sony comes up with this same system but with their high definition drivers it will be an awesome setup. I can't imagine why other manufacturers are not coming out with 5.1 soundbar systems with wireless rears.
 
#33 · (Edited)
Philips came out with a wireless 5.1 system with decent drivers (Philips Zenit Cinema Speakers CSS5530G 5.1), but Philips (or Woox or Gibson) hasn't released it here in the US. It is, however, on Amazon for $499.95, though it is not in stock, and appears to be a pre-release.

Weirdly, it can be purchased from Germany through ebay for $948.3...without warranty.

The design is interesting, in that the central, controlling "soundbar" constitutes the center channel, and the other four channels all use fairly large wireless satellites, along with the wireless subwoofer.

These four satellites also utilize a D'Appolito configuration, with a silk dome tweeter in between two mid-woofers, vertically placed.

Because of the use of physically distinct satellites, and a dedicated center, you are assured real L-C-R separation, and a large soundstage.

This appears to be a much better solution than the 4.1 Fidelio soundbars.
 
#34 ·
I have the Sony HS-ST9 which consists of a main/centre and a subwoofer. If I were to add on a pair of Sony wireless speakers like X77, will it give me full 5.1 channels? I knew the Sonos can do that because of its intelligent software, but not sure about Sony. Appreciate experts' advice.
 
#35 ·
I downloaded the manual for the HT-ST9, and it does not appear that you can add rear speakers.

It makes sense, in that the technology used to project so many discrete channels (as opposed to simulated channels) would not likely accommodate external drivers.

It's a minor miracle that the Sony, as well as the higher tier Yamahas, do as well as they do in a good acoustic environment.
 
#36 ·
i all, I've been looking at this soundbar myself, i don't fancy having wires trailing around all over and this product looks great. I see a few negative reviews on here which are putting me off though. I bought a sonos playbar originally but wasnt impressed with the lack on Bluetooth and only premium Spotify steaming. I felt it was punchy but being a single unit obviously there was no surround whatsoever and the sounds age wasn't very wide or emersive.
My question is this, how would the Sony compare to a playbar, I presume it would blow it away with the three added speakers??? If it's a decent upgrade from the playbar then I'm sold. I don't need the greatest surround sound ever but I want something a step up from the playbar.
 
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