SONY'S GAME CHANGING Home Theater! SONY BRAVIA THEATRE QUAD Review

[Music] one of the most watch reviews we have ever done was of Sony's ht9 home theater system and for the past year at least you all have been asking when is the Sony getting an update well Sony just announced the update to the A9 and of course we have it Sony's dropped the old ht9 moniker this revolutionary home theater and a box system now goes by the name Bravia theater quad and yes that is with the fancy British spelling of Thea the quad as the name suggests comes with four Wireless loudspeakers that can be connected to either of Sony's sadly still not included subwoofers the sw3 or sw5 the four main speakers are completely redesigned for 2024 gone is the cylindrical shape of the ht9 replaced instead with a far more Decor friendly flat design clad in a neutral fabric inside each of the matching four speakers you're going to find four drivers I'm talking about a dedicated Tweeter mid-range and bass driver and all of those Face Forward along the top rest the speaker's upward firing Atmos driver each speaker is driven by its own internal amplifiers which combine for a total of 504 Watts though this does not include the subwoofer speaking of subwoofers yes this system still needs a sub now in our original review of the ht9 we relied very heavily on the costlier and more powerful sw5 is we felt the smaller sw3 didn't quite do the job for this review we were only sent the sw3 and in our new space proved surprisingly powerful enough so I'm going to amend my previous critique of the smaller sub and say pair whichever sub works best for you and your budget with the new Quad theater system one last note you can only pair one subwoofer to this system which is kind of a Miss in my opinion the quad also comes with Sony's control box which serves as a hub allowing all of the speakers to communicate wirelessly with your HDMI equipped TV if your TV doesn't have HDMI you're basically out of luck with the quad HDMI is the only real input output option on the control box that means one input and one out with Arc ERC support the control box support signals up to 8K 4K 120 with or without HDR including Dolby vision and the Bravia theater quad system also has support for gaming functions like vrr and Alm while the control box is limited in physical connection you do get wireless features like Wi-Fi Bluetooth version 5.2 AirPlay 2 and Spotify connect before I get into the Sony setup and sound quality let's talk control the quad can be controlled in one of four ways first by using the included small and very basic remote which is likely to be voted first to get lost in your sofa cushions next thanks to HDMI and C it is possible to control the systems volume using your existing TV remote which in our case we used an Apple TV remote now if you own a compatible Sony TV like our 98 in x90l upon connecting the system to the TVs HDMI ARC and EC input the Bravia theater quad's various options are automatically transferred to your Sony TV's quick menu which is super cool and convenient but if you're not a Sony TV owner don't worry there is the new Bravia Connect app which anyone can download The Connect app has been completely overhauled and features a new UI that is very easy to use you will need to download the app to get the quad up and running and to autoc calibrate the speakers in your room but it's not an app that you have to use day today now some of the systems more consequential settings are a little bit hidden inside the app but we're going to get to that in just a bit now you may have noticed like the old ht9 the new Bravia quad system has no Center channel that said owners of a compatible Sony TV can connect and use your TV's internal speakers as the system center channel via the quads s Center sync cable obviously I don't have every Sony TV to test this function still I can say that I am not a fan of using this feature with our x90l it's far from a good Sonic match so unless you like your dialogue to sound as if it's trapped inside a phone booth that's currently sinking to the bottom of the ocean sorry Sony I would skip it perhaps one of Sony's OLED TVs would Fair differently but me I'd leave that cable in the box and forget all about it but before you cross the Sony off your list just because I'm poking fun at their s Center sync does not mean that you're so when it comes to dialogue the quad's two front speakers create a terrific Phantom center with startling presence and Clarity even without Sony's new voice Zoom 3 engaged Sony includes both table and wall mounts in the box which makes placing the four speakers in your room easy just place two of the speakers on either side of your TV and the other two behind your listening position and Sony has even included longer power cables this time around giving you more flexibility than with the original A9 speaking of the original ht9 call us lucky but we never had any of the consumer reported dropouts with our unit I know some viewers had issues due to what may have been say a result of a congested Wi-Fi network whatever the cause Sony assured me that they've made sure dropouts will not be a problem with the new Quad in my tests both of the Quad surround speakers worked flawlessly even at distances greater than n 18 ft from the control box and the same was true of the subwoofer to get the most out of the theater quad system you will need to launch the Bravia Connect app and go through the calibration procedure which only takes a couple of minutes to complete the Sony uses your phone's built-in microphone to now calibrate the quads for speakers and the results are Beyond dramatic so if you want to experience Sony's 360° spatial mapping that you hear chrisy and I just Rave about you can with the quad once calibrated you can control the subwoofer volume volume and rear speaker levels you can also toggle the dialogue mode on and off as well as play with the surrounding night modes night mode cuts the subwoofer dramatically which could come in real Handy for those of you would say kids or nosy neighbors but there are two settings that I kind of referenced earlier that are somewhat hidden in the menu that are worth noting soundfield setting and height of soundfield soundfield setting lets you choose which of the three available Surround Sound Processing profiles you want to use with your content Sony spal mapping Dolby virtualization or DTS neural X each has its own flavor in tone so experiment with all three to find your favorite I personally left mine in the 360 mode and I never looked back the height setting though that literally shifts the perceivable center plane of the sound up or down based on the height of your TV it's noticeable and can affect the system's overall frequency response so beware after running the calibration inside the app with Sony's 360 mapping in engaged in everything else in its default setting the Bravia theater quad with the sw3 subwoofer produced an in room response that reached down to about 35 Hertz that extended out to 20 khz though the highs start to roll off around 15K but from the mid range up through the treble I was shocked at how linear the Sony is admittedly I found the base to be a bit much a sound that is more say Brute Force than finesse but lowering the subwoofer volume down to minus 4 resulting in a more coherent sound and and a response in our room from top to bottom now and this is really important because Sony isn't radically changing or eqing the subwoofer response proper placement will be key in obtaining the most coherent sound with the quads four speakers I place the S sw3 along our sidewall between the front and rear speakers no matter what unless you're willing to sacrifice bass either sub is going to juice the base in order to create a more impactful cinematic experience the more you lean into this the more you may notice a gap between the sub and the speaker start to emerge so while the sw3 has the power to kick you right Square in the gut restraint is going to win the day and give you the best overall sound in experience now one of the biggest issues facing sound bars is their difficulty to deliver solid stereo playback in other words music even two channel processed into pseudo surround sound bars struggle to replicate the sound of a pair of traditional speakers or working together to create a phantom Center image while sound bars tend to have a very strong Center presence because all of your drivers are located in one single bar they often collapse the rest of the music think performers and instruments down towards the center as well sound barss can be great for watching TV and movies but they're often a little hit or miss when it comes to music The Quad system however does not have this problem obviously thanks to the quad's individual speakers listeners can enjoy a more traditional stereo sound that said ironically the Sony sounds best when using all four of its speakers even for stereo playback the auto up mixing does a great job differentiating between two channel and multi-channel content allowing stereo tracks to sound more or less like they would if you were listening to a good old pair of bookshelf speakers tonally the quads are very neutral in their default setting I'm talking ruler flat in room which is stunning however on their own the quad speakers have no appreciable base and in my opinion you need to use one of Sony's compatible wireless Subs to fill in everything below about 100 htz while this isn't uncommon in home theater setups for stereo even small bookshelf speakers like take for instance our Lumina 2os can play down to 50-ish Hertz which is enough to give most listeners a sensation of Base whereas the Sony's are decidedly light all on their own and like I said we use the small sw3 sub and once it was properly placed and balanced with the rest of the speakers the bravus system is very and I mean very effective when listening to music sure I wish there was a little bit more granular control over the sub's overall volume as I found in our room and my measurements kind of backed me up on this having a setting between say4 and5 would have been ideal regardless this is still one hell of a stereo package coming from what most would say is primarily home theater tool now the center image and intelligibility of singers like Amy Dow of the lastlings or even less articulate frontmen like tools mayard Keenan were always presented clearly and in such a way that to me they felt very true to life however the low mid-range or mid-base weight and vocal accuracy depends very heavily on the sub and its proper setup because the Sony system on its own is exceedingly neutral with stereo Source material it is very easy to manipulate its neutrality either by turning the sub up or down or Eng engaging the dialogue enhancements watch the conversations surrounding the Sony change like the weather not enough Bass the critique will be that the Sony is thin or lean sounding but if you have the subwoofer up too high you'll watch the conversation skew to chesty or muddy turn on the dialogue enhancement and some might even use the word shrill when describing music playback through this system and I say that because I did but with voice enhancement set to off and your subwoofer set up correctly the Bravia system is among the better home the in a box systems that I have heard for listening to music comparable to the likes of a pair of Sonos era 300s or even modest bookshelf speakers like Clips 50m or Q Acoustics 3020i when driven by a good integrated amp or receiver now when it comes to the Bravia Sound Stage this system is really impressive with strict stereo tracks it does not overcook the surrounds creating a false sense of surround sound which is a very good thing and this is common with a lot of Soundbar systems trying to play Back Stereo tracks They often send a little bit too much information to the rears and it kind of creates like a quad or all Channel stereo situation the rears on the Sony in their default setting or volume only serve to flesh out the front of what I would call a traditional Sound Stage when listening to music if you like to bask in the scale of big orchestral Works think films and soundtracks from Sean Zimmer the Bravia delivers the Sony also has the dynamic chops to bring this kind of music and it scale to life Switching gears to movies now I'm just going to come right out and say it this system is better than any Soundbar system I've heard around the Sony's $2,500 asking price it's better than our current reference Soundbar the Samsung q990 C and it holds its own against the Sonos Arc outfitted with a pair of era 300s and a sub even besting it in the dialogue Clarity department now I will admit the Sono sub is better than the Sony sw3 and sw5 in terms of its overall Nuance in depth however when watching a movie I'm not sure the gains the Sona sub provides will always be immediately noticeable to most listeners but I digress watching the newest Ghostbusters Frozen Empire in Dolby Atmos through the quad system without Sony's TV as a center was as close to what you can get from a modest dedicated theater as I've ever heard no embellishing here the Sony hangs and even embarrasses basic home theaters built around 4 to 6in two-way bookshelf speakers a sub and an AV receiver for example I want you to picture of five Q acoustic 3020 eyes or maybe even Rend doll's 1961 bookshelf speakers with a modest 8in sub driven by say an Eno 5100 the Sony quad system is not only comparable but given the strength of its overhead and virtual channels it's actually better before any of you hit your keyboards no no no no no the Sony doesn't embarrass our reference kef R meta theater nor a home theater comprised of Bowers and Wilkins 00 Series 3 speakers with dedicated Atmos channels but if I were a betting man the day is coming sooner than later when it does the scale Dynamics Clarity and precision of sound placement is crazy good left to right front to back and overhead the Bravia system transforms a room sonically and puts you right smack dab in the thick of the action like the ht9 before it the quad speakers along with the Sony's 360° spatial mapping are so effective that once again I felt as if I was hearing more subtle cues in the mix than through other speakers even some of our reference ones they just simply do not shine as bright a light on these little cues take the Let's Play House scene from baz lurman Elvis this perfectly illustrates what I'm talking about the crowd noise that General mulling just that you know the little bits of noise here and there it was rendered in such a way that I damn near pulled my neck out craning my head around as I kept thinking was sneaking up on me and this is this is what I love most about Sony spatial mapping I think with little to no fuss it gives listeners a truer sense of what I believe a mix Probably sounds like in the studio rather than how it often sounds after it's been watered down to meet the various standards of playback the Bravia is so precise in this regard that it can make even some traditional home theaters sound well vague in comparison but best of all the Sony all but disappears sonically and visually in your room making it easier to focus on enjoying the movie rather than having your attention pulled away to the Gear regardless of the film or television series dialogue is clear clear clear however if you engage the dialogue mode at least in my opinion it can become too clear based on my testing and in Room measurements it would appear Sony's clear voice Tech boost the treble as much as 5 DB starting somewhere around 2 khz while attenuating the base while 90% of content music or movies I found clear voices enhancements resulted in a more etched and brittle top end that said it saved christe from having to constantly ask what did they just say when watching poorly mixed series The Gentleman on Netflix I am talking about you I guess the Silver Lining is you can choose to use it or not use it it's just a tool and not a sound that is baked in the cake as it stands I think the Bravia theater quad system with the sw3 or 5 sub is Peak home theater One-Stop shopping for most people who want a home theater but don't want to become a home theater nerd the quad is the better way to go and I maintain it's better than most Soundbar systems All Things Considered but this is no longer a first gen product and sorry you don't get a past this time around so Sony come here for a second Sony love you but this system needs a new more tunable and well you did it to yourself a more stylish subwoofer that is included I don't want to get into the argument over we give customers Choice blah blah blah there's a home theater in a box so put everything the customer needs in the box and congratulations you did a great job updating the quad styling but now your old Subs need a refresh the sw3 and sw5 sub offers look like they were made for L gen products because shocker they were but going Beyond The Superficial it's time for you to give users the ability to adjust the EQ to better tune the sub or at least at least give us more GR man or control over the subs volume both will take the whole experience of this system from great to god tier and while I love the small un obtrusive control box I'm worried you went a little bit to Apple here you had to know eliminating all inputs not named HDMI we're going to tick some people off especially those who are still rocking plasma TVs yeah they are and I know those displays are dinosaurs but including an optical or even a simple analog audio input would have gone a long way in making those people happy lastly Sony I know Christy loves your voice Zoom Tech but what's with it only being available on or off give me low medium and high or something perhaps this can be done in a firmware update I don't know but going full send on the treble not very subtle I feel better but like the hda9 before it Sony has made what I believe is a worthy successor to what was already a stellar first outing the new Bravia theater quad system with the sw3 subwoofer is hands down better than its predecessor in every appreciable way including reliability after a lot of thought I truly do believe that for the vast majority of people young and old the Bravia represents what is likely to be all of the home theater you'll ever need I think home theater really does start here unless you know you want to expand your system down the road or get into the weeds with chasing components over time the Bravia system is enough and it is certainly better than most Soundbars on the market right now I love it I love it and I'm going to hang on to it as a reference point not just for Soundbar comparisons but for home theater systems in general because it's that freaking good so that's it for me if you skip to the end hoping for comparisons you're going to have to go back to the beginning and watch the video because you've already missed a ton of course you can leave your questions in the comments where they might get a shout out from christe on Friday's new unplugged but until until then if you like this video please do give it a thumbs up like And subscribe go ahead and ring that Bell so that you're notified when new videos come out if use any of the links that christe left for you down below know that that's a great way that you have continued to show your support for this Channel and the work that we do here and both of us thank you very much for doing that follow me on Instagram at recovering aile and that is it for us today so remember the only person who has to like the sound of your system is you so happy listening everybody thank you so much for watching see you Friday with Christy's thoughts on what she thinks of the Bravia quad system until then have a great one and uh yeah thanks for watching bye

Channel: Andrew Robinson

Views: 219,090

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Id: vTh2ayFeGlg

Length: 20min 19sec (1219 seconds)

Published: Sun May 19 2024