Customer reviews from sony.com
Sony - 7.1-Channel Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer - Black
Average customer rating
3.9
(35 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 35 reviews
5 Stars
12
4 Stars
13
3 Stars
6
2 Stars
2
1 Star
2
69%of customers recommend this product.
(
20 out of
29)
Customer Reviews for Sony - 7.1-Channel Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer - Black
Posted by: MrTopher
Verified Purchase:Yes
I replaced a Bose sound system with the Sony SA ST5 sound bar and woofer, which gives me much better results. I actually get compliments from guests about the great sound coming from the TV. Couldn't be happier!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
5
Brings the TV to life
on December 27, 2014
Posted by: Luke2006
I replaced an older sound system that I always thought had good sound but I wanted to hide the sub woofer and eliminate some wires to which the new soundbar did that and I also gained superior sound.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Posted by: bobcat0208
Verified Purchase:Yes
I've had a Bose lifestyle system, and wanted to get great sound, without all the clutter and cables. The Soundbar does a great job, though the quality isn't up to what my Bose was, but it's also a lot less clutter.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Response from sony.comBy Joffrey, SonySupport, August 2, 2015
Hi bobcat0208,
Good to know that you are happy with your purchase!
Thank you for choosing Sony!
Good to know that you are happy with your purchase!
Thank you for choosing Sony!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
5
Incredible
on December 8, 2014
Posted by: Anonymous
One word...INCREDIBLE.
Okay, Okay, just a little more to say. It may not be like ridiculously BOOMING but it is loud enough and very clear to hear.
I also like the different sound formats.
Really easy to plug and play.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
5
Sound bar revitalized my 7 year old LCD Sony tv
on December 19, 2014
Posted by: LDF99
My Sony KVL46W3000 TV is 7 years old but works great except for sound quality. This sound bar was a perfect upgrade that allowed me to keep using this Sony TV. When the time comes to upgrade the TV this sound bar will be a great addition to that TV
I would recommend this to a friend!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
5
The New Standard for Audio in my Home
on September 3, 2014
Posted by: Multimediographer
Over the past few years I’ve been in the process of building the “perfect podcasters studio” in my home office. The latest addition to my set-up is the Sony HT-ST5 sound bar. I’ve never owned any sound bar prior to this one so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in terms of sound quality. Especially considering the sleek low-profile size of the unit. I’ve grown up thinking big speakers mean big sound, right? Wrong.
I own several Sony products, so I was certain build quality wouldn’t be an issue, but the idea that cinema quality sound could come out of a device that occupies such a relatively small footprint made me very skeptical. Also, in my livingroom I have a full 5:1 premium built-in sound system. My thinking was — how could this thing ever compare?
In short, it did more than just compare. It made me really question the expense I incurred by getting that built in system.
THE BOX! TETRIS IN THE HOUSE!
The unit showed up in a box that looked like a “Tetris” piece. The box is an “L” shape, to accommodate both the oblong sound bar as well as the square-ish subwoofer. The box was a bit heavy, but even though the packaging indicated that it should be handled by two people, I was able to easily move it around by myself.
THE MARINADE
After the box arrived, I let the box sit, sealed, in my office for a few days. I was waiting until I had a good amount of time to dedicate to getting it all wired and configured in my home office. And I just “knew” a trip to Best Buy was in my future to snag some essential missing cable or something. Thankfully, none of this was the case.
THE SET-UP
Sony packaged the device very well, but it was easy enough to open and unpack. In fact, I had the unit out of the box and sitting on the floor waiting for installation in about 5 minutes.
From there, it was really “scarily” simple to set up. The configuration essentially consisted of this; 1. unbox the unit, 2. put it on my desk and plug it in, 3. connect the audio input, 4. plug in the subwoofer. 5. play some music and sit back and listen.
I can’t stress enough that there was pretty much ZERO configuration with this device. Setting it up really only consisted of plugging it in. And the wireless subwoofer made my day. No pairing, no hassle, no nothing… I just plugged it in and turned it on. The sound bar automatically found the sub and everything just… worked. This is how technology should work.
THE REMOTE AND ENERGY SAVING
The remote control is delightfully simple with just a few buttons to operate it, and the sound bar automatically powers itself off after a period of dormancy. I do wish that it would auto detect an incoming audio signal and turn itself on as well, but it doesn’t. Once it goes to sleep, a trip to the tiny remote control is in order to power it back on. But it boots up within a few seconds and is ready for action.
SOUND QUALITY
In a word, WOW. For context, this device replaced a set of M-Audio AV-40 monitor speakers that I had connected to my Mac. These speakers sounded just fine, but lacked the low frequencies. Meaning podcasts, Skype calls and Google+ Hangouts sounded just fine, but the lower frequencies present in music and other audio were almost non-existent. Conversely, the audio out of the Sony HT-ST5 sound bar blew my socks off. The bass response is outstanding, with crisp highs and clear mid tones. My podcast studio finally sounds like an actual studio.
THE BOTTOM LINE
My eyes have been opened to the quality possible from the Sony sound bar line up. It’s simply amazing that such rich and cinematic sound can come from such a sleek and low profile device. I’m now planning on purchasing one for the master bedroom. And have cancelled plans to have built-in speakers installed in the ceiling.
I realize I’m using this device somewhat outside of its intended purpose (home theater), but if Sony hasn’t considered the home office/studio as a possible use case, it should. The Sony HT-ST5 sound bar has added a depth of sound quality to my office that I had not previously thought possible… especially not at this price.
I highly recommend the Sony HT-ST5 sound bar to anyone looking for premium sound — in any room.
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
4
Good Choice For Movies! Not As Much For Music
on August 31, 2014
Posted by: sandiegodom
This was my first experience with a sound bar as my home reference system is based on a traditional 5.1 speaker configuration. I was very curious to see how convincingly the surround sound experience could be recreated using a single array.
DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY
The industrial design with gracefully angled corners is clean, sleek and attractive. A painted aluminum finish and metal grill are high-end to the touch. There is no on-screen display to the monitor output so status and setup is accomplished through a L.E.D. array behind the grill. This mostly works and can be dimmed or turned off so as not to interfere with viewing in a dimly lit environment.
The industrial design with gracefully angled corners is clean, sleek and attractive. A painted aluminum finish and metal grill are high-end to the touch. There is no on-screen display to the monitor output so status and setup is accomplished through a L.E.D. array behind the grill. This mostly works and can be dimmed or turned off so as not to interfere with viewing in a dimly lit environment.
The subwoofer, on the other hand, could benefit from the design cues of the sound bar. The enclosure is a standard (and somewhat tall) rectangular box with a cloth grill. I would have preferred that the enclosure echo the angled designs of the sound bar to communicate that the units are part of the same package. Add a metal grill to the sub and the entire affair would have a visually cohesive, premium look and feel.
SETUP
Anyone who has spent time prying up their carpet to hide speaker cables will appreciate the simplicity of a single driver array and a wireless sub. Having done the carpet thing before, I’m not sure how much more simple the HT-ST5 set-up process could have been. If you have a location to place the sound bar that does not involve mounting it on a wall you can literally have the system up and running in less than10 minutes.
Anyone who has spent time prying up their carpet to hide speaker cables will appreciate the simplicity of a single driver array and a wireless sub. Having done the carpet thing before, I’m not sure how much more simple the HT-ST5 set-up process could have been. If you have a location to place the sound bar that does not involve mounting it on a wall you can literally have the system up and running in less than10 minutes.
CONTROL
The system can be controlled using the supplied infrared remote control or through the SongPlay app available for iOS and Android. I was actually quite happy with the IR remote as it’s a departure from the typical crowded Sony remote surface. Commonly used functions are on the main surface and by sliding down the body of the remote, secondary function are available. My only complaint here is that there is no backlighting on the keys making them difficult to read in a dim environment.
The system can be controlled using the supplied infrared remote control or through the SongPlay app available for iOS and Android. I was actually quite happy with the IR remote as it’s a departure from the typical crowded Sony remote surface. Commonly used functions are on the main surface and by sliding down the body of the remote, secondary function are available. My only complaint here is that there is no backlighting on the keys making them difficult to read in a dim environment.
Going back to the lack of an on-screen display, secondary set-up functions are configured using buttons inside of the remote. Most of the selections require you to ‘arrow’ through a list of options, but there is no wrap around. So once you get to the end of the list you have to arrow back through the list to get to the first option again.
The SongPlay app will control the HT-ST5 but seems to make the most sense when streaming through Bluetooth. The app is actually a Bluetooth ‘conduit’ for routing the sound from other apps through the HT-ST5. For example you can route Spotify, Pandora, the Walkman app (come on Sony, time to change the name), YouTube or any other media app through SongPlay and it will send that app’s sound (not picture) to the sound bar. Here’s where it can be a bit tricky. You set your steaming apps in SongPlay and from that point forward they appear as selectable icons inside of the app. Once you press the desired icon SongPlay prepares to route the app’s sound to Bluetooth and then switches to that app for song selection.
Where this switching back and forth gets irritating is on the Tablet Z. The SongPlay app defaults to a horizontal screen orientation, whereas for example, Walkman and Spotify default to vertical orientations. So on the tablet not only do you get the switch between apps you also get the screen orientation ‘swirl’ at the same time. I don’t see a reason why the SongPlay app could not default to a vertical orientation.
CONNECTIVITY
Besides Bluetooth there is no other data connectivity to the unit (i.e. Wi-Fi, USB). Wi-Fi connectivity along with a few key built-in apps (Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, Spotify) would truly make this an all-in-one system. Also without Wi-Fi or USB there does not seem to be the possibility of firmware updates.
Besides Bluetooth there is no other data connectivity to the unit (i.e. Wi-Fi, USB). Wi-Fi connectivity along with a few key built-in apps (Netflix, YouTube, Pandora, Spotify) would truly make this an all-in-one system. Also without Wi-Fi or USB there does not seem to be the possibility of firmware updates.
SOUND QUALITY
I auditioned the HT-ST5 with the sound bar placed directly below my TV and the sub on the same plane about three feet to the side. The source material for the surround portion of the demo was Star Trek Into Darkness in 7.1 surround. You get an assortment of stereo effects, wide dynamic range and surround within the first 8 minutes of this movie – perfect for testing!
I auditioned the HT-ST5 with the sound bar placed directly below my TV and the sub on the same plane about three feet to the side. The source material for the surround portion of the demo was Star Trek Into Darkness in 7.1 surround. You get an assortment of stereo effects, wide dynamic range and surround within the first 8 minutes of this movie – perfect for testing!
I configured my Blu-ray player to simultaneously feed my reference system and the sound bar allowing instantaneous A/B comparison. I used the standard HT-ST5 surround and voice settings for movies. The sound bar and sub blend seamlessly. I will say that the bottom end as well as the articulate, detailed highs immediately impressed me. The front stereo/surround image was expansive and in fact seemed to wrap around the viewing area.
Surprisingly the subwoofer is an acoustic suspension design and there is plenty of tight, good quality bass to go around. Early in the movie a volcano begins to loudly erupt and the little 7” driver handled the dynamic range and lows admirably – even in relative comparison to my reference sub. (Incidentally the subwoofer produced low, though audible output down to 30 Hz – impressive for its driver size).
However during A/B comparisons I did notice several points worth mentioning. While the sound bar does a great job of creating a larger than normal sound field, purist will likely miss actually hearing the effects that have been place in the rear…actually play from the rear. For example, in another section of the test movie on my reference system it was possible to hear the ships engines in the rear or laser blasts starting in the rear and ending up in the front. This yielded a more life-like experience.
But there is a more significant flaw. With very little setup, a quick spectrum analysis revealed relatively flat response all the way until the usual roll-off in the lower frequencies. The problem? Flat response is a good place to start but it is not as pleasant to listen to. As a result during movie viewing male voices sounded thinner and slightly tinny. This was less noticeable on female voices but the harshness was still present.
When playing back Bluetooth sources using the recommend surround settings the problem was still there. Next I connected my reference SACD player and auditioned Diane Schuurs “In Tribute” as well as Arctic Monkeys “Favourite Worst Nightmare. Same results on both – detailed highs, tight lower bass and what sounded like a hole in the mid bass. No matter how much I manipulated sound fields or changed the subwoofer volume I was never able to satisfying fill in the ‘missing’ bass. The closest I got to reducing the harshness was playing back mp3 tracks via Bluetooth and setting the iPhone’s built in equalizer to ‘Bass Booster.’ Finally the sound bar was sonically everything I was hoping it would be.
CONCLUSION
Generally the HT-ST5 is very well engineered, attractively designed and ridiculously easy to set up. For watching movies I think it very much accomplishes its intended purpose. With so much surround information present the thinner vocals are less of a distraction. Again, though, with strictly musical sources I feel the inability to customize the frequency response may cause problems for the more discriminating.
Generally the HT-ST5 is very well engineered, attractively designed and ridiculously easy to set up. For watching movies I think it very much accomplishes its intended purpose. With so much surround information present the thinner vocals are less of a distraction. Again, though, with strictly musical sources I feel the inability to customize the frequency response may cause problems for the more discriminating.
The HT-ST5 is perfect as a no-hassles surround system for a second room/bedroom. It will also work great in apartments where space is at a premium. If you are feeling generous and have college aged kids they’d love something like this to keep the party going in their dorm room. If used for movies primary and casual listening at a distant second this really is all you need. However if your music is as important as your movies you will have to look elsewhere.
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com
Customer Rating
5
Premium Sound!
on September 3, 2014
Posted by: samtheman2013
I researched quite extensively for currently available sound bars. The Sony HT-ST7 came in at number 1. The HT-ST5 (this model)
is the younger brother and is about 300$ cheaper. However the HT-ST5 still is of premium quality although the max sound/bass is lower than the HT-ST7. This is a great looking device with premium quality brushed metal look.
is the younger brother and is about 300$ cheaper. However the HT-ST5 still is of premium quality although the max sound/bass is lower than the HT-ST7. This is a great looking device with premium quality brushed metal look.
Comparing the HT-ST7 to much more expensive(about 500-700$ more) Sonos, Definitive Technology and Bowers and Wilkins etc. the Sony just blew them away. The HT-ST5 also comes in very close
to performing at the same levels as these other sound bars I mentioned (the price difference is even bigger then as the HT-ST5 is cheaper than the HT-ST7). The quality of music is unbelievable and does not get distorted at the max volume.
to performing at the same levels as these other sound bars I mentioned (the price difference is even bigger then as the HT-ST5 is cheaper than the HT-ST7). The quality of music is unbelievable and does not get distorted at the max volume.
I also have a Pioneer Amplifier (7.1 channel) and a Harmon Kardon Speaker system (8 speakers in total). This system is my main Home Theater and it is a mid-range system. So I cannot compare
that system with the Sony HT-ST5 as it would not be fair for the HT-ST5. However if you are looking for a sound bar that is extremely easy to setup with very good sound then the HT-ST5 is what you are looking for.
that system with the Sony HT-ST5 as it would not be fair for the HT-ST5. However if you are looking for a sound bar that is extremely easy to setup with very good sound then the HT-ST5 is what you are looking for.
Setting up the system was a breeze (compared to my existing 8 speaker home theater). All you need is to connect two HDMI cables - one from your Blue Ray Player (IN) and then then the other to your TV (OUT). The Wireless Sub-Woofer connected
easily as well (although I had to use the setup menu to do this as I have a lot of other wireless devices in my house). The good thing is that Sony provides their own Wireless connectivity with the bar to the sub-woofer so that they do not interfere with your other wireless connections (and they have two frequencies you can use). When you turn on the sound bar the sub-woofer turns on automatically as well.
easily as well (although I had to use the setup menu to do this as I have a lot of other wireless devices in my house). The good thing is that Sony provides their own Wireless connectivity with the bar to the sub-woofer so that they do not interfere with your other wireless connections (and they have two frequencies you can use). When you turn on the sound bar the sub-woofer turns on automatically as well.
I also connected my Android phone (Sony Xperia Z1) and a IPAD and an IPOD thru the Blue Tooth audio. The sound was excellent! The NFC function (touching my phone to the sound bar)
worked without any issues and right away and they connected in about 2 seconds.
worked without any issues and right away and they connected in about 2 seconds.
Something to note is the higher price of this Sound Bar compared to others like Samsung, LG (or Sony's own 2.1 channel systems) etc. You need to keep in mind that those systems are 2.1 channel (not 7.1 channel) so there is a big difference in the sound quality especially when watching movies. I really have to emphasize that the HT-ST5 and it's bigger brother HT-ST7 really blows all other sound bars away!
The Remote is compact and easy to use. However several other reviewers for HT-ST7 have complained about the remote as not having dedicated buttons for Inputs or being lighted at night. (note that the HT-ST5 remote is the same as HT-ST7) Although I agree with those reviews, you could just download the Songpal App
and that would solve all those issues. I just used my Xperia phone with SongPal and it is a great app to use and then you don't need the Remote and it has more functions on this App compared to the Remote. An added feature is that when the Phone connects over Blue Tooth the Sound Bar gets turned on automatically if you have this setting turned on in the App.
and that would solve all those issues. I just used my Xperia phone with SongPal and it is a great app to use and then you don't need the Remote and it has more functions on this App compared to the Remote. An added feature is that when the Phone connects over Blue Tooth the Sound Bar gets turned on automatically if you have this setting turned on in the App.
Below are some items that I ran across:
1) Although set up is very simple, the HDMI inputs are in a confined space at the back of the unit. If you have big Monster HDMI cables and have big hands it was a bit annoying. They need to increase this space
or just have the cables plugin directly in the back instead of sideways (I guess they designed it this way for wall mounting)
or just have the cables plugin directly in the back instead of sideways (I guess they designed it this way for wall mounting)
2) The surround sound is simulated so it won't be as good as a mid/high-range more expensive real home theater system (i.e. 8 speakers like I mentioned above). This is understandable as this is only a sound bar. But for a Sound Bar Sony has done an excellent job.
3) I could not find the SongPal App in Apple App store. However was able to find it in Google Play for Android.
4) Sony had some kind of a Tag/Sticker on the Sound Bar and it is glued heavily. That took the most of the time for the setup to take it off!
5) Had an issue with one Blue Ray movie (Indiana Jones - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) where the movie would not display properly on the TV (Although it will when going thru my Pioneer Amp). The colors were distorted. However I think this is due to an issue with my older TV being 1080i and not 1080p.
I would recommend this Sound Bar without any hesitation! You won't be disappointed!
Written by a customer while visiting sony.com