Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad 16-Speaker Home Theater Audio System with 4 Wireless Speakers, 360 Spatial Sound Mapping, Dolby Atmos/DTS:X Support, Room Calibration (HT-A9M2)

This is the best "soundbar" system available today. There's a tendency for reviewers to over hype products but I have to say the Sony Bravia Theater Quad lives up to all the reviews. As an enthusiast I have three home theater systems in my house. The main theater has a 135 inch projector with a traditional, large, multi-speaker 5.2.4 Dolby Atmos system powered by a Denon X4500H receiver and speakers placed all around the room and in the ceiling and two 15" ported subwoofers. Does the Theater Quad match this system in terms of output and overall sound quality? Of course not. However, in my smaller 15'x11' office space, the Theater Quad is sufficiently loud and even the SW5 subwoofer is adequate.Sony's party trick and why I call it the future of audio and home theater is the magic of their spatial sound processing. The imaging and Dolby Atmos sound effects are as convincing as my full blown home theater system. In fact, for some movies it creates a more seamless Dolby Atmos experience. All of this is done with smallish speakers and software. It's akin to how a modern day iPhone Pro or Pixel camera can shoot pictures that can look almost as good as pictures from a full frame or APS-C camera. While the Theater Quad isn't going to completely match the real full system with large discrete speakers placed all over the room and in the ceiling, it creates a very satisfying sound that will be good enough for the vast majority of people just as a high end smart phone camera pictures with the computer generated bokeh and HDR processing, etc. are good enough for most people.Prior to the Theater Quad, I had Sony's A7000 soundbar paired with RS5 rear speakers and the SW5 subwoofer. That system was mediocre at best. The only time the Dolby Atmos sounded decent was with Sony's demo. In actual movie watching, it was similar to pretty much every soundbar on the market, you just can't get the front imaging of a wide soundstage that can only happen by actually placing the front speakers wider apart. If I had to choose between wide imaging and good L and R speakers vs. a good center channel, the L and R speakers are always the most important part. The need for a solid center channel is completely overblown IMO and most home theater systems require placement of the center channel under the display which is never ideal as it lowers the front and center imaging. The Theater Quad does not have this issue at all because there is no center channel and the phantom center it generates works perfectly - better than any center channel I've used in any system because the center sound images directly in front of you at ear level.My Theater Quad is integrated with a 77" Bravia 8 OLED display. I have tried using the Bravia 8 TV as a center channel and without. I have also tried the Theater Quad with a 77" LG C4 without a center channel. Either way works exceptionally well. You do not need a center channel or a Sony TV to have great center channel imaging with the Theater Quad because it does an excellent job creating a phantom center. If you don't have a Sony TV, that can do the acoustic center sync thing, don't worry about it. Running the Quad with acoustic center sync on my Bravia 8 TV sounds almost exactly like not having the TV as a center channel but turning on voice zoom.With that said, I have found that pairing the Theater Quad with a higher end Sony TV works really well and the acoustic center sync with my Bravia 8 sounds seamless with the Theater Quad speakers. The timbre matching is excellent. However, this is only if you have a Sony TV with good speakers. I also have a Sony X90L and that TV's speakers are atrocious. There is no way acoustic center sync would work at all on that TV with the Theater Quad.The performance of the Theater Quad for movies and music is excellent. Sony does not give you many listening modes but I pretty much use it with 360 Spatial Sound Mapping on 100% of the time. The surround effects are off the charts immersive and really nice overhead Dolby Atmos effects, particuarly with movies like Avatar Way of Water where bullets and whizz over your head and the rain sounds like it's actually coming down and hitting the leaves above and around you.For music, on my full blown HT system, I usually switch to stereo mode running only the two large main front speakers and the subwoofers. None of the surround processing sounded good to me in that system. However, with the Theater Quad, I like listening to music with 360 spatial mapping on. It does an excellent job not overwheling you with rear fill and it sounds like a wide front sound stage and excellently imaging two front channel set up. I love listening to music on the Theater Quad.In terms of set up, it's super easy and vastly simpler than trying to set up a true 5.4.2 or 7.4.2 system. You only need power to each of the four speakers and power to the controller box and that's it. The system recognized all four speakers immediately and also sync'd with the Sony SW5 subwoofer with no issue. Calibration takes several minutes and you are in business. I set this system up with my Sony Bravia 8 as well as my LG C4. It worked seamlessly with either TV so you do not need a Sony TV. The Theater Quad works pretty much with any brand of TV or display device you have. Also, while the Quad comes with a remote, you don't need it because everything is done through the Sony Bravia Connect app. Of course, if you have a newer Sony TV, you can also control the Theater Quad through the TV's Sony menu system. I have had zero issues with pairing, audio delay issues, audio drop outs or anything else. It has just worked flawlessly the entire time I've had the system.In terms of volume, I was a bit concerned as the RTings rating mentioned that they blew out the speakers in one of Theater Quad units. I think they even got a replacement and blew that one out as well. So at first, I tried not to turn the volume up too high. Over time, I started cranking it louder and louder and the speakers have never seemed like they were going to blow out at the loud volume levels I was listening to. This could be a function of my smallish 15x11 ft room with 9 ft ceilings. Not sure if I would feel that the Theater Quad would be loud enough if It was in an open 20x20 ft living room space with 10'+ ceilings. The only gripe I have with volume is the subwoofer which is just adequate. I wish Sony would allow us to pair it with two SW5 subwoofers or better yet, let us hook up our own sub.In terms of overall quality, the speakers have a surprising amount of heft. They do not feel cheap or tinny at all but feel like a solid, quality piece of equipment.One of the most recent reviews I saw on youtube basically rated the Theater Quad ahead of the latest Sonos Ultimate Immersive (Arc Ultra/Sonos Era 300/Sub 4), Nakamichi Dragon, and Bose and Samsung 900D systems and I can believe it. The key again is the wide front imaging with the Theater Quad having discrete L and R fronts. It doesn't matter how many speakers the Nakamichi Dragon soundbar has. It's still a soundbar and will have soundbar like narrow imaging. Unfortunately, the same goes for the Sonos system. If I were Sonos, I'd put together a system with four Era 300s and a Sub 4 and program it to work similar to the Sony Theater Quad. That would be a formidable system. But right now, the Sony Theater Quad is the only game in town that does this.In terms of value, I consider the SW5 subwoofer an absolute must so adding the cost of the Theater Quad and subwoofer the system costs about $3K retail or about $2500 - $2700 on sale. It is worth every penny of the $3K retail price IMO for the overall sound performance, integration, ease of use, unobtrusive looks and minimal space required, quality, and simplicity in set up. You truly get a 7.4.1 Dolby Atmos home theater experience in a super compact, easy to install package that takes literally 30 minutes to set up including time mounting the speakers to the walls.I can't wait to see how Sony evolves their sound procesisng technology. It would be good to have a similar system with even larger speakers and drivers and a better subwoofer. I hope all of the soundbar manufacturers move to having discrete wireless speakers and ditch the soundbar paradigm, which is complete trash IMO if you care about good actual imaging.***3 month update***After using the system for three months, the Sony Bravia Theater Quad continues to impress and I stand by my initial review. The only thing I was concerned about was the longevity of the speakers due to RTing's issues blowing up two units.Based on my personal experience listening to the system for hundreds of hours, half the time with the volume turned up fairy loudly for both music and movies, the speakers have all held up well without issue. Also, I noticed recently that the SW5 subwoofer is playing with louder and deeper bass after a recent software update so the system sounds even better.

Great, awesome sound quality

I had attributed my recurring inability to understand dialogue to my ever-advancing age, but what a great improvement I have enjoyed since purchasing this sound bar. The distinct clarity is impressive.Though the sound quality in the upper ranges is great, I did later purchase a compatible bass (SA-SW5) to obtain the full range I wanted for movies and music.The Bravia Connection app made it easy to install.

Great sound

Bought the bar 8 after much research out on reddit and reviews wherever i could find. Arrived without any damage but looked like it was a returned product as some of packaging was already open. Setup looked pretty simple with the app. Only thing was software update took 40mins easy and stuck at 65% for most time. The sound was great but for a 5.0.2 channel config. I am used to my master series a90j sound thats great and bar 8 sound was instantly dissappointing. Spent whole day tweaking settings on tv and bar 8 but couldnt justify since bar 8 couldnt sound same/better than my a90j from 2021. In a medium-large living room this just wasnt cutting it. Maybe sony doesnt want to undermine the master series sound or bar 8 is for those computer monitors, i just dont understand its placement anymore and the discounted pricing of $700 now makes more sense. Just get the 7.1 system(sonos arc or bar 9) and avoid bar 8 altogether if you have similar or better setup than me. No wonder not many people are talking about it online, i was considering building out with bar 8- rear speakers and sub but i dont see a point now.

**Pros:**- These speakers sound great for movies and provide an amazing immersive experience. The ability to create phantom channels on the ceiling is impressive. Paired with an SW5 sub, the sound is perfect, embodying a movie theater experience.- Although I haven't mounted them on the walls or hidden the cords yet, they are stylish, modern, and fit nicely with the room's decor.- With minimal cords, the setup is theoretically stress-free in that regard.- Music is probably the highlight; just casually listening to music with these speakers will blow you away.**Cons:**The software needs significant updates to be less buggy. Let me explain:First, I have many wifi-connected devices in my basement: 15 Hue lights, a TV, computers, smart speakers, etc. None of them have problems connecting to the wifi (which is a 1 Gb mesh system). However, setting up the speakers via the app either failed to recognize the Bluetooth pairing or the HDMI, or both. It was very frustrating and took several attempts to get past that and onto the calibration section. By then, I was already not feeling great about the product.Next, the connection to the app would randomly disconnect and then refuse to reconnect, saying the network couldn't be found. This was again frustrating and caused more doubt about the purchase. I had to completely reset the Bluetooth and the hub and start all over again. After searching the internet for solutions, I decided to connect the hub via a LAN connection and hide the cords creatively. With that, the app connected every time without issue. I don't know if this is a 2.4 GHz issue or if the congestion of devices constantly blocked the hub from connecting. So, if you have a lot of devices connected to wifi, beware.After all that, there was more...My TV, a Sony Bravia X90L, would randomly switch from the Theater Quad to the TV speakers—sometimes immediately, sometimes after 5 minutes, and sometimes not at all. Sometimes, it would refuse to stay on the Theater Quad and switch to the TV speakers every time. At this point, I was ready to return the whole thing. I tried every kind of TV configuration to see what was happening. Because this product is so new, there is almost no literature on troubleshooting it. But after extensive troubleshooting on my end, I realized the culprit was the Theater Quad's HDMI CEC setting, which allows you to control everything from the TV remote. I don't know what combination is supposed to be active for this to work properly, but turning off this setting on the Bravia app solved the issue, and it never happened again. Having to use two remotes is something I'll have to live with until a software update fixes this.After solving these issues, the product has run flawlessly, and I've decided to keep it. However, I was very close to returning it due to these problems, which I had to solve on my own.**Conclusion:**It took a lot of effort to get this system running properly, but once it did, it was worth it. It's pricey, but the immersive experience keeps me satisfied. Based on the design alone, it's not like you can easily swap it out for something similar, so I was hooked on that aspect as well.