Sony CT290 Ultra-slim 300W Sound bar, (HT-CT290)

I love this sound bar. The subwoofer makes tv & movie watching a great experience. It is of high quality!Caution!!! If one of the HDMI connections on your tv doesn’t say “HDMI ARC”, then this sound bar won’t work through the HDMI connection on your tv. So for tv’s that also do not have the Toslink digital audio connection (optical), the sound bar won’t work at all. It will only work while connecting to it through Bluetooth.My work-around for this problem for 5 months was to connect to my Roku player on my tv through the Roku app on my phone (using the private listening setting) and then to connect to the sound bar’s Bluetooth connection to use it while watching Netflix, Hulu, etc.But this didn’t work while watching DVD’s through our DVD player. I finally bought a “Toslink Optical to coaxial converter” (and the coaxial cable) off of Amazon, and now it works great!!! So like I said, it is a phenomenal sound bar. Love it!(If you have the same problem with this sound bar the simple, cheap solution is a converter. Tensen makes a “Toslink Optical to coaxial converter”. It is available here on Amazon for less than $20).

We bought this to go along with our TCL 55R617 TV. Setup was super easy. The remote is nice and simple; typical Sony design. If you happen to have the same TV as I do, I can tell you that the soundbar turns on and off with the TV, and the volume adjustments work perfectly with the Roku remote. (These were my primary concern for convenience!) The only thing we ever use the remote for is to change the sound setting for "Movie" and "Dialog" depending on what we are watching. The design of the bar is pleasing. It has similar design cues as the PS4 Pro with rounded corners. The buttons on top work great when I've used them. I like that they are touch sensitive as it makes the design of the bar a lot more elegant not having plastic click buttons breaking up the clean surface. Games and movies sound great. It's not "surround sound", it's stereo. The bass is effective, not overpowered. Keep your expectations in check for the budget and you'll not be disappointed.

At first, when I installed it I was thinking the subwoofer is not working, but when I glued my ear to it I overheard something, but it was so weak that I couldn't believe it,, so I turn it off and on and I realized that was it! I just couldn’t believe how weak and insignificant the sound of this thing is. I've tried to call their support but nowhere in the papers they had phone number, so I started to read reviews and I read other folks also mentioned the weak subwoofer.I had purchased an LG SK4D for $30 less and it is also a 300W but when I switch from LG to Sony on the same song the same level volume on my iPhone, without any exaggeration is like a Ferrari engine versus a Tesla, that how weak the sound of Sony is.I am profoundly disappointed at Sony and I hope the 850F TV that I ordered won't be as bad as this soundbar.At this point, we are not talking about a weak soundbar, we are talking about cheating consumers. Maybe if I didn’t have the LG to compare I would have to say like the others that"its good for a room or small living room", but I am going to send this thing back to Amazon and advise nobody to buy it at any price. Weak! Weak! Weak.

I use this to play my TV's sound using the HDMI(ARC) port from my TV. Sound is good and quite adequate for my room. The unit comes on and off with the TV power due to the HDMI(ARC).Other times I pair it with my phone via Bluetooth and play songs.I took out 1 star because I am annoyed that they left out a simple AUX input! That could have let me use it with older devices that do not have HDMI or Bluetooth sound output. Why did they try to save that dollar which it would have cost them to add that feature?

I was concerned that there might be a delay, as I’ve experienced that with sound bars hooked up by optical cable before, did have a delay with included optical cable but used my own high-quality HDMI cable and no delay. Also had reservations about potential delay or connectivity issues with Bluetooth subwoofer but no delay or connectivity problems with Bluetooth subwoofer. For flush mount against the wall the power cord is not as recessed as it needs to be, I chose to cut into the plastic with a small knife and deepen the recess (but in doing so presumably voided my return policy) which was a bit of a risk but worked. I mounted it beneath a 75 inch flatscreen, it’s a little small for that size TV—in a do over I’d probably spring for a wider sound bar for 75 inch TV, this one isn’t so dwarfed by tv up to a 65 inch

The sound is good for the cost, and it's certainly an improvement on the TV speakers, but there are a few annoying ticks. Every time I turn it on, it has trouble determining if it's supposed to receive a signal from the HDMI, Bluetooth or USB, even though HDMI is the only thing connected and the TV is already on and sending a signal. This means have to select the input each time I turn it on. Additionally, shortly after I've selected the input and begin watching something, it will often stop receiving the signal and stop playing the sound until I again select the input. This usually only happens shortly after turning it on and thankfully not mid-movie, but it is still very annoying.I have only used this with the HDMI ARC, and haven't tried it with the digital audio port or Bluetooth. Those might work better, but unfortunately they aren't options for me.