Sony - BRAVIA Theater Quad with 16 total speakers - Gray

Let me start started that we purchased this to address frequent sound dropouts from the HT-A9 (which admittedly got better once we deactivated the 160 MHz channel on our WiFi router, but still persisted at over once per hour) - which we otherwise loved for the surreal ‘bubble of sound’ in its Dolby Atmos content rendering, but was just ok for music playback. Below are my thoughts as a home theater/dolby atmos enthusiast/ardent music consumer. Appearance: The new speaker look is highly polarizing, judging from internet AVS forums. Sony tried to come up with a more modern option and veer away from the traditional bland speaker look, and landed with boxy speakers that not everybody is enamored with. I think they look ok and they’re somewhat modern and innovative-looking. But perhaps Sony should consider consulting / hiring hardware designers to work with their engineers, so their products can look a bit more polished and pleasing to the eye. (May I suggest LoveFrom?) But right now, it is what it is, and your only options are to take it or leave it. 7/10 Set-up: Unlike the A9, you now need to download and sign up for the Sony Bravia Connect app, if you want to use your system. Of note (unlike some other reviewers have mentioned), you do not need to agree to all marketing prompts from the app to continue with set up - selecting no will still allow you to proceed to the next step. So setting up the four speakers that came with the box was pretty straightforward, until I tried to hook up the Sony SA-SW5 subwoofer we already owned with our A9. Despite factory resetting it and restarting it several times, the app would just not recognize it was available for about half a dozen restarts and re-set up attempts of the entire Quad. This was a several hours-long exercise in frustration, and the PDF manual (not included in the box) provides only generic information (‘if everything fails, reset to factory settings and restart’). Somehow, it was able to finally recognize the subwoofer on the 7th attempt, and it has remained connected to the system since. I do hope that Sony will get their act together and address these set up issues with a software update, and ensure in the future existing hardware is already updated and able to recognize and work with their new releases. 3/10 App: Probably one of the worse apps you have ever installed on your phone. Even after the initial painstaking set up, for the first 36 hours of usage, it failed to connect to the system every time I turned it on, asking for a re-set up (thankfully it only asked to connect to the phone & the Wifi, instead of setting up and optimizing each speaker from scratch). Sadly, you can’t make any adjustments to the system without the app (the new remote has very limited functionality - you can probably put it in a drawer and forget it exists). And the only way to verify what type of audio content you are getting (Atmos vs Dolby Audio vs LCPM and how many channels) is through the app. Sony, if you are reading this, please consider showing this on the box’s screen. Thankfully, things just magically started working on day two of usage, without changing anything from our end - likely a server-side software update (have the automatic updates to on). 3/10 Center channel sync: Unlike the HT-A9 which was able to do this wirelessly with compatible Sony Bravia TVs, this version now requires a cord (provided). I did connect it to try the sound with and without it, and I would say that it has almost no effect on the sound. Not sure it’s worth bothering with. Although, as stated earlier, it appears that our Sony A80J has not yet been updated with software to make it recognize the Quad. So who knows? Maybe it will sound better after it does. But for now, it neither improves nor worsens the center channel sound. 5/10 Apple AirPlay/Spotify Connect: Just like the connection to the Wifi and the Bravia Connect app that didn’t work for the first day and a half, the Quad wouldn’t appear on the list of available AirPlay speakers on our iPhones. And then, without us having done anything different, it just started working. We haven’t been as lucky with Spotify Connect. The Quad still doesn’t appear in our Spotify accounts, unlike all other compatible speakers from Bose & Sonos we have in the house… 5/10 Overall Sound: Overall, it sounds a little better than the HT-A9. Calibration and the 360 sound mapping worked as described, and ended up creating an even wider, more open, crisper, and more engaging sound bubble. And it should, as each speaker enclosure now comes with one additional tweeter, for a total of 4 (rather than just 3 in the HT-A9). Fidelity is up a notch. The sound feels more robust, with more presence, and the Atmos effects seem to be more precise for a more enjoyable listening experience for movies and atmos-encoded video content. Moving sound objects are more precisely located now in space around you, and their movement feels smoother. (Testing with Top Gun maverick from Apple TV, and Dolby’s testing trailers from Demolandia). The bass is also more powerful now, and music sounds fuller and warmer. Using the same SA-SW5 as with the A9 and at the same setting (8 out of 10), and the neighbors immediately noticed rattling of the shared wall, which naturally made us to immediately lower the bass to 5. I have not tested this without an additional subwoofer, so I cannot comment on whether one will be needed, but the bass output from the Quad speakers alone is definitely higher than of the A9. When it comes to music reproduction, it is still far from being as enjoyable as Bose and Sonos home theater set ups are. Just as with movies, the precise back and slightly above the ears position of the saxophones in Quincy Jones’ atmos-encoded Bossa Nova album could be enjoyed in clarity and detail in a remarkably well recreated soundscape. But the added warmth and fidelity didn’t necessarily translate to a more enjoyable music experience, and Dua Lipa and Taylor Swift sounded a bit muddled on the Atmos versions of their Radial Optimism and Tortured Poets Department albums respectively (tested on Apple Music). As there are no dedicated Modes (Movie, Music, etc) any more, deactivating the ‘Sound Field’ option makes things a bit better for music reproduction. Sadly, an equalizer is sorely missing - hopefully, Sony will provide one via a software update - that could address this major issue. I don’t thing there are many consumers left, at least in the US, who use their home theater set up strictly for TV/movies, and not for music also. The automatic upmixing of stereo content to 360 audio will enhance somewhat your content, with low frequency mostly sounds being conveyed from all 4 speakers and their up-firing twitters, but don’t expect any miracles. A big negative is that the only variables you can adjust is bass and rear speakers, and nothing else really. If you don’t have a compatible Sony TV to use for the center channel sync feature, you will not miss anything. The phantom center speaker works incredibly well. And the new Voice Zoom 3 feature also picks up the voices and raises their volume. While it works very well and does what it’s supposed to do for truly improved voice recognition, the acoustics of the entire soundtrack deteriorate significantly, as if someone took your home theater equalizer and turned up the mid- and high- frequencies all the way up. So whether you use this feature or not, will depend on whether you prioritize voice recognition or overall sound quality. Movies: 9/10 Music: 7/10 (Really hoping Sony will add an 5- or better still a 7-band equalizer to the Bravia Connect app, so the music can at least be fine-tuned) Intra-speaker Connectivity: This is where the Quad is leaps and bounds better than its predecessor (and the main reason for the upgrade in our situation). Over the past week, we haven’t had a single dropout in the sound output, and we live in a densely populated urban area. If you’ve had as many connectivity issues and dropouts with the A9 (I know a lot of people just like us did and still do, based on hundreds of reviews and AVS forum comments), this is a very good reason to upgrade to the Quad. 10/10 System is set up with a Sony subwoofer SA-SW5, a Sony Bravia A80J TV, and an Apple TV 4K. Hope this helps potentially interested buyers!

I purchased the Sony Bravia Theater Quad along with the SA-SW5, I read reviews some great and some not so great. I will give you my honest opinion. Its awesome, I paired it with the 85" Sony Bravia 9. I use the TV as a center channel and the dialect is extremely clear. My ceilings are 8' tall and when Sony made the claim they are bringing Theater home its true. If you want the middle ground in audio file home theater then they over deliver. I was fortunate enough to pickup the speakers from best buy on sale and saved $800.00 shopping during the holidays and signing up for the best buy perks. I recommend this system if you can get a good deal on it. Oh i almost forgot the system works without drop outs and high fidelity music from Tidal sounds better than the reviews I read in my opinion. You wont be disappointed if space and minimal footprint is a factor.

I bought this to replace a Sony soundbar and it is an improvement. Sound quality is very good when watching content on streaming TV and such i.e. surround sound. Atmos immersion is excellent but that is limited by the content you are watching. Simple to set-up, the app is good. The plus is I bought this on sale and an open box. UPS damaged the original item, I had to repurchase a new one and the price matched the original price - good deal!