Sony - HT-A7000 7.1.2 Channel Soundbar with Dolby Atmos - Black
Model: HTA7000
SKU: 6467425
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Customers have good things to say about the HT-A7000 soundbar's exceptional sound quality and powerful subwoofer, praising its ease of setup and sleek design. However, some customers find the price to be high and have reported occasional connectivity issues with the subwoofer and rear speakers. The weight of the unit is also a concern for some users.
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I want to start out by saying this I think with any soundbar you need to get the sub and rears. That's what I am basing my review on and I have the sw5 and sr5s Setup Setting this thing up was way easier than I expected. Since the speakers and sub are wireless I expected having to go through a pairing process. There is a pairing process for if something doesn't work, but everything paired quickly with no issue just by turning it on. There are of course settings you have to modify to get the best sound possible, but this depends on the devices and how they are connected. This is par for the course with any audio device. If you have a Sony TV things are a little more streamlined. Sound quality I kinda expected more for the price, but it could be my room. I feel that dialogue can be kinda tinny but my setup forces me to have the soundbar extremely close to the wall on the left side. This thing has great bass with the sw5 sub. The sr5s rears also have up firing speakers in them and add more than I expected them to. When it comes to Atmos, I haven't heard a great setup to compare to. This is where I expected more. I played a few blurays like the Halloween reboots, Black Hawk Down, Avatar 2. They all had really immersive sound. Black Hawk Down was by far the best. It sounded like it was on a 3d soundscape, but I can't exactly say I can hear stuff above me. My expectations also might be too high. If you want true Atmos, nothing is going to beat having ceiling mounted speakers instead of trying to bounce sound off the ceiling. Aesthetic The soundbar and add-ons all look very premium. I'd expect nothing less from Sony. I do have two moderate complaints. Neither the 5.1 model or the 7.1 model will fit between a Sony XR A90J 55. The 7.1 bar is especially massive. The sub and rears are also way larger than they appear in photos. (To my perception). For whatever reason there's a shiny bit on top of the bar that reflects the TV if it's directly underneath it and down below your viewing height. Overall it's a great setup. I didn't want to spend more than what I did otherwise I would have just gotten a receiver and speakers. If budget isn't an issue don't get this. Don't get any soundbar in that case. Otherwise this is probably one of the best soundbar setups out there. It's just not a good value for how expensive it is in my opinion.
Posted by Brett
I was skeptical about hearing surround sound with just a Soundbar because I had a dedicated 5.1 Av system. After I understood this thing I can tell you that it truly delivers surround sound by bouncing sound from the walls. Perfect clarity if you have the settings right. Anyway, here it goes. Superb build quality. It weighs almost 25 pounds. It is big. Nice touch of glass on top. Has touch capacitive buttons for power and sound levels on the glass. Upfiring speakers wrapped in cloth on top. Extremely clear audio. Actually has bass from the built in subwoofers. The bass will not shake the house, but for a discrete package it really delivers a punch. It has a built in menu system that you access from the TV menu. You can do all the setup, adjustments, and updates through the menu without the need for more stupid phone apps. Decodes every type of audio on the market from classic dolby, dts, to the new atmos and dts-x. Has two 2.1 hdmi inputs with no delay. Has optical input and analog input for Older formats. Has Bluetooth streaming if you need it. Comes with a decent remote with easy to use button navigation. Has an led in the front for audio settings and input selection. Comes with steel wall mount brackets, hdmi earc cable, and 3.5mm cable for Sony s-center TV, which I used. Can automate the room calibration and allows for manual adjustment as well. Surrounds the room with sound and bass. For best surround you need to feed it an atmos or dts-x signal. When you do this there will be surround from the ceiling as well and it actually rivaled or surpassed my older dedicated 5.1 system. If you pair this up with a new bravia TV (in my case it is an x95j) all the functions can be controlled through the TV remote either through the settings menu on the TV menu or the built in menu for the soundbar when you switch to its input. Now for some negatives. There is a risk of the system sounding muffled due to the AE (audio enhancement) feature. When I first set this up the center channel sounded muffled. It was because I had this AE enabled. This is only for stereo sound and it tries to make it surround sound but it creates muffled audio. Ensure your disc player or streaming app service is outputting dolby atmos or dts-x. This may require paying more for the service otherwise it will just output in dolby surround. Don't get me wrong, the soundbar cannot compete toe to toe with a dedicated surround setup UNLESSS you feed it atmos or dts-x. Without atmos or dts-x the Soundbar alone does a serviceable job at surround sound. Your room and ceiling layout also play an important role. You don't want the Soundbar near a left or right side wall. I watched the new matrix that was streamed with Dolby atmos and during some gun battle scenes the bullets sounded like they were flying all around me and behind me, despite my couch is up against a wall. There was a sprinkler scene where water was released from the ceiling to combat fire, and I almost looked up because the audio was bounced to the ceiling and back down at me from the Upfiring drivers. Another negative is that I would like to see what audio source the Soundbar is detecting when it starts to play an audio source that is different than before instead of me pressing the info button on the remote for it to display. I also would like to see the Sony bravia TV also display what audio source the Soundbar is detecting when I press info button on the TV remote as well. The subwoofers, at max setting, can sound muffled as they are trying too hard based on what content you are viewing. There is no equalizer for it, so don't expect to customize things because you are stuck with Sony presets for cinema, standard, and music. There are way too many sound options for this thing but some audiophiles ma find that entertaining.
Posted by Someone
Sony sound bar 7.2. Is better than any Bose system I have ever had. I added this and a 300W subwoofer and two rear speakers. Paired with my new Sony 77 in OLED. The new entertainment system is flawless in starting up and shutting down with one button on the remote!! So awesome in quality and surround Sound audio!
Posted by BillyBob