Sony HT-A7000 7.1.2ch Dolby Atmos/DTS:X Single Soundbar with built-in dual subwoofer

Needless to say the HT-A7000 fetches a premium price tag which only goes higher if you buy the optional extras. Is it worth it?After being severely let down my my previous purchase of an atmos sound bar (which admittedly cost a fraction of this one, while still having upwards firing speakers), I wanted to see if I could finally get a worthwhile one for my entertainment luxury needs. The HT-A7000 is Sony's flagship soundbar and the difference between this an my last soundbar is night and day! The unit looks amazing, very premium look to it, the eleven drivers are hidden behind none removable grills but are visible in the right light, it has a glass like surface on the top which is actually a finger print magnet and very glossy (I avoid touching it), on that it has some touch sensitive controls for volume, input source, power and Bluetooth/Casting.I was pleased to see on turning it on that it has an onscreen menu interface, it does a calibration where it sends out sound from its speakers, using its built in mics it listens and then calibrates itself to try and provide the best sound for your room layout. Once complete is does a demo sound throwing a sound out around your room and it sounds very impressive, with sounds above, wide sides and even seemingly behind you.On it's own without extras, it gives a surprisingly convincing surround effect, even in my room which has plenty of furniture that can absorb the sound, which in turn can potentially ruin the effect of sound being bounced off surfaces, to widen the sound stage and throw sound seemingly behind you. Without a sub woofer unit the bass is quite deep, I often turn the bass down as I don't need it to shake my room. Watching atmos movies on Disney+ I was pleased with the effect given, though admittedly I did not witness much in the way of sound above me, then again with the sound filling the room it could be seen as subtle. Also to be noted, atmos when streamed is compressed, you lose a little of the fidelity, but it still sounds really good. Watching a Atmos Blu-ray is where it shines though, fully uncompressed with rich detail, there are times where overhead sounds can be heard, particularly if you dive into the soundbars settings and configure the channels yourself, it is possible to dial it in.Despite the standalone performance I opted to buy the Sony SA-RS3S surround speakers, while being very premium in price, they were cheaper than the higher range offering that Sony have for the system, oh boy do they make the difference. Where as the virtual surround was pretty good before, now having physical speakers is even better. My room is full of sound with clear background sounds behind me in rich detail. They also enable the 360 Spatial sound mapping feature which is great, now with this combo everything becomes an experience. I produce music, hearing it on this is stunning, how the soundbar interprets the stereo music and makes it into a surround experience is impressive, this works even when streaming audio from an MP3 player via Bluetooth or casting from Soundcloud etc. Even many Youtube videos are made surround with great effect depending on the quality of sound from the video.Admittedly before having the surround speakers I thought music sounded a bit odd on the soundbar, it seemed really digital and as if something was missing, or that certain frequencies in the sound were not balanced. Now having the surrounds seems to have filled that void, however I do note turning off the Immersive AE and switching to the music preset, the sound is really quite lost, it sounds quite poor if I am honest, so setting either Cinema or Auto Sound with Immersive AE on makes a big difference. Movies sound great, just the right amount of bass for me, crisp rich sound and the Voice feature really does enhance the volume of dialogue from the soundbars dedicated center channel without compromising other sounds from the other channels.It has a simple display on the front right for information such as volume, input and the sound decoding info, thankfully this can also be set to turn off after a few seconds, so no destractions from your entertainment then briefly turned on again by pressing the Display button. If you connect your devices through the Soundbar HDMI's, the info is displayed on the screen instead which is neat.There are many positives to be said about this soundbar, it is very expensive, but its features make it worth it. However something that has bugged me is the remote, it uses the age old infra red which is not very sensitive, so you have to point the remote at the soundbar for it to respond, this is baffling considering the price and all the premium features. There is an app called Music Center you can download for your smart phone, while that does allow you to set some basic options including volume, it lacks detail and really does not give you as much control as using the soundbars menu system does. Also there is no graphic equalizer, so you can not fine tune the sound exactly how you want it, all the sounds are presets or auto controlled. You can however dive in and manually tune the space settings, then dial in the volume of the channels independently (front, side, back and upward firing), plus adjust the height of the sound space and the position of sound in relation to your seating area.Final thoughts: I can't compare other units of this price range, or in the upper hundreds of pounds range, but this device is very welcome in my home and provides just what I wanted in sound quality. Yes to really get the entire experience you have to pay a fair amount on top, but for me it has been worth it, I may at some point in the future consider purchasing the premium surround speakers for the extra upward firing sound. Right now though despite some smaller flaws that are outweighed by the positives I am happy.

The main thing that attracted me to this 7.1 system sound bar was the capability of having wireless rear speakers . I purchased these as well as the main item and they make a world of difference. You can leave them connected to a mains plug if you wish and doing so enables them to connect automatically to the sound bar once sound emanates from it. Otherwise you can just use them on battery, turn on as required and charge when necessary.The surround quality is excellent and gives you that immersive feeling with things whistling all round from all angles in action films. There are various sound options to choose by remote control like enabling "Voice" which boosts speech in films etc to make it clearer .Connectivity is a joy. There are seperate USB ports on the rear of the bar to which I connected an XBox Series X and Playstation 5 with HDMI leads. The sound passes through the sound bar from the consoles and syncs with the TV. The sound bar connects to the TV with another HDMI lead. Listen to the Dolby Atmos demonstration on the XBox and you'll be hooked. You do need to make sure your console settings are correct for this.Some people may want to purchase the Sub Woofer for this set up as well but I didn't find that necessary. There is easily enough Bass sound from the bar itself for my taste and I don't particularly like big booming bass as it contaminates the sound quality, nor do neighbours! Chacun à son goût.Without the rear speakers the Sony is good but the rear additions make all the difference, without wires all round the room. Quality from Sony, as you'd expect even if their Customer Care is reputed to leave a lot to be desired. It's the best sound bar set up I've heard with rear speakers.

The media could not be loaded. So I wanted to give it a good test before posting a review. I have always been a surround sound man and never really thought much of soundbar quality. I however took a risk with this one as it was time for an upgrade. Well I can honestly say you get what you pay for, this is by far the best sound I ever heard from a soundbar and the audio quality is absolutely incredible. If you have the capability to play improved audio through your phone then I recommend doing so for the added video but even that won't to it justice. I have watched a few movies I have seen numerous times and have picked up on audio I didn't even know was there.I have not invested in the additional surround speakers and Sub yet but I am certainly going to.As such I can't review the full set up but I can say with complete confidence that if you like your audio quality then this soundbar will not disappoint. It does give a surround effect without the additional speakers but it's definitely noticeable that the rear speakers are needed for the best effect. I have and will always be a Sony man. I trust their products to last unlike other brands (who shall remain nameless) that don't give the same care to the manufacturer of their products. There may be other soundsbars out there that tick the boxes for performance but will they last like Sony. You be the judge there. As a Sony man, this is the bar for you.(Update)Having now completed the set with the SA-RS5 speakers and the SA-SW5 Sub, it is absolutely mindblowing. The soundbar is brilliant but if you want the best out of it, add the extra speakers. Expensive but worth it.