It’s been a big week for Sony. It has released its all-new TV lineup which includes the Bravia 7, Bravia 8 and Bravia 9, a Theatre Quad speaker system and two exciting Dolby Atmos soundbars.
The Bravia Theatre Bar 9 soundbar (pictured above) is Sony’s flagship offering is, says Sony, 36 per cent smaller than the former flagship model, the HT-A7000. Here, you will find a 13-speaker setup which includes three tweeters, four woofers, two beam tweeters, two up-firing and two side-firing drivers.
The other soundbar that Sony has just unveiled is the smaller Bravia Theatre Bar 8 which has 11 total speakers – it doesn’t have the two beam tweeters that the Bar 9. The Bar 8 is 30 per cent smaller than the unit it replaces, the HT-A5000.
Both soundbars support Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, 360 Reality Audio and hi-res audio content. The soundbars support HDMI 2.1 too.
Acoustic Center Sync combines the speakers of a Bravia TV with either of these soundbars so that you are left with the impression that the sound is coming from the screen rather than the soundbar.
The new soundbars also have AI-enabled technology by way of Voice Zoom 3 that uses AI to recognise human voices and amplifies them.
Both the Bravia Theatre Bar 9 and Bravia Theatre Bar 8 are compatible with Sony’s current rear satellite speakers and subwoofers.
Australia pricing for the new soundbars have not yet been revealed.
For those who are just catching up on Sony’s latest product announcements, there’s plenty more on ChannelNews where you can read about its new Bravia TV lineup as well as its Theatre Quad Speaker system.
Briefly, the new Bravia 7 is a Mini LED model with overall performance that should be comparable to the X95.
The Bravia 8 uses a regular OLED (not QD-OLED) panel which Sony says is 31 per cent thinner than the A80L, and a display bezel that is slimmer by 29 per cent.
The Mini LED Bravia 9 (which comes in 65-, 75- and 85-inch variants) has 325 per cent more dimming zones than 2023’s X95L, and the Bravia 9 can go 50 per cent brighter at peak luminance too – while using 20 per cent less energy than its predecessor. It has dropped the LG OLED panels for the mini-LED-based backlighting system in the Bravia 9.
Along with a trio of new soundbars, the range includes the new Theatre Quad speaker system, which is claimed to be comprised of four identical speakers.
The Theatre Quad speaker system meanwhile comprises four identical speakers, with each unit containing four drivers configured in a three-way design. There’s the up-firing X-balanced driver, alongside a tweeter, midrange driver, and an X-balanced woofer. It offers 16 drivers in total, an increase from the 12 in the A9 system.
