Bring the cinema home with Sony’s award-winning HT-A9

We recently spent some time with the HT-A9 home theatre system from Sony and found the home theatre system not only delivered on all fronts, but exceeded on most, too!  

You start by connecting the HT-A9 control box to your TV’s eARC input and then positioning the four speakers appropriately in your room (they are clearly labelled underneath to let you know which is to go where - FR, front right, FL, front left, RR, rear right and RL, rear left). It really doesn’t seem possible, but this system from Sony is so easily set up that within a very short space of time, you can be sitting in the middle of an awesome soundscape.  

During initial setup, all the speakers are recognised by the control box and each unit speaks to the other. Next up, the control box creates sound from each of the speakers in turn - as the sound emanates from one of the speakers, the microphones in each of the others receives their positioning relative to the base unit. After all four have done this, the base unit creates a short test to exhibit how the ‘dome of sound’ will be unique to your environment.

You can add a subwoofer to the HT-A9, further enriching the deep bass experience. Either of the two optional subwoofers (200w and 300w) will certainly enhance the richness and power of the sound. To further reinforce your audio immersion, there is a connection from the control box that will enable certain Sony BRAVIA TVs to connect within the sound system as a centre speaker using Acoustic Centre Sync - this ensures that the sound is a brilliant match for what you are seeing.

We found the HT-A9 managed to take us deeper into a near-cinema audio experience than we could have imagined. The four speakers are each equipped with two microphones that provide information about their relative positions to the control box, which then uses it to help create 12 ‘phantom’ speakers from the four units. Sony calls the process ‘360 Spatial Soundmapping’ - the listening area is calculated and precisely mapped so that wherever you are in the space, you have the same, top-quality audio experience.  

The system is Bluetooth compatible, so can be linked to a range of devices. Indeed, we recently linked a Sony PS-LX310BT turntable to it. Despite the record playing being classified as ‘stereo’, the HT-A9 took the audio it was receiving and, thanks to the 360 Spatial Soundmapping, the algorithm added sound overhead and distributed it evenly, meaning sound fully enveloped the space!  

For us, the HT-A9 is an incredibly unique system that delivers a superb sonic performance. Accurate, rich sound matched with a clean design means that the HT-A9 is very high on our list!  

If you’d like to find out more or purchase your very own HT-A9, check it out, here!

From subwoofers to TV's, you can save £££'s on combined purchases with the HT-A9. Ask your local Sony Centre for more info.