Sony 5.1 home theatre review: This is simply the best way to 'feel' music

Go for it if you feel the environment even as you listen to music, or watch movies, TV shows and matches; the Sony 5.1 home theatre ticks all the right boxes for a music fanatic

The two new 5.1 channel Soundbar home theatre systems released by Japanese electronics giant Sony recently – the Sony HT-S700RF and HT-S500RF – went to sale India from August 10. Priced respectively at Rs 37,990 and Rs 29,990, these home theatres come with a mind-blowing 1,000-watt audio output. This makes them capable of delivering incredible audio output.

The home theatres, strong enough to surround your full house with music, also come with tweeters to let you indulge in every minute note and sound of the softest musical instrument. Both devices come with a premium design, featuring metal grills on all front and rear speakers.

Business Standard reviewed the HT-S700RF version. Here are our observations on how the set fares on various key parameters:

The Sony HT-S700RF home theatre system delivers a whopping audio output, thanks to its high volume boxes equipped with tweeters. The Japanese electronics giant claims to produce 'stunning surround sound'. Well, real 5.1 speakers, coupled with two front and rear tweeters, ensure that the sound produced is massive. For connectivity, they are equipped with Bluetooth 4.2, HDMI, optical-in ports, analogue audio input, and a USB port. The Bluetooth version is quite impressive, too. The 2.1v that many other companies provide disconnects the moment you get out of range. Overall, the system is a clean set-up that will enhance your room's feel.

What’s more? The premium set also features a 20cm subwoofer, and it comes with ‘tall boy’ speakers. No wonder the music and audio output are simply transcendental. We experimented with some heavy bass music – mainly songs with a prominent bass guitar. The sound produced by the soundbar and the tweeters was nothing less than a studio environment. The bass was extremely powerful, coming from the two tall boy speakers.

The remote has a sleek design with enough keys from which to operate songs. The remote, for colossal-like theatre, is quite powerful. But for a party speaker, the accompanying remote controller is not up to the mark. It works only when pointed toward the speaker’s top side, where the IR blaster is mounted. The keys do not have a background light, which makes it difficult to operate them in the dark.

Sony 5.1 home theatre review

Next, we connected the speakers with the Sony Bravia 55-inch A8F OLED TV. Once connected, we switched the TV mode on and played some music-centric movies, to check the intensity of the speakers. And the result was not disappointing at all. The sound was perfect to the ear. There was no forced shriek. Gangster movies with lots of gunshot and rifle sounds, such as Goodfellas and The Departed did not hurt the ear, and soft musical themes in Godfather was not difficult to hear. The sound was clear and so comfortable that a standard volume could magically adjust to the environment and sound quality.

Music concerts, guitar riffs, bass guitar sound and drum beats, everything fell on the ear smoothly while surrounding the room with clear music. The heavy bass definitely gave an edge to the whole experience.

Coming to the size, the home theatre is massive and not portable. Once it settles at a place, make sure that is where you want it to be; you might have to put a lot of effort to carry the system from one position to another.

The HT-S700RF allows you to feel the environment as you listen to music, or watching movies, TV shows and matches. It ticks all the right boxes for the music fanatic. Any other marvel that along is a bonus.