Sony HT-A7000 Sound Bar system review

The Sony HT-A7000 sound bar offers full sound that rivals a complete home theatre set up, and installing it is as simple as plug and play.

[tripleseven]

A great, down to earth, nuts and bolts review… I like the way that you described the different features of this unit, in an easy to comprehend, well explained manner…Thank you

[whowasdat_]

Great review! Couldn't find a in-depth review on this model, really glad I found your video.

[Geo-Storm]

I just bought this whole set in parts from eBay, the soundbar, rears, and sub. This was very informative, thank you 🙏🏽

[darksamiss]

Hello:

I have a few questions for you in regards to the HT-A7000 Soundbar, SR5 Rear Speakers and the SW3 Sub.

1. Which do you like better: 360 Spatial Sound Mapping, DTS Neural or the Dolby Speaker Virtualizer?
2. Can manually inputs (decibel levels and speaker distances) be used with 360 Spatial Sound Mapping... or does this require that we use the Soundfield Optimization tool?
3. Which setting in Question #1 produces the best Atmos effects and surround experience... assuming I'm watching a 4k Blu-Ray with all the elements (TV, DVD Player... etc.) set to proper export/import signals and using a 48Gbs HDMI?

The manual for the soundbar doesn't clarify if the manual input settings can be used per my Question #2. It just says manual inputs can be set. To set manual inputs, the 360 Spatial Sound Mapping feature has to be turned-off. When 360 Spatial Sound Mapping is turned-off... DTS Neural and Dolby Speaker Virtualizer are then available options in settings.  

If 360 Spatial Sound Mapping is turned-on... manual inputs (along with DTS Neural and Dolby Speaker Virtualizer) are "greyed-out".

I've called Sony several times and their people have given me several conflicting answers... they just read from a script... and their manuals don't clarify this questions. So... I'm without a definitive answer to my questions.

One reason I want to manually calibrate is... the center channel get drowned-out by the other speakers. In manual settings, I'm able to use a decibel meter and dial back the other speakers to match the center dialogue channel. That's important and the reason I'm writing this long question.

I look forward to your response!

Thanks.

[gentlegto]

Best review yet keep up the excellent work

[MrAmjak]

We need a review of the Sony Ht-A9, I can't find any. I'm very interested in that Soundsystem
Thanks for the review of the HT-A7000

[indramainali]

Hello sir
Can you use a blue ray home theater connecting with this A7000.Can we get the bass sound from another bass speaker together with just the 7000 bar? I am thinking of buying only the bar and see whether the built in bass speakers are enough to produce satisfying deep sound.
Any answer from anybody will be great help for me.

[tts]

How does it compare to the Sonos Arc soundbar in your opinion?

[jigneshandhariya]

Aapke pass sony ht st 5000 soundbar he Muje kharidna he

[stateniland]

I was going to purchase the Sony A8S and was wondering if this Sound Bar will obstruct the screen of placed under TV?
thank you Joe

[trashtalker]

How is the bass when only using the soundbar? Can you be satisfied and feel the basic sub from the soundbar?

[clou]

Nice would been nice they had up-firing rear speakers. Wonder how the HT-A9 will perform compare to this. No Center channel on the A9 unless you have top of the line Sony TV.

[JB-vcxj]

Your advise about using TosLink on a older TV should realy be "a last resort" connection type! You will lose the HD sound formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD with TosLink.

[RJ-luci]

Great video! One issue I have with this sound bar is the “height.” It blocks the bottom portion of my tv screen.

[Cz_]

The HT-A700 is actually 7.1.2 ch soundbar, not 7.2 as you mentioned in the opening 10 seconds. It has a built-in subwoofer (the ".1") and 2 upward firing speakers for Dolby Atmos (the ".2") overhead effects

[JayPatrol]

The a3000, 5000, and 7000 does the job as far as enjoyable in your home, i don't think it has to be exactly like in the theater just close.

[paggi]

Good job! We are waiting for Ray-Ban Stories review!

[mohamedalkaboom]

Hey lets go to Jonnys burgers and talk speakers. The burgers are on you

[kenross]

He should have mentioned that optical connections don't carry Dolby Atmos

[tripleseven]

We just bought it… Everything, (i.e. the big sub-woofer and rear surround speakers)…I’m out of the country but can’t wait to get home to set it up!

We had the Sonos Arc system first, and while we were very happy with the sound quality, there were considerable shortcomings that we couldn’t get around… See my comments regarding why we chose to return the Sonos Arc, below, in a separate comment…

We have a 2018 model LG OLED TV… I’m not sure whether we’re going to have an issue setting this up or not… Hopefully not, but I would like to hear a little bit more about your handshake issues with the HDMI connections and how you solved the problem…