NEWS: Sony introduces HT-A9 home theatre system

[Jenz]

Anyone have these Stands?

Vebos HT A9 Stand

Vebos Stand Sony HT-A9 black one pair – high quality for optimal sound experience in any room – here you can put your Sony HT-A9 anywhere

Amazon product

 

[oscarmadfish]

still on the pre order list for my HT A9 but i do have 4 of these ready and waiting and full of atabites

 

[Heckie]

I’ve wall mounted my rears using screws and have the fronts on shelving. Going to tidy the cables at the weekend. I’ve ordered longer cables and going to run trunking.

 

[alastair113]

I’m looking at buying these speakers when they are back in stock but one complaint I’ve heard from a few people is a bit concerning, I keep hearing that they don’t sound great at low volumes?

Im just curious, for people who have this system, do you agree and if so could you elaborate. Unfortunately I can’t run a system too loud due to having close neighbours and I’m also looking at moving to an apartment soon so even less chance of using it at a loud volume lol. I can use it at a decent volume just not like shaking the floor or anything.

I currently have the Samsung Q950A which is fine when played at lower volumes but would like to upgrade to the Sony.

Thanks In advance

 

[Snowfire]

Can't comment for others, but I find if I don't have 'advanced auto volume' set to on, then the system is very quiet. Even at volume 25-30 it doesn't sound that loud and you have to whack it up to at least 40+ to get that immersive experience. It's the center channel that really lacks and a bad center channel unfortunately ruins things... However, with the setting turned on, you still get the full experience even at lower levels.

When I was using it without the setting, the wife hated it and wanted the Sonos back however once I fine tuned the settings I liked and to my room shape, she changed her mind and said it was better than the Sonos (this is just the center channel) the actual immersive bubble she agreed was miles better from the start.

 

[alastair113]

Can't comment for others, but I find if I don't have 'advanced auto volume' set to on, then the system is very quiet. Even at volume 25-30 it doesn't sound that loud and you have to whack it up to at least 40+ to get that immersive experience. It's the center channel that really lacks and a bad center channel unfortunately ruins things... However, with the setting turned on, you still get the full experience even at lower levels.

When I was using it without the setting, the wife hated it and wanted the Sonos back however once I fine tuned the settings I liked and to my room shape, she changed her mind and said it was better than the Sonos (this is just the center channel) the actual immersive bubble she agreed was miles better from the start.

Thanks for the reply, I always thought auto volume reduces the dynamic range of the sound though. Does it not affect it too much on this system?

 

[Snowfire]

Thanks for the reply, I always thought auto volume reduces the dynamic range of the sound though. Does it not affect it too much on this system?

Can't say I've noticed any difference. Haven't managed to watch a great deal yet, but a 'quiet place 2', 'John Wick', '1917' & 'Gravity' all sounded incredible.

 

[Too Tall]

I have auto volume set on too and have no issue with running them at 18-20 for regular TV. I turn it up a bit for movies but it sounds fine at below 25.

 

[Snowfire]

Had a play around this morning, they really have done some wizardry stuff here. I placed one front on the floor, then one front on a high chair. The sound was still perfect, didn't effect the middle channel at all, is absolutely crazy.

Wanted to see if placing the speakers any higher or lower would make a difference originally, but couldn't tell any difference, then decided to have some fun and play around with them in odd positions.

Also played around with the manual tuning of the seating position, but again couldn't notice much difference. Same with setting the hight part.

 

[Gary65]

Anyone using it without sub ? as have a small living room

 

[Snowfire]

Anyone using it without sub ? as have a small living room

Been using it a week on its own, it's more than adequate if your room isn't that big. While I am getting the sub, the system performs a lot better than the Sonos arc did without a sub.

 

[GAmbrose]

So my speakers arrived earlier and I've been playing around with them. Fairly impressive, but I really want to get the fronts in line with my A90J to get the front field sounding better, which I will do tomorrow

One weird quirk is that I can't actually hear any DTS movies in the Sony Bravia Core app, if I switch them to 5.1 they work fine but with default DTS I get no sound at all.

'Sound Effect' is set to 'Sound Mode On' in the settings.

 

[GAmbrose]

Turns out I didn't have passthrough enabled on the A90J, doh!

 

[XeNoNF50]

Try out saving private ryan opening beach scene on 4k blu ray Dolby Atmos lads

 

[Heckie]

Anyone else getting audio dropouts? Had it happen a few times now where I have to turn optimisation off and on in settings.

 

[GAmbrose]

Anyone else getting audio dropouts? Had it happen a few times now where I have to turn optimisation off and on in settings.

You updated the firmware? This tended to happen on earlier versions of the software.

Also it does say to ensure they are at least 1.5m from a WiFi router.

 

[Heckie]

You updated the firmware? This tended to happen on earlier versions of the software.

Also it does say to ensure they are at least 1.5m from a WiFi router.

First thing I did. All up to date.

 

[Ignominious]

You updated the firmware? This tended to happen on earlier versions of the software.

Also it does say to ensure they are at least 1.5m from a WiFi router.

Anyone else getting audio dropouts? Had it happen a few times now where I have to turn optimisation off and on in settings.

I had this and under Speaker Settings>Manual Wireless Speaker Settings changed the "Wireless Playback Quality" to focus on "Connection" rather than the "Sound Quality' option. In the same Manual Speaker Settings menu I also turned the "RF Channel" off and then back on again. I've suffered no further audio drop outs since that time.

I've not noticed any downgrade in sound quality either.

I have had to adjust the audio sync via the Sony Music Center app a notch as well

 

[Heckie]

Software update available

 

[Snowfire]

Notes just say:

"Improved the problem that music cannot be played with AirPlay because the unit cannot be found with the AirPlay app"

 

[alastair113]

This might be a silly question but do you have all 4 speakers turned in to face you or pointing straight ahead?

I know with normal speakers you always have them pointing towards you but I wasn’t sure if it makes a difference with these. Thanks

 

[Snowfire]

This might be a silly question but do you have all 4 speakers turned in to face you or pointing straight ahead?

I know with normal speakers you always have them pointing towards you but I wasn’t sure if it makes a difference with these. Thanks

You can pretty much place them anywhere and still sounds good (within reason )

My fronts in normal position just side of the TV facing me.

My rears as my sofa is against the wall are just in the corners facing each other, rather than towards the TV.

 

[Too Tall]

My fronts are straight forward, my rears I toed in about 15 degrees as we're only about 2 feet in front of them.

 

[Ignominious]

This might be a silly question but do you have all 4 speakers turned in to face you or pointing straight ahead?

I know with normal speakers you always have them pointing towards you but I wasn’t sure if it makes a difference with these. Thanks

I've been wondering this too.

Looking closely at the start up guide diagram that comes with the speakers, all four are toed in to the listening position so I'm going to change them to reflect this and re-run the sound field optimisation to see if it makes any difference

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/5025/fb24008567b3e3c4c80364bb65a76509/50252321M.pdf

"• Surround sound can be experienced more effectively by installing the 4 speakers to surround your listening position and installing the front speakers on both sides of the TV. • If you install speakers as following, perform [Sound Field Adjustment] under [Manual Speaker Settings].
– The distances from the TV to the front left speaker and the front right speaker have a large difference. – The distances from your listening position to the 4 speakers are very unbalanced."

 

[Snowfire]

I've been wondering this too.

Looking closely at the start up guide diagram that comes with the speakers, all four are toed in to the listening position so I'm going to change them to reflect this and re-run the sound field optimisation to see if it makes any difference

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/5025/fb24008567b3e3c4c80364bb65a76509/50252321M.pdf

"• Surround sound can be experienced more effectively by installing the 4 speakers to surround your listening position and installing the front speakers on both sides of the TV. • If you install speakers as following, perform [Sound Field Adjustment] under [Manual Speaker Settings].
– The distances from the TV to the front left speaker and the front right speaker have a large difference. – The distances from your listening position to the 4 speakers are very unbalanced."

Only on position 2 they are, on position 3 they aren't, just the rears.

I've tried multiple positions when I was having fun with them in random positions (sounds kinky ) As long as they aren't too low, or too high to the ceiling, I found that was the best to create the biggest sound bubble.