Tech

Sony HT-S40R 5.1 Channel Home Theatre Soundbar Review: Proper Surround Sound at a Reasonable Price

There’s quite a lot of curiosity in soundbars that are not too costly, however aren’t precisely price range merchandise both. soundbar at across the Rs. 30,000 worth degree will pair nicely with a good mid-range or upper-mid-range tv, and there are a handful of manufacturers in India that provide precisely this type of product. Sony is well-known for its mid-range soundbars, and its newest product, the Sony HT-S40R 5.1-channel soundbar speaker system, guarantees rather a lot for Rs. 29,990.

Though a soundbar at its core, the Sony HT-S40R is exclusive in that the package deal additionally features a pair of wi-fi rear audio system and a subwoofer, making for an genuine 5.1-channel house theatre setup. Is that this speaker system handy to make use of, and is that this the perfect you should buy for lower than Rs. 30,000? Discover out on this overview.

sony ht s40r soundbar review logo Sony

Sony’s newest soundbar is best described as a house theatre system, with 5.1-channel output

 

Sony HT-S40R design and specs

Soundbars and residential theatre speaker programs look greatest when they’re discreet and easy, and the Sony HT-S40R sticks to this transient. The entire elements are black in color, and do not look out of the extraordinary for a soundbar speaker system. The gross sales package deal features a three-channel soundbar speaker, a subwoofer, two rear audio system, and an amplifier to energy the rear-channel audio system. There’s additionally a distant for the system, batteries to energy it, and an HDMI cable to attach the system to your tv or AV receiver.

Most soundbar programs I’ve reviewed have the bar speaker because the grasp system, with the subwoofer, if any, drawing its sign from there. With the Sony HT-S40R, issues are completely different; the subwoofer is the first system, which connects to all supply gadgets in addition to mains energy. There are 4 choices for connectivity on the subwoofer: Digital Optical, HDMI-ARC, and Analog In on the again, in addition to USB on the entrance.

There are additionally sockets to attach the bar speaker to the subwoofer; the cable is fastened to the bar speaker, which receives its audio sign in addition to energy from the subwoofer. The bar speaker is fully plain save for a Sony emblem on the left and a few stickers exhibiting its options. It has no buttons or controls on it. A easy steel grille covers the speaker drivers.

The highest of the subwoofer has contact controls for energy, supply choice, Bluetooth 5 connectivity (with assist for the SBC codec), and quantity. There’s additionally a small monochrome textual content show on the entrance which shows the ability state and lively supply.

Though Sony calls the rear audio system wi-fi, this is not strictly correct; the rear audio system system as an entire does connect with the subwoofer wirelessly, however the audio system themselves do should be linked to the amplifier utilizing wires for audio and energy. The amplifier additionally wants its personal energy outlet.

sony ht s40r soundbar review bar Sony

The left, proper, and centre channel audio system of the system are throughout the bar speaker of the Sony HT-S40R

 

Which means you needn’t wire the encompass audio system to the principle setup, however you do after all want to make sure they’re suitably positioned to be used with the required amplifier. The rear audio system will be positioned both on a tabletop, or wall-mounted. The amplifier has sockets for energy and to attach the 2 audio system, and two buttons for energy and linking with the subwoofer.

The distant of the Sony HT-S40R is not very giant, however has loads of buttons to regulate numerous features of the speaker system. You may set sound modes, modify the grasp and subwoofer quantity ranges individually, and in addition management playback on linked gadgets because of HDMI-CEC assist.

As soon as linked and arrange, I used to be additionally capable of management the system quantity utilizing my TV distant, and the speaker system robotically powered on when the TV was turned on. Oddly, I needed to flip off the HT-S40R manually, as turning the TV off did not care for this.

Sony HT-S40R efficiency

The Sony HT-S40R is a mid-range soundbar, and naturally has a function set that largely matches in with the pricing. Whereas vital wiring continues to be concerned within the setup, the soundbar system does supply correct 5.1-channel sound, and a rated 600W of whole sound output. Superior audio codecs reminiscent of Dolby Atmos usually are not supported, however there may be assist for Dolby Digital Audio on the Sony HT-S40R. Though not fairly as loud because the sound output determine suggests, the Sony HT-S40R is able to excessive volumes with no audible distortion.

Whereas I did typically use the rear speaker system for some films throughout my overview, I often had solely the bar speaker and subwoofer operational for a lot of my time with the HT-S40R. I used to be utilizing HDMI-ARC for connectivity to the TV. I examined this house theatre speaker system with numerous tv exhibits and films on Netflix and Apple TV+, together with Our Planet, Ted Lasso, The Good Place, and Tom Hanks starrer Greyhound. This allowed me to check native 5.1-channel content material in addition to see how the system labored as a 3.1-channel audio setup utilizing simply the bar speaker and subwoofer.

sony ht s40r soundbar review controls Sony

The subwoofer is the controller of the HT-S40R, with the buttons on the high and a USB port on the entrance

 

Though it is a passive unit that receives energy from the subwoofer, the bar speaker is the guts of the Sony HT-S40R. Its three devoted channels capably supply correct left, proper, and centre channel output, with the sound tuning geared in the direction of typical tv viewing. Voices have been crisp and clear; sound results and soundtracks have been clear, refined, and straightforward to take heed to; and there was a way of width regardless of the bar speaker being a couple of inches shorter than the TV itself.

The HT-S40R expectedly supplied a significantly improved listening expertise than the Mi TV 5X I used to be utilizing it with. Though not fairly as crisp-sounding or clear because the dearer Sony HT-G700 soundbar, the HT-S40R did make up for this with its rear audio system.

Whereas there may be quite a lot of native 5.1-channel content material on the favored streaming providers, solely a few of it actually impacted the viewing expertise in the best way that encompass sound is supposed to. With exhibits reminiscent of The Good Place, it barely appeared to matter what I may hear from the rear audio system (though there was a transparent sense of separation), however with Greyhound and Our Planet, there was rather a lot to get pleasure from within the sound.

With the latter, David Attenborough’s gripping narration sounded nearly as good because it will get via the soundbar, whereas the rear audio system made for some spectacular background work, dealing with the sounds of nature – reminiscent of birds chirping and water flowing – notably nicely. The speaker system additionally suitably reproduced the tense and fast-paced really feel of a lot of Greyhound, whereas rightly giving Tom Hanks’ dialogue supply the centrestage.

When functioning as a extra conventional 3.1-channel soundbar and subwoofer system, the encompass components have been naturally lacking, however this did not impression most of my listening experiences with the HT-S40R. The rear audio system, whereas first rate, aren’t very loud, and the bar speaker and subwoofer understandably did a lot of the heavy lifting anyway. Ted Lasso, The Good Place, and Our Planet all sounded virtually as pleasing to me. In the event you do have the room for rear audio system, they do make a good distinction within the sound, however aren’t important for TV exhibits.

The subwoofer, whereas being the brains of the setup, does additionally ship loads of energy and assault. With the quantity turned up, it added loads of impact via succesful and distortion-free low-end rumble, notably in Greyhound the place it made for some pleasing thump within the motion scenes. The quantity of the subwoofer is individually adjustable from the general system quantity, so you possibly can flip up or down the assault as per your listening preferences.

I additionally tried out Bluetooth connectivity. Though the sound was loud, the tuning wasn’t fairly suited to music.

Verdict

The Sony HT-S40R is not state-of-the-art, as you may anticipate from a soundbar speaker system priced underneath Rs. 30,000, nevertheless it makes up for this with uncooked efficiency. It is loud, clear, crisp, and works very nicely with native 5.1-channel content material over HDMI-ARC. Though there isn’t any assist for Dolby Atmos or every other superior audio codecs, the HT-S40R handles commonplace encompass sound very nicely, because of its 5.1-channel setup.

That stated, there are too many wires, and the rear audio system have been a bit difficult for me to place. It is not ideally tuned for music listening both, however if you happen to can work your manner round these hiccups, the HT-S40R gives succesful 5.1-channel sound at an excellent worth. There are some first rate competing choices from manufacturers reminiscent of Polk Audio, Bose, JBL, and Samsung, however the Sony is price contemplating for its quantity capabilities and 5.1-channel output.


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