BladeW
Member
What Hi-Fi has the Bravia Theatre Trio down to GBP 1,799 with a code, from 1,999, and the write-up made the point I have been chewing on since Sony announced this thing. A soundbar exists to cut the speaker count. The Trio ships with two satellites and then tells you they are not surrounds, they go up front. So it is a soundbar cut into three pieces and spread across the wall.
I do not hate it. Three separate cabinets across the front is how you get real width rather than processed width, and it dodges the wiring argument that kills a proper 5.1 in most living rooms. Sony's 360 Spatial Sound Mapping is doing the rest, claiming up to 24 phantom speakers. Twenty-four is a marketing number. Phantom images hold up in the seat they were calibrated for and fall apart two feet off axis, and no room correction on earth fixes a sofa jammed against the back wall.
Calibration looks properly done, though. Built-in mics plus an actual USB-C measurement mic in the box, which is more than most bars bother with. Connectivity is eARC plus one HDMI in with 4K120, VRR and ALLM passthrough. One input. Console and a player and you are going through the TV anyway.
No front display either, which on a system at this money is a strange saving.
Anyone running one with the seating pushed back against a wall? That is the case where I would expect the three-piece front to stop earning its keep and a cheaper bar to sound much the same.
I do not hate it. Three separate cabinets across the front is how you get real width rather than processed width, and it dodges the wiring argument that kills a proper 5.1 in most living rooms. Sony's 360 Spatial Sound Mapping is doing the rest, claiming up to 24 phantom speakers. Twenty-four is a marketing number. Phantom images hold up in the seat they were calibrated for and fall apart two feet off axis, and no room correction on earth fixes a sofa jammed against the back wall.
Calibration looks properly done, though. Built-in mics plus an actual USB-C measurement mic in the box, which is more than most bars bother with. Connectivity is eARC plus one HDMI in with 4K120, VRR and ALLM passthrough. One input. Console and a player and you are going through the TV anyway.
No front display either, which on a system at this money is a strange saving.
Anyone running one with the seating pushed back against a wall? That is the case where I would expect the three-piece front to stop earning its keep and a cheaper bar to sound much the same.
