Sony Theater Bar 6: https://geni.us/GC-SonyTheaterBar6
Sony Bravia 5 TV: https://geni.us/GC-SonyBravia5TV
So this is the Sony Theater Bar 6… not to be confused with the Sony Theater system 6 which has a larger subwoofer, and it comes included with rear satellite speakers. Now what makes the Sony Theater Bar 6 special is that this is mid tier soundbar from Sony that has upwards firing drivers which is going to give you true Dolby atmospheres support. Cause right now if you want upwards firing drivers, for the most part you’ll have to go with something more premium. But none the less today we’re going to checkout the Sony Theater Bar 6 and lets see if its right for you.
Now regarding pricing the Theater Bar 6 has a retail price of $700 but it does like to go on sale for $550, not bad at all. Now I feel that this is a great mid sized soundbar for a mid sized living room. Now keep in mind that this soundbar does come included with a wireless subwoofer, which I feel is fine for living rooms, but personally I wouldn’t recommend it for bedrooms, but that’s just me. Nonetheless if you want to pick this soundbar up itll be linked down below or you can always click on the YouTube shopping button, and if you want to further support the channel then you can always watch some of the related videos in the description down below.
Now first there’s the design of this soundbar, the theater bar 6 comes included with an external subwoofer, which depending on your setup is either good or bad. Now its really good cause an external subwoofer means that you’re going to get a lot of bass… which means big sound. But its bad news if you’re planning on using this soundbar in your bedroom cause you’re going to have to make room for your subwoofer. So personally I recommend this system for living rooms and if you’re looking for something for your bedroom then you’ll might want to look at either the Bose Smart Soundbar or the Sony S2000 cause they don’t need an external subwoofer for their bass.
Now concerning the subwoofer that comes with this soundbar… this is a medium sized subwoofer, its larger and heavier than Bose’s external subwoofer but it is slightly smaller than the Subwoofer that some included with the Sony Theater System 6. But the important thing is, this subwoofer is wireless so you can place it anywhere you want in your living room, and this sub connects via an AC port, so there’s no external power brick that you have to worry about with this sub, which given the size and weight, there better not be an external power brick.
And when it comes to the connectivity of the soundbar itself, thankfully it also only plugs in via an AC port and there’s no external power brick that you have to worry about… which is something that needs to be pointed out cause the Sony S2000 does have an external power brick which makes placing this soundbar in your set up all little more difficult, I feel. But also just like the S2000, the Bar 6 only has a single HDMI port which means you can’t plug in a playstation or blue ray player up to this soundbar.
However this soundbar does come included with an HDMI cable in the box, and no you don’t need to go out and buy ultra high speed, gold plated and Dimond encrusted HDMI cables… and you do get a wall mounting template… but no actuall wall mounting kit. That’s sold separately. Which does suck. However, if you were to wall mount this soundbar… personally I am against wall mounting… but if you were, this is a relatively light weight soundbar weighing in a little under 7 pounds. And again I do think that this is important to point out given at just how bad these new construction homes are or “Luxury apartments”… if you were to wall mount this soundbar it shouldn’t tare down your walls.
Now regarding the connectivity of this soundbar, this soundbar is going to work well no matter what tv you’re using… but for the best experience you do want to use it with a Sony TV cause this way you’ll be able to adjust the bass, the sound field settings the voice settings and the night mode setting all directly from your Sony TV using your Sony remote… or if you’re not going to use this soundbar with a Sony tv, you’ll still be able to adjust all of these settings either from the included remote… or you can also just use the Sony Bravia connect app, which I do prefer. Now just keep in mind that this soundbar does not have Airplay 2 support, which personally I really don’t care cause if you’re going to stream to your soundbar you can just stream to your tv which most likely does have Airplay 2 support… but this soundbar does have bluetooth so you can share this soundbar with a guest without having to share your wifi password.
But with all of that out of the way, lets talk about sound. When it comes to speaker set ups, the bar 6 has a total of 5 speakers, three that shoot out the front and 2 that shoot upwards, but unfortunately there are no tweeters. And when it comes to the sub, it has a single XX diameter subwoofer with an exhaust port that shoots out the front, which is going to give you very balanced bass. Now like I mentioned earlier, this soundbar is going to work well with any tv out there… but keep in mind, if you have a Sony TV, the Theater Bar 6 does not have acoustic center sync like with either the Bar 8, Bar 9 or the Bravia Theater Quad, which means you can’t use your TV’s built in speakers like a center channel. Which matters if you’re using a Sony Bravia 5 and up like we have here. But now we’re going to jump into the soundtest, the Sony Bravia 5 is playing at max volume where as both the Theater bar 6 and Theater system 6 are playing at 70% volume with sound field turned on and their bass set to 5.
SOUNDTEST
So first off, obviously any soundbar is going to sound better than your tv’s built in speakers. Your TV most likely has a pair of downward firing speakers that bounce sound off of the table, they don’t get all that loud, and when the bass gets going then it can become a rattling mess. However if you were to go with a more premium TV like lets say the Bravia 5 like we have here, distortion isn’t a problem… however you are going to be better off getting a soundbar cause these built in speakers are going to be mainly for hearing dialog with.
But when it comes to the Bar 6… thanks to the upwards firing drivers on this soundbar, this system does sound open and it has a good sense of verticality, but unfortunately, the instrument separation on this soundbar isn’t as impressive as lets say the System 6 cause the bar 6 just doesn’t have any tweeters… so the definition in the highs isn’t as clear as id like them to be. In general this is a warmer sounding soundbar with good openess thanks to those upwards firing drivers which are going to give you true dolby atmos support… I just wish the highs were a little more crisp.
Now when it comes to the bass on this soundbar… like I mentioned earlier since it does come included with an extant subwoofer, the Bar 6 is going to have a lot more bass than lets say the Bose Smart Soundbar or the Sony S2000. And since this is a frontward firing subwoofer, you’re bass is going to be very audible and its going to be very clean… this bass isn’t violent or rumbles more than it has to like a downward firing subwoofer that you’ll find with JBL’s soundbars. But still, this subwoofer does give you a good amount of physicality in your bass so you are going to be able to feel any action scenes that you’re watching.
And finally when it comes to max volume performance, the Theater bar 6 is going to have no problem filling a medium sized living room with sound, its going to be good for house parties if you have guests over and its going to be over kill if you plan on using it in your bedroom.
So with all of that being said, the Sony Theater Bar 6 is a decent system to look at that going to give you good sound at a good value. This system is going to work just fine with any TV out there, but for a better user experience you do want to use it with a Sony TV cause this way you can easily adjust its sound settings directly from the TV menu. But keep in mind, this system does not support Acoustic Center Sync, where if you have a sony tv you’ll be able to use your TV’s built in speakers as a center channel. So if you have a sony TV then you’ll might want to look at the Bar 8 at least. But besides that, the Theater Bar 6 is a good system to consider for a medium sized living room, its gets more than loud enough, its going to give you lots of clean bass and thanks to the upwards firing drivers, you’re going to have true dolby atmos support. I just wish this system had at least one center placed tweeter so that the highs can be a little more crisp.