Sony HT-A5000

[Blumine1818]

I recently bought the HT-A5000.

Yes the sound is ok but it's very front focused.

The upward firing speakers don't seem to add much at all.

Does anyone out there share my experience?

[royabrown2]

@Blumine1818 

There’s a bit on page 37 of your paper manual about using Sound Field. Have you got this on?

Even better might be Advanced Settings/360 Spatial Sound Mapping instead, as mentioned there:-

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/res/manuals/5029/871841a26812d8faffdebaa005f29955/50294801M...

 
But when you go to read about Advanced Settings on page 45, it unhelpfully refers you to a second manual:-

https://helpguide.sony.net/ht/a5000/v1/en/index.html

where what you want is buried under Changing the Settings/Performing Advanced Settings/Audio Settings.

Sony don't make it easy, do they?

But have a play with these settings. Might make the soundbar be less front focussed, might add some more effect to the upward firing speakers. Though there are a good few weasel words in those manuals about how subdued the effects might be, depending on the sound source 😢

Test any adjustments with a BluRay disc with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. That’ll be the best you can get. If it’s fine, great. If it’s still a bit lacking, then that might be the upward firing speakers OK (and there isn’t much you can do except turn up their volume if not), but the rear sound effects not convincing, in which case you may need to acquire the optional wireless rears, if you haven’t already got them.

Likewise the bass; great if the subs in the soundbar do the job OK, but if not, there’s no substitute for a dedicated sub. Which Sony also, helpfully, have available for this soundbar.

[Blumine1818]

As always, thank you for your assistance.

I've tweaked a few settings but no difference.

Still very front heavy which is a little disappointing.

I played a 4k bluray with Dolby Atmos. Same issue.

Maybe I was expecting too much!

[royabrown2]

@Blumine1818 

Yes, that 360 option I was talking about turns out to require the rear speakers added, which probably tells you something about the limits of the soundbar’s psycho-acoustic tricks 😢

The best manufacturer for this is/was Yamaha, where my YSP2500 could throw sound out that genuinely seemed to reach to beside me, but couldn’t cover the rears.

You can get rears for your soundbar though, and adding rears to my LG GX soundbar has made a world of difference. But they were a bargain £150, wireless receiver and all, whereas the Sony ones are £350, which is a bigger ask.