Theater System 6 & Bar 6: Sony launches its first soundbar with wireless rear speakers

Unlike its South Korean competitors, Sony is used to renewing its bars of its little by little, at strategic moments. Following Theater Bar 8 And Theater Bar 9 Outings in the spring of 2024, which replaced the HT-A5000 and HT-A9000 respectively, the Japanese manufacturer today unveils the Theater Bar 6. equivalent to the old HT-A3000, it presents itself as the most modest bars of its high-end Sony.

Sony also creates the surprise this year by declining the Theater Bar 6 in a version delivered with wireless rear speakers called Theater System 6. This so far inexperienced format by Sony would finally allow it to compete with Samsung and LG, which already offer such home cinema systems.

Theater Bar 6: a large soundbar, with subwoofer and vertical speakers

Like the latest bars of its Premium Sony, the Theater Bar 6 is distinguished from its HT-A3000 elder by the integration of a pair of vertical speakers dedicated to the return of the three-dimensional effects encoded on the tracks of Dolby Atmos and DTS content: x. For the rest, it includes 3 vertical speakers and is obviously accompanied by a subwoofer for a final configuration in 3.1.2 channels. Note that the bass box must be connected to the wired sound bar to operate.

Measuring 95 x 6.4 x 11 cm (W x H x P), the Theater Bar 6 should be powerful enough to improve the sound of a 65 -inch TV in optimal conditions and fine enough to integrate easily.

Theater System 6: a 1000 W system with rear speakers included

In addition to the slightly more contained dimensions (90.7 x 6.4 x 9 cm), the sound bar of the Theater System 6 is distinguished from the Theater Bar 6 by the absence of vertical speakers. In return, it adds two tweeters and a central route which were to offer more sound details and improve the clarity of the dialogues. The satellites, on the other hand, are limited to an integrated loudspeaker in front and require being wrapped in a box included to communicate in wireless mode with the sound bar. The Basse de Basse included is less imposing than that of the Theater Bar 6, and also connects in wired to the sound bar.

For his Theater System 6, Sony announces a total power of 1000 W and says that it will be possible to broadcast music with equal level on all channels thanks to Multi Stereo Party mode. If the need to connect each wired element already seems to be a constraint, we are mainly concerned about the absence of side and vertical speakers on this system. Holled air effects and a lack of binder between the front and the back of the stage could be felt when reading Atmos content. Hopefully the virtualization technologies S-FORCE PRO and Vertical Surround Engine, which she also shares with the Theater Bar 6, will strengthen immersion.

Bluetooth 5.3 receiver, HDMI Arc port, optical entrance, USB-A port, etc.

The Theater System 6 and Theater Bar 6 opt for identical connectors and connectivity. Equipped with a simple Bluetooth 5.3 receiver, they ignore any form of uncompressed wireless diffusion. Support for hi-res files via USB-A and the presence of a 3.5 mm mini-jack input extend the possibilities to listen to music. Home cinema connectors is limited to an HDMI Arc port and an optical entrance. We will therefore not be able to connect a source directly to the sound bar. These two models being intermediate range, we will turn to the Theater Bar 8 and Theater Bar 8 for more diffusion possibilities.

No price or release date has so far been announced for these two sound bars. We are entitled to hope for a rather contained price for the Theater System 6 because, despite the inclusion of rear speakers, its sound architecture remains generally rather basic.