Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad with Bass Module Soundbar Review

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad has an interesting design, eschewing the usual bar format for four speakers that can be positioned around your room. The speakers are covered in a smooth, felt-like material that's easy on the eye. Their flat, squared design will polarize opinion, but it does make them blend into the wall when mounted. If you'd prefer to have them standing, they come with black metal stands that they can perch on. These stands can also be reconfigured as mounting brackets if you do choose to wall-mount them. A small control box is also used to link the speakers and subwoofer. The location of the power cable port can make connecting these speakers a bit of a challenge, though, as they need to be inserted in the tight space between the stand and the speaker.

The subwoofer or bass module is the same as the one provided with the Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module (SA-SW5). The casing is made of a durable plastic with a leather-like exterior. There's a front-firing driver that's wrapped in a matte fabric, as well as a down-firing driver at the bottom of the enclosure.

Given this speaker comes in a configuration of four identical speakers that can be placed around your room, the satellites look and function exactly the same as the 'bar.'

The speakers are designed to be positioned on either side of your TV, rather than directly below it, like a conventional soundbar. As a result, this system can accommodate more or less any size TV. The speakers themselves don't take up much space but are a little wider than conventional satellite speakers.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad has a bulky subwoofer that's a little larger than a typical desktop PC.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad's satellites are the same size and dimensions as the main speakers. They're a little wider and larger than conventional satellite speakers but still don't take up too much space.

The speakers feature a nifty design whereby the stands that support them in an upright position can be easily re-configured as wall mounts, making them easy to hang on a wall.

The build quality is excellent. The speakers, control box, and subwoofer are all primarily constructed of durable plastic, and the sub has a faux leather-like texture. The speakers are covered in a tight mesh, which is also used to cover the front driver of the sub. The control box feels solid and slightly more substantial than the one supplied with the Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module.

• Sony Home Theater System Manual and pamphlets
• TV center speaker mode cable (6.5 ft / 2.0 m)
• 4x AC power cord 4.9 ft/1.5 m)
• HDMI cable (5.2 ft / 1.6 m)
• Remote
• 2x AAA batteries
• Subwoofer manuals
• Subwoofer AC power cord (4.9 ft / 1.5 m)
• Speaker stands/wall-mount brackets

This soundbar has a great stereo frequency response. The tuning is relatively balanced, with a punchy and well-controlled bass that doesn't overpower the detailed mids and smooth highs. We tested its performance on Standard Surround mode with Sound Field Optimization enabled, and no tweaks to the EQ.

The Sound Field Optimization feature that comes with this setup runs automatically when you first set it up, but you can also manually re-run it if you move the speakers or change rooms. It's designed to optimize the sound according to the acoustics of your room. While we tested with this function enabled, you can see how it performs without it here, as well as with 'Night Mode' and 'Voice Mode' enabled. Subjectively, we found that the Sound Field Optimization pushed the sound forward, adding a more immersive quality to the soundstage.

Some users might also want to position the speakers so they lie (or are mounted) on their side, to see how this affects the frequency response for both Atmos and Surround Sound formats.

Upon initially receiving the unit, we found that there was no option to adjust the subwoofer level in the app. However, upon updating the bar to the latest firmware, we found that the bass level could be adjusted from -10 to +10. That said, if you prefer a more neutral sound profile, we'd recommend keeping the default settings.

Unlike other soundbars, the soundstage of the Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad can extend well beyond the width of your TV, depending on how you choose to place the speakers. As a result, this setup yields amazing width with good focus between the two front speakers. You still need to be careful about how you position the speakers, though, as a particularly wide spacing can create a gap in the middle of the soundstage, even after calibration.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad has a good dynamics performance. By default, the 'Audio DRC' setting is set to 'Auto,' so we disabled this before testing. It can get loud enough to fill a medium-sized room with sound, and there's minimal compression at max volume.

That said, it's worth noting that the results we obtained are from a second unit of this bar we purchased. Our initial unit broke while we were conducting our dynamics testing at max volume, resulting in a muffled treble response. We had similar issues when cranking the second unit up to max volume, meaning we couldn't get an accurate result for the second unit's dynamics. While we don't expect users to use the bar at this kind of volume and wouldn't advise it, it's necessary for a number of our tests. For this reason, we've also had to provide an estimate for the max volume that's based on the performance of the first unit.

This bar's center performance is just okay, as you might expect from a system of four dispersed speakers. It uses the left and right speakers to create a phantom center instead, which sadly doesn't help much with the placement of voices within the soundstage.

You can also connect a compatible Sony BRAVIA TV to pair with this setup, so you can use the TV's speakers as a discrete center channel. We conducted subjective listening tests using the Sony BRAVIA 9 QLED (which has the highest scoring frequency response of any Sony TV we've tested at the moment of publication) but found the results to be disappointing. Dialogue sounded pushed back, and there was a general lack of focus and detail in the center channel. The overall sound was better when using just the left and right soundbar speakers. However, your experience may vary with different TVs.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad has a great surrounds performance. The setup consists of four satellite-like speakers with discrete localization that are able to accurately represent surround objects in the soundstage. The result is an immersive sound that comes from all around you, rather than in front of you.

It's worth noting that our measurement for SPL at Max Volume has been left as an estimate. This is due to our initial unit breaking while testing the max SPL. Our replacement unit also broke during this process, so we were unable to compare the results from the new unit to the ones obtained from the first unit before it broke.

Overall, this system conveys height in Atmos content well. Each of the speakers has up-firing drivers that bounce audio from the ceiling to give the illusion of height. Generally speaking, this results in an immersive, well-localized sound with good elevation. Elevated sound objects like drones or planes passing overheard sound accurately located and contrast well with the rumble of explosions or engines that come from below.

As we noted in Stereo Frequency Response, our first unit broke during SPL Max Volume testing, resulting in a muffled treble response. While our second unit also broke during the same test, its frequency response wasn't as badly affected as the first unit. While the treble and the main driver of the left front speaker were affected, the up-firing drivers functioned as normal, so we were able to give our subjective impressions. This is also why we are only able to provide an estimate of the SPL at Max Volume.

This soundbar doesn't come with any presets, but you can toggle through a few different modes, including: 'Night Mode' (which compresses the audio and brings down the bass so as not to disturb others at night), 'Sound Field' (which optimizes the Surround Sound to your room), and 'Voice Mode' (which brings out speech and dialogue). While there's no EQ, you can adjust the bass level via the app.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad with Bass Module comes with a variety of connectivity options. You can connect it to your TV via HDMI, though it lacks an optical port to connect to older TVs. There's an HDMI In port that supports HDMI 2.1, though, as well as an Ethernet port. Finally, for those that own a compatible BRAVIA TV, there's an S-Center Out port that lets you connect to the TV for Acoustic Center Sync, allowing your TV's speakers to function as a center speaker.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad has excellent compatibility with standard surround sound formats like Dolby Digital via using HDMI ARC, as well as with object-based and lossless formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad supports standard surround sound formats like Dolby Digital via it's HDMI In, as well as object-based and lossless formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

Audio latency is okay via ARC, and it's not particularly low regardless of what audio format it's playing back. You could notice occasional lip-sync errors as a result, but you can always use the AV Sync feature in the companion app to manually compensate for any latency. That said, different TVs and apps compensate for latency differently.

This soundbar has a mediocre latency performance, regardless of which audio format it's playing back. It's particularly high when playing back Dolby Digital content, though. Fortunately, there's an AV Sync feature in the app that can help compensate for any lip-sync issues you encounter. That said, different TVs and apps compensate for latency differently.

This bar can act as a hub between your TV and devices like a gaming console or PC. As it supports HDMI 2.1, it can passthrough 4k signals at 120Hz and 8k at 60Hz. As with the Sony HT-A7000 with Speakers + Bass Module, there's support for HDMI VRR and ALLM passthrough, too.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad features a wealth of connectivity options for connecting your devices wirelessly, including support for Apple AirPlay and Spotify Connect.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad has a small interface on the control box that lets you view the input, settings, and menu.

There are no controls found on the control box besides a power button. However, the individual speakers feature a pairing button as well as a power button.

The remote is similar to other Sony remotes, although it has fewer buttons than the one that comes with the Sony HT-A9 with Bass Module. You can also use the companion app to adjust parameters, and you can see it in action here.

The Sony BRAVIA Theater Quad doesn't feature any built-in voice assistant support. That said, you can still activate it with your voice if you pair it with a third-party voice assistant device. There's support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.