SONY HT ST 5000 owners

UpgradingAgain

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Hi everyone,

Just received this sound bar and thought it might be best to begin a dedicated thread. Admin please remove if I'm duplicating.
 
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First Reviews ( by a novice reviewer)
So please bear with me and I'll try and answer as much as I can.

Unboxing images below and the later ones show the bar under a Sony 75 inch tv so the size is no issue.

The sub is heavy! I have a REL I'm going to sell and still think that the Sony sub has quite some weight.

The sound bar feels solid and finished beautifully in black. It's a good weight when I compare to my Yamaha soundbar I use in my other room.

My comparisons are going to be based on Sony vs Yamaha vs dedicated 5.1 which I have always had before sound bars.

For simplicity, let's say that neither soundbar can match a dedicated 5.1 system. But then we all know there's going to be a compromise if we're shopping for soundbars!

Set up is either easy or I'm doing something wrong. I connected the HDMIs as required and switched on both the Sub and bar via the remote. It then knows what signals are coming through and starts working.

I didn't need to set my tv up as it seems to know that the bar is there. This must be Bravia comms. You then have no further parameters to set as far as I see. Iirc, Yamaha have a way of reading the optimum audio for your seating point via an Auddessy style set up. The Sony has no such thing and just tells you to keep it within a certain ceiling height and the centre of the tv. Am I missing something or am I wrong about yamahas set up process?!

Now, the sound. I'm quite impressed by the sound within reason. Im not sure it's anyway better than Yamahas and I am not sensing the 'Atmos' feature very much as I watch Sing. Maybe that's the movie or maybe that's my set up? If not, then height info is not clear to me.

The tv has a function to level audio so that you don't get huge variations in sound output that might wake the kids. The sound bar has 'night' mode but I'm. It sure if that's the same thing. Also, Yamaha have this wonderful directed sound which really works at night. You use your phone and just have the audio directed to where you're sat. Maybe Sony has this but I'm only on the first two hours and can't be sure.

The sound seems to be quite balanced. The treble isn't ever harsh, midrange and bass seem to flow from one another with the sub having just a decent amount of fill-in to round out the sound. Is it way better than the far cheaper Yamaha? Not at this early stage. Maybe more viewing time would help. I'll also put the same sky channel on both TVs and run between the two to compare the two soundbars.

That's all from me for now.
 

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Nice one, first impressions?

Edit; just seen your second post:)
 
You're the second one who says that the Atmos sound isn't that great, which is concerning considering the price and the fact that it's the main reason most of us are buying it. Heck, I'd rather get the Yamaha 2700 if the Atmos on the ST5000 isn't all that.
 
The sound seems to be quite balanced. The treble isn't ever harsh, midrange and bass seem to flow from one another with the sub having just a decent amount of fill-in to round out the sound.

Sounds like the 7.1 Sony HT-ST9 l use to own before it self destructed. The only difference here being the addition of atmos speakers. Sub has to sit to the left or right of the bar for best sound.

You should be able to set the atmos height in the settings have you tried that?
 
Sounds like the 7.1 Sony HT-ST9 l use to own before it self destructed. The only difference here being the addition of atmos speakers. Sub has to sit to the left or right of the bar for best sound.

You should be able to set the atmos height in the settings have you tried that?

Hi, thanks for the advice. No I haven't set height if it's in menu. I'll take a look and see what else is on offer. Sorry your soundbar let you down. Time to try another?
 
You're the second one who says that the Atmos sound isn't that great, which is concerning considering the price and the fact that it's the main reason most of us are buying it. Heck, I'd rather get the Yamaha 2700 if the Atmos on the ST5000 isn't all that.

I must admit that I bought the Yamaha and have never questioned its performance. Only Atmos made me choose Sony but also the more expensive Yamaha model seems to be quite tall sitting. This Sony is perfect under the tv.
 
Hi, thanks for the advice. No I haven't set height if it's in menu. I'll take a look and see what else is on offer. Sorry your soundbar let you down. Time to try another?

I did buy the Bose SoundTouch 300 and Acoustimass 300 as a replacement to the Sony HT-ST9, Bose sub was superior to the Sony but midrange of the bar was lacking and treble a touch too bright. I ended up returning it as the soundbar wasn't good enough.

My HT-ST5000 is being delivered tomorrow. Hope it's better executed than the HT-ST9.

The display will tell you the sound type as well via a button on the remote e.g., Dolby, DTS etc so you'll want to check that to ensure you're getting Atmos (assuming it displays that).

From the manual,

[Ceiling Height] Set the ceiling height of the room where the system is installed. You can set the value from 1 meter to 5 meters (0.1 m step) (3.25 ft to 16.5 ft (1/4 ft step)). Tip You can change measurement units (feet or meters) by pressing the color button (RED).
 
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I'm finding that the sound bar remote also seems to raise or drop the tv sound?! I would have thought that was bypassed altogether so as only to allow the soundbar output but now I'm not sure. Having said that, the sound is actually good. Well rounded and believable if you get what I mean. I must say that my experience of Bose is the same as above, their systems seem to drop midrange and you get this polarised sound with a harsh treble and warm/ Wooly bass. I do like the boss QC15s though.

On the Sony, I am enjoying the fact that my ears have accepted the 'new' sound! I obviously still need to set up aspects of Atmos.
 
Thank you for creating this new thread specific to this soundbar. Makes discussing it easier.
I'm reposting my question over concerning the dts-ma capability. If you own a PS3 or PS4 can you go trough the auto setup process for the audio settings and then put a picture up of the results? And if not, can you play a blu-ray that you know that has a dts-ma track and see what the sony tells you is playing/outputting.
Thank you
 
You're the second one who says that the Atmos sound isn't that great, which is concerning considering the price and the fact that it's the main reason most of us are buying it. Heck, I'd rather get the Yamaha 2700 if the Atmos on the ST5000 isn't all that.

This is very concerning regarding poor atmos performance. Hopefully with a bit more hands on time and testing we can get to the bottom of this.

There could be some source configuration issues too preventing atmos from 'doing its thing'.
 
I'm finding that the sound bar remote also seems to raise or drop the tv sound?!

It should increase / decrease the volume on the bar. When l had the ST9 using the LG OLED remote would show a +/- on the screen and the sound bar would show the actual volume.
 
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Well i've got the soundbar setup and have a UltraHD Sony UBP x800 connected to the HDMI in of the soundbar. Wanted to confirm DTS support right away by trying The Revenant and Quantum Of Solace. Showing LPCM 7.1 and 5.1 respectively so not seeing DTS support out of the box. Going to try some Atmos titles now.
 
How does it sound? mine is still boxed...
Im actually thinking of going full blown separates set up instead...:laugh:
 
Well i've got the soundbar setup and have a UltraHD Sony UBP x800 connected to the HDMI in of the soundbar. Wanted to confirm DTS support right away by trying The Revenant and Quantum Of Solace. Showing LPCM 7.1 and 5.1 respectively so not seeing DTS support out of the box. Going to try some Atmos titles now.

So for now it seems like a device that decodes dts and passes it on is necessary.

The atmos side is the deal maker or breaker here so I'm interested to see how that sounds.
 
Guys! We really need some serious, calibrated opinions but on the Atmos side of things.
Please help a bro.
[emoji173]️
 
Couldn't agree more,need opinions on the quality of the sound
 
Worryingly, sounding like a turkey thus far

For £1,500, I was really hoping early recipients would be having their proverbial socks blown off
 
I think any serious audio buff would have perhaps lived with reasonably expensive equipment and not have their socks blown off. Maybe that's just me but at middle age and having been through cycles and cycles of the 'next best thing', I'm starting to realise that this is evolution and not revolution. So it isn't perhaps going to make hairs stand up on my arms but it's doing a fair job at this early stage. It cannot compete with separates or the industry would quickly change towards that direction IMO.
 
I think any serious audio buff would have perhaps lived with reasonably expensive equipment and not have their socks blown off. Maybe that's just me but at middle age and having been through cycles and cycles of the 'next best thing', I'm starting to realise that this is evolution and not revolution. So it isn't perhaps going to make hairs stand up on my arms but it's doing a fair job at this early stage. It cannot compete with separates or the industry would quickly change towards that direction IMO.

So what do you think of it?
What is Atmos like? Is it convincing?
 
At my age, very few things knock my socks off and they're definitely not audio/video related [emoji1]

So how's the sound? Hehe
 
I recently invested in a Naim Mu-So

My socks went flying
 
So what do you think of it?
What is Atmos like? Is it convincing?

I set the height and distance info as suggested above. The effect of Atmos has to be governed by the scene and its encoding on the audio. Do you agree? As far as I think, we need something like Sin City to be Atnos enabled cos of the rain and different perspectives from above and below that it's filmed in. With my only disc being 'Sing' right now, there really isn't much to check except on one scene when water floods the theatre and that does sound rather good. But I don't for a second think that sounds meant to be behind me are being faithfully delivered. But it's a sound bar and I expected that.
 

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