I've been testing AV kit (and hi-fi, for that matter) for 17 years, so it's safe to say that I'm pretty darn fussy about home cinema sound. But when my family and I moved into our new house last year, 'we' made the decision to retire our 7.1.4-channel traditional home cinema system and replace it with something more discreet.
As you can probably imagine, I spent a long time researching and auditioning options. The Sonos Arc, Sony HT-A7000, Samsung Q990C and even a pair of HomePod 2 speakers had a couple of weeks of at-home testing, but none of those impressed me (or my very patient wife) in the way that the Sony HT-A9 did.
We've now been living with this four-speaker Dolby Atmos system for well over a year and, honestly, there's nothing I'd swap it for – not even its successor, the Bravia Theatre Quad, which I found to be a little bit disappointing.
And if you want your living room to sound like mine, you can now buy the Sony HT-A9 for just £1399 at Sevenoaks.
Sony HT-A9 home cinema system last chance deal
The beauty of the HT-A9 is that you don't have to arrange your room around it. Usually a surround-sound system requires some planning, to make sure the rear speakers are behind where you're actually sitting, the front ones are suitably spaced apart, and so on. But with the A9, that's not the case.
Thanks to Sony's 360 Spatial Sound Mapping, the speakers can calibrate to the room's dimensions and layout to optimise their sound largely regardless of where they're placed. It's mighty clever.
The sound quality is superb. The speakers are able to convey a realistic sense of distance and motion, while sound is spread around the room effectively. "The wide dispersion of the HT-A9’s speakers is instantly striking and undeniably effective," we wrote in our review, continuing, "sounds from off-screen are as well conveyed as those from the front."
Add a decent amount of low-end attack, a detailed high end and well-handled dynamic shifts, and you've got what feels like a real step up from a soundbar.
It's also a lot cheaper (and bassier) than its replacement, the four-star Bravia Theatre Quad, which even with its own Black Friday discount is still £1999 at Sevenoaks.
Honestly, I love this system. It's the perfect compromise for those who want 'proper' Dolby Atmos sound at home without the usual mass of boxy speakers and associated cable clutter. Get it while you still can.
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