The Sony HT-A9 is a premium home theater speaker system that is designed for dedicated enthusiasts who want an immersive and cinematic experience in their own home. While soundbars with upward firing drivers and rear speakers can provide a more immersive sound, the Sony HT-A9 goes above and beyond to create a full 360-degree sound setup that envelops you in sound from all angles.

The HT-A9 is composed of four wireless speakers that communicate with each other via a tiny box that attaches to an eARC port on your TV. This box also supports wireless standards such as Bluetooth, AirPlay, and Google Cast to stream audio from a variety of devices. Each speaker in the HT-A9 setup has an up-firing speaker, a soft dome type tweeter, and a wide directivity woofer, along with two microphones that help to dynamically locate other speakers and adjust the sound level.

The Sony HT-A9 is designed to bounce sound off your ceilings and walls, creating an additional twelve “phantom” speakers for a full 360-degree sound setup. While this creates some limitations in the kinds of rooms the HT-A9 can be optimally used in, if your TV room doesn’t have very high or domed ceilings, the unit performs impressively.

During testing, the Sony HT-A9 was impressive with all kinds of movies and devices. Dolby Atmos works impressively and the Xbox produced the best Atmos experience, while Apple Music and Spatial Audio on the Apple TV Plus app were equally impressive. However, it is important to note that Sony does not include a subwoofer with the HT-A9 setup, so those serious about their audio will need to purchase one of the two wireless subwoofers that are compatible with the HT-A9.

Another drawback is that there is no dedicated center channel, but if you have a fairly new Sony TV, there is a 3.5mm cable that can be connected to your TV, allowing it to act as a center channel. While this solution is slightly inelegant, it is there for those who want to use it.

In conclusion, the Sony HT-A9 is a premium home theater speaker system that is perfect for dedicated enthusiasts who want a full 360-degree sound setup that creates an immersive and cinematic experience in their own home. The HT-A9 is ideal for those who want to go above and beyond a soundbar and are willing to invest in additional subwoofers to get the most out of the system.