Mumbai, 15th July 2024: Sony India today announces the launch of its latest BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and BRAVIA Theatre Bar 9. These state-of-the-art soundbars are designed to deliver an unparalleled cinematic experience at home, combining Sony’s expertise in audio and visual technologies with advanced features for the ultimate in-home entertainment. Sony’s new BRAVIA Theatre Bars are engineered to enrich the home viewing experience, bringing the magic of the big screen to the comfort of your living room. With the expansion of streaming services and the growing trend of home entertainment, the BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8, with 11 speaker units, and the Bar 9, with 13 speaker units, are set to transform your movie nights with exceptional sound quality and cutting-edge technology.

1. 360 Spatial Sound Mapping creates immersive audio with phantom speakers

Utilizing Sony’s proprietary 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology, multiple phantom speakers are generated in locations where there are no actual physical speakers, such as above or to the side. This enables a 360 spatial sound experience that is optimized for a specific home setting, with a wide sound field that surrounds you with audio from various directions, mirroring the cinema experience, without having to install physical speakers on the ceiling or walls. Previously, both a soundbar and rear speakers were required to generate phantom speakers. With the newly released BRAVIA Theatre Bar 9 and BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8, you can enjoy 360 Spatial Sound Mapping using just a single soundbar. Additionally, compared to their predecessor models, the new Bar 8 and Bar 9 have more speaker units, producing a more immersive 360 Spatial Sound experience.

2. Sound Field Optimisation automatically tunes speakers for ideal sound

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9 are compatible with Sound Field Optimization, which automatically adjusts and tunes each speaker based on the layout of your room to help find the optimum location to place your system, allowing you to feel the impact of cinematic sound at home.

3. Compatible with IMAX Enhanced[ii] and Dolby Atmos® for industry-leading immersive audio tech

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9 not only support industry-standard audio technologies, including Dolby Atmos® immersive audio and DTS®, but also have IMAX® Enhanced certification. Dolby Atmos® creates a three-dimensional soundscape, allowing sound to move around you in a multidimensional space. DTS® adapts to your speaker layout to produce lifelike sound, making every scene feel more realistic. Together, these technologies ensure a captivating and true-to-life audio experience, significantly enhancing your home cinema experience.

4. Acoustic Centre Sync ensures precise sound with TV integration

Acoustic Center Sync integrates your sound system, such as a soundbar, with the TV so that the sound precisely matches the action on the screen, bringing a cinema-like setup home. In cinemas, speakers are placed directly behind the screen, which has numerous small holes, and the sound emitted from it is passed forward so that the dialogue and sounds overlap with the image projected onto the screen and are heard from the correct position. When you combine BRAVIA TVs and BRAVIA Theatre products, the Acoustic Center Sync function fuses the sound of the TV’s speakers and the soundbar seamlessly, creating a cinema-like experience where the sound appears to come directly from the TV screen.

5. Voice Zoom3 AI-enhanced dialogue clarity technology

Voice Zoom 3 is a groundbreaking feature integrated into Sony’s BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9, designed to enhance dialogue clarity with unprecedented precision. Powered by AI technology, it recognizes human dialogue through an AI algorithm and amplifies or reduces its volume, ensuring that even subtle dialogue sounds loud and clear. This innovation enables viewers to enjoy immersive cinematic experiences at home, where dialogue remains consistently clear and prominent amidst surrounding sound effects, enhancing overall viewing pleasure and realism. Settings for Voice Zoom 3 and the BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9, when connected to BRAVIA, can be operated using the new BRAVIA Connect App (formerly Home Entertainment Connect App) without displaying the menu bar on the TV screen while watching a movie[iii].

6. Optional subwoofer and rear speakers customize for enhanced bass and surround sound

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9 offer optional subwoofers and rear speakers to enhance your audio setup. The wireless subwoofer delivers deep, impactful bass with its powerful driver and passive radiator, ensuring a dynamic sound experience. Meanwhile, the wireless rear speakers, such as the SA-RS5, feature up-firing speakers and built-in batteries for flexible placement without the need for power outlets. Together, these optional components provide customizable audio solutions that cater to individual preferences and room acoustics, enriching your home entertainment experience.

7. BRAVIA Connect App controls settings conveniently from smartphone

The BRAVIA Connect App enhances user convenience by enabling seamless control and optimization of Sony’s BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9 directly from a smartphone. With an intuitive interface, it allows users to adjust settings, manage audio preferences, and access additional features without disrupting their viewing experience. The smartphone app guides users through initial settings, assists with troubleshooting, and lets them control volume, sound fields, and more. It also notifies users about software updates and can control a compatible television.

8. With 8K/4K 120, VRR, and ALLM supports advanced gaming features

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9 enhance gaming with support for 8K/4K at 120Hz, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM). Gamers can enjoy smooth, responsive gameplay with reduced input lag, ensuring an immersive experience that matches the high visual fidelity of modern games. These features optimize performance, making these soundbars ideal companions for both casual and competitive gaming setups.

9. 360 Reality Audio delivers a lifelike music experience from all angles

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9 feature 360 Reality Audio by Sony, which revolutionizes music listening with immersive sound from every angle, recreating a live concert experience in your home. Using spatial sound technologies, it places instruments and vocals around you for a truly lifelike audio atmosphere. Whether you are enjoying your favorite tracks or discovering new music, 360 Reality Audio ensures unparalleled depth and clarity, making every listening session captivating and engaging.

10. HDMI ARC and Optical Input ensure seamless device connectivity

The BRAVIA Theatre Bar 8 and Bar 9 feature HDMI ARC and Optical Input for seamless connectivity with various devices. HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) simplifies setup by allowing audio to be sent from compatible TVs to the soundbar with a single HDMI cable. Optical Input provides another option for connecting devices like gaming consoles or older TVs, ensuring flexibility and compatibility for an enhanced home entertainment experience with clear, immersive sound.

11. Environmental initiatives and commitment to accessibility

Sony has set forth an environmental plan called Road to Zero, which aims to achieve zero environmental impact through its business activities and product life cycles by 2050. To contribute to this vision, BRAVIA and BRAVIA Theatre will pursue innovations that provide the best viewing experience with high picture and sound quality and a premium design. Sony has spent years developing a unique recycled plastic that is both environmentally conscious and conducive to creating high-quality audio products. BRAVIA Theatre home audio products use this unique recycled plastic, enabling Sony to reproduce superb acoustic performance while reducing the use of virgin plastics. The fabric used in the BRAVIA Theatre home audio products is recycled from PET bottles. The material was carefully selected for optimum sound quality, design, texture, and color.

Sony aims to contribute to an inclusive society through its business, increasing accessibility to enable those with diverse needs to use its products. BRAVIA and BRAVIA Theatre develop products with accessibility in mind so that all customers can enjoy the movie experience, regardless of disability or age. To help the visually impaired set up BRAVIA Theatre home audio products, a raised square frame on the package indicates a QR code for the BRAVIA Connect app, which offers screen reader support. Tactile dots on the back panel of the BRAVIA Theatre Bar 9 and Bar 8 indicate the eARC HDMI terminal for connecting to a TV.