Name: Sony HT-ST5 7.1-Channel HD Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer for Home Theater, 380W Digital Power
Brand: Sony
SKU: SOHTST5
Price: 798.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.03 (33 reviews)

Sony HT-ST5 7.1-Channel HD Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer for Home Theater, 380W Digital Power

Sony HT-ST5

Sony

Sony HT-ST5 7.1-Channel HD Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer for Home Theater

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Sony HT-ST5 

Buy: Sony HT-ST5 7.1-Channel HD Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer for Home Theater, 380W Digital Power

I bought this product a month ago and its amazing
sound bought

great sound

Had for a few weeks definitely better than my old surround system judgement still out but seemingly positive.

Easy setup great features

The setup through my Sony Bravia was overly complex, so it took a while to get this whole setup to work and I’m still in the adjustment phase ...

Great potential

I have a Bose Surround sound however, it is to much for my apt. I thought I never say too much sound but for an apt it is. The Sony Bluetooth sound bar is what I was looking for. sounds good met expectations

new sounds

I purchased this soundbar 2 yrs ago. The Bluetooth feature works great and has excellent audio settings. 
However, the sound was great until recently the center speaker has developed a very noticeable distortion.

Great Product Until Speaker Distortion

Although this is a great product for someone that does not have a sound system other then their TV, it is a step backwards for those that are replacing a true sound system.

Not what I expected

I really like how does it sound with my music, I played, classical, rock, and everything sounds wonderful

Excellent Soundbar, and affordable

I've had a Bose lifestyle system, and wanted to get great sound, without all the clutter and cables. The Soundbar does a great job, though the quality isn't up to what my Bose was, but it's also a lot less clutter.

Solid choice

I had a traditional surround sound system but my wife hated the wires. We recently purchased a 65'' 4k Sony tv and the sound bar. I was reluctant about the full experience of just the bar. When everything was hooked up and connected I was blown away at the sound quality, and that it ''talked'' to the tv. It gave full surround sound feeling in a compact bar. I definitely would recommend this to anyone that wants to cut the cords!

Traditional Surround

This sound bar offers very good sound quality for the price. The Pros: It has two HDMI input ports which allow connection to both a TV and a Blu-ray player. There is also a BluTooth setting. The subwoofer may be placed anywhere in the room and there are multiple subwoofer settings on the remote. The Cons: The subwoofer is not very powerful, but OK for a small room. This sound bar hides the TV remote on/off eye, so the TV signal doesn't connect using the TV remote. The Sony Soundbar Model HTST7 has an antenna to correct for this. Wish this also had an antenna.

Good Value

I replaced a Bose sound system with the Sony SA ST5 sound bar and woofer, which gives me much better results. I actually get compliments from guests about the great sound coming from the TV. Couldn't be happier!

Excellent System for my new TV

This system replaced a 5.1 surround system (also Sony), but removed the headache of wired rear speakers and woofer. I put the system through a few of my favorite surround-friendly blu-ray movies and I was impressed. Definitely a good buy and upgrade.

Great upgrade

The sound bar itself sounds good but i am disappointed in the subwoofer. Not loud enough and not enough bass!

The sound bar itself sounds good

The sound is terrific. I am enjoying the different settings and the Blue tooth option is nice bonus. The set up was not as easy. As there are no instructions if you have to connect through your cable box and if your TV does not have an ARC connection. The other issues I cannot solve is that the sound is automatically muted when I turn on the TV. There seems to be delay with sound catching up with the picture when the system is powered on.

Great Sound

It's fantastic when it works well but mine was defective, and when I sent it for repair it still came back with the same problem

It's fantastic when it works well 

Sound is great, with nice setting flexibility. TV has minor sound lag, but streaming has very noticeable lag.

Great sound, but has sound lag

I like this sound bar but do not like the accompanying subwoofer. It is very soft and the ability to boost it relative to the rest of the sound is minimal. I assume most people would like a booming subwoofer and the ability to increase/decrease it based on personal taste. This one doesn't boom and even if you set it at the highest level it is hard to hear. Too bad because the sound bar is very nice and the blue tooth works well with my iPad and iPhone.

Underpowered Subwoofer

the sound bar sets up quickly and easily (although it did take a few attempts to sync the sound bar with the bass module) and both of those pieces have a nice, solid quality feel to them. the manuals could have been laid out better (the instructions for syncing the wireless bass module should have been in the start up guide, rather than having to hunt through both manuals only to find it on page 9 of the operations manual). the plastic remote feels like a cheap toy and is extremely flimsy when you extend it to access the internal controls (like for syncing the bass module). for the price point of this product, it should have been engineered better. I'm also not a fan of the finish on the remote. why sony continues to produce items with a glossy black finish that ends up looking filthy the moment you touch them is beyond me (the top and bottom of the remote are matte, but the sides of the remote have a high gloss finish). overall, it's a nice product and definitely suits my needs and an upgrade to the remote would have earned 5 stars.

nice components except the remote

You need to play with the unit to find the appropriate settings for your taste. I have a large room two story ceiling and keeps going into an open kitchen. So simulated surround sound probably does not have the necessary walls to perform. It is plenty loud depending on your feed. Base is good, but not teenage dish shaking. Very good "Movie 1" mode for a full room of sound when watching TV. Music needs to be on music mode. May lack real deep base, but it is plenty loud. If you have Direct TV try music channel 851. Even if not a Jazz fan gives you the crisp sound quality. Nice piece of equipment for what it is intended to be used for.

excellent sound, full but not surround

It works fine, but not with the Sony Receiver that I bought, check with Sony before you buy, they won't tell you!!

Works Great

It takes 20 sec. to hear it, after you turn the TV on. I even paid SONY to have it installed.

NOT IMPRESSED

I replaced an older sound system that I always thought had good sound but I wanted to hide the sub woofer and eliminate some wires to which the new soundbar did that and I also gained superior sound.

Brings the TV to life

This sound bar has it's good and bad points - the good: streaming music through this sounds amazing, movies sound full - The not so good: watching tv shows on this sounds thin and flat - you really notice this when using the sound bar at low volumes - this sound bar is well made, but don't be fooled, it does not create a true 7.1 surround sound like a real 7.1 system would.

Sony ht-st 5

My Sony KVL46W3000 TV is 7 years old but works great except for sound quality. This sound bar was a perfect upgrade that allowed me to keep using this Sony TV. When the time comes to upgrade the TV this sound bar will be a great addition to that TV

Sound bar revitalized my 7 year old LCD Sony tv

not easy to understand the control bar , the bass may as well not even be there

not impressed

Purchased SONY 27-HTST5 Internet. Sony had great communication via email after order. Good follow up on delivery advice. Extremely fast delivery under standard delivery. Arrived in Perfect condition. Unit installed with one optical cable connection to my Sony Smart TV. Woofer is wireless except for 110 V electrical outlet. Sounds great for our room which is high ceiling. Guests have commented favorably as well. You may spend more but this model was my choice and I am extremely pleased start to finish.

Perfect Choice for Me.

Theatre quality sound and easy to set up.

Excelle

Over the past few years I’ve been in the process of building the “perfect podcasters studio” in my home office. The latest addition to my set-up is the Sony HT-ST5 sound bar. I’ve never owned any sound bar prior to this one so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in terms of sound quality. Especially considering the sleek low-profile size of the unit. I’ve grown up thinking big speakers mean big sound, right? Wrong. I own several Sony products, so I was certain build quality wouldn’t be an issue, but the idea that cinema quality sound could come out of a device that occupies such a relatively small footprint made me very skeptical. Also, in my livingroom I have a full 5:1 premium built-in sound system. My thinking was — how could this thing ever compare? In short, it did more than just compare. It made me really question the expense I incurred by getting that built in system. THE BOX! TETRIS IN THE HOUSE! The unit showed up in a box that looked like a “Tetris” piece. The box is an “L” shape, to accommodate both the oblong sound bar as well as the square-ish subwoofer. The box was a bit heavy, but even though the packaging indicated that it should be handled by two people, I was able to easily move it around by myself. THE MARINADE After the box arrived, I let the box sit, sealed, in my office for a few days. I was waiting until I had a good amount of time to dedicate to getting it all wired and configured in my home office. And I just “knew” a trip to Best Buy was in my future to snag some essential missing cable or something. Thankfully, none of this was the case. THE SET-UP Sony packaged the device very well, but it was easy enough to open and unpack. In fact, I had the unit out of the box and sitting on the floor waiting for installation in about 5 minutes. From there, it was really “scarily” simple to set up. The configuration essentially consisted of this; 1. unbox the unit, 2. put it on my desk and plug it in, 3. connect the audio input, 4. plug in the subwoofer. 5. play some music and sit back and listen. I can’t stress enough that there was pretty much ZERO configuration with this device. Setting it up really only consisted of plugging it in. And the wireless subwoofer made my day. No pairing, no hassle, no nothing… I just plugged it in and turned it on. The sound bar automatically found the sub and everything just… worked. This is how technology should work. THE REMOTE AND ENERGY SAVING The remote control is delightfully simple with just a few buttons to operate it, and the sound bar automatically powers itself off after a period of dormancy. I do wish that it would auto detect an incoming audio signal and turn itself on as well, but it doesn’t. Once it goes to sleep, a trip to the tiny remote control is in order to power it back on. But it boots up within a few seconds and is ready for action. SOUND QUALITY In a word, WOW. For context, this device replaced a set of M-Audio AV-40 monitor speakers that I had connected to my Mac. These speakers sounded just fine, but lacked the low frequencies. Meaning podcasts, Skype calls and Google+ Hangouts sounded just fine, but the lower frequencies present in music and other audio were almost non-existent. Conversely, the audio out of the Sony HT-ST5 sound bar blew my socks off. The bass response is outstanding, with crisp highs and clear mid tones. My podcast studio finally sounds like an actual studio. THE BOTTOM LINE My eyes have been opened to the quality possible from the Sony sound bar line up. It’s simply amazing that such rich and cinematic sound can come from such a sleek and low profile device. I’m now planning on purchasing one for the master bedroom. And have cancelled plans to have built-in speakers installed in the ceiling. I realize I’m using this device somewhat outside of its intended purpose (home theater), but if Sony hasn’t considered the home office/studio as a possible use case, it should. The Sony HT-ST5 sound bar has added a depth of sound quality to my office that I had not previously thought possible… especially not at this price. I highly recommend the Sony HT-ST5 sound bar to anyone looking for premium sound — in any room.

The New Standard for Audio in my Home

I researched quite extensively for currently available sound bars. The Sony HT-ST7 came in at number 1. The HT-ST5 (this model) is the younger brother and is about 300$ cheaper. However the HT-ST5 still is of premium quality although the max sound/bass is lower than the HT-ST7. This is a great looking device with premium quality brushed metal look. Comparing the HT-ST7 to much more expensive(about 500-700$ more) Sonos, Definitive Technology and Bowers and Wilkins etc. the Sony just blew them away. The HT-ST5 also comes in very close to performing at the same levels as these other sound bars I mentioned (the price difference is even bigger then as the HT-ST5 is cheaper than the HT-ST7). The quality of music is unbelievable and does not get distorted at the max volume. I also have a Pioneer Amplifier (7.1 channel) and a Harmon Kardon Speaker system (8 speakers in total). This system is my main Home Theater and it is a mid-range system. So I cannot compare that system with the Sony HT-ST5 as it would not be fair for the HT-ST5. However if you are looking for a sound bar that is extremely easy to setup with very good sound then the HT-ST5 is what you are looking for. Setting up the system was a breeze (compared to my existing 8 speaker home theater). All you need is to connect two HDMI cables - one from your Blue Ray Player (IN) and then then the other to your TV (OUT). The Wireless Sub-Woofer connected easily as well (although I had to use the setup menu to do this as I have a lot of other wireless devices in my house). The good thing is that Sony provides their own Wireless connectivity with the bar to the sub-woofer so that they do not interfere with your other wireless connections (and they have two frequencies you can use). When you turn on the sound bar the sub-woofer turns on automatically as well. I also connected my Android phone (Sony Xperia Z1) and a IPAD and an IPOD thru the Blue Tooth audio. The sound was excellent! The NFC function (touching my phone to the sound bar) worked without any issues and right away and they connected in about 2 seconds. Something to note is the higher price of this Sound Bar compared to others like Samsung, LG (or Sony's own 2.1 channel systems) etc. You need to keep in mind that those systems are 2.1 channel (not 7.1 channel) so there is a big difference in the sound quality especially when watching movies. I really have to emphasize that the HT-ST5 and it's bigger brother HT-ST7 really blows all other sound bars away! The Remote is compact and easy to use. However several other reviewers for HT-ST7 have complained about the remote as not having dedicated buttons for Inputs or being lighted at night. (note that the HT-ST5 remote is the same as HT-ST7) Although I agree with those reviews, you could just download the Songpal App and that would solve all those issues. I just used my Xperia phone with SongPal and it is a great app to use and then you don't need the Remote and it has more functions on this App compared to the Remote. An added feature is that when the Phone connects over Blue Tooth the Sound Bar gets turned on automatically if you have this setting turned on in the App. Below are some items that I ran across: 1) Although set up is very simple, the HDMI inputs are in a confined space at the back of the unit. If you have big Monster HDMI cables and have big hands it was a bit annoying. They need to increase this space or just have the cables plugin directly in the back instead of sideways (I guess they designed it this way for wall mounting) 2) The surround sound is simulated so it won't be as good as a mid/high-range more expensive real home theater system (i.e. 8 speakers like I mentioned above). This is understandable as this is only a sound bar. But for a Sound Bar Sony has done an excellent job. 3) I could not find the SongPal App in Apple App store. However was able to find it in Google Play for Android. 4) Sony had some kind of a Tag/Sticker on the Sound Bar and it is glued heavily. That took the most of the time for the setup to take it off! 5) Had an issue with one Blue Ray movie (Indiana Jones - Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) where the movie would not display properly on the TV (Although it will when going thru my Pioneer Amp). The colors were distorted. However I think this is due to an issue with my older TV being 1080i and not 1080p. I would recommend this Sound Bar without any hesitation! You won't be disappointed!