Sony Bravia Theater Trio review: The three-piece soundbar alternative
Sony has released the Bravia Theater Trio, a three-piece speaker system designed as an alternative to traditional soundbars for owners of very large televisions. The set-up pairs a compact central speaker for dialogue with two tall vertical speakers either side, aiming to solve the problem of standard soundbars looking undersized and sounding centre-heavy in front of huge screens such as 85-inch models.
The centre unit houses two woofers and a tweeter for clearer dialogue, while each side speaker contains a forward-facing woofer and tweeter plus an angled up-firing driver, and all three units connect wirelessly to each other, needing only power cables and one HDMI lead to the TV. The side speakers stand just over 13 inches tall, making them the largest the reviewer has tested, and while they suit huge TVs well, they can look oversized next to smaller sets. There are no physical buttons on any speaker, so control relies on a remote or the Bravia Connect app, which the reviewer found glitchy during initial set-up though the system still worked straight out of the box. At $2,200, the Trio adds a significant extra cost on top of an already expensive large-screen TV purchase.
- Sony's Bravia Theater Trio offers a three-speaker alternative to soundbars for huge TVs.
- Centre speaker handles dialogue; two tall side units add directional sound.
- Costs $2,200, with wireless speaker linking but occasional app setup issues.
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A soundbar is a single long speaker placed beneath a television, designed to improve on the sound from the TV’s built-in speakers. Some systems add separate speakers around the room for a wider, more spacious sound, but the main speaker can look small beneath an extra-large screen.
Sony’s Bravia Theater Trio uses three separate speakers: a central unit for dialogue and a tall speaker on each side of the TV. The units link wirelessly, though each needs power and the TV connects by HDMI. Sony is a Japanese electronics company that makes televisions and audio equipment.
The system is aimed at people with very large TVs who want speakers that look more in proportion to the screen. Its price adds substantially to the cost of a large television, and its size may suit some rooms and screens better than others.