Sony HT-SF150 2ch Soundbar for TV with Bluetooth

After trying two other cheap soundbars "2.1" and being disappointed with both I thought I would give it one more go and go with a well established brand.Specifically the entry level Sony soundbar :-"Sony HT-SF150 2ch Single Soundbar with Bluetooth and S-Force, Front Surround - Black" [120w]I didn't want a separate active subwoofer as its only for my bedroom and I tend to watch movies as I fall asleep so this seemed ideal.Compared to the previous two I bought this one was lacking in the connection/input side of things (RCA connection) but was far superior when it came to features namely Dolby signals/multiplex audio.F. Surround sounds good when the soundbar receives a Dolby signal, it has DRC (Dynamic Range Compression) which makes dialog/vocals easier to hear in Dolby enabled movies in the event they sound quiet,It has a separate vocal mode which works well, movie/music mode for a more punchy bass, The usual standard mode and an auto-select mode, which swaps it around (EQ-Modes) depending on the media you are playing.Each one is interchangeable and the mode is highlighted by the LED.For instance press the vocal button once and the led on the bar will light up once, press it again and it will blink twice (one blink = off, two = on)So on a night I tend to put both nightmode and vocal on, this limits gun shots / explosions but enhances dialog.ARC works fantastic (TV remote controls volume and standby/power) and the bar remembers your EQ settings/volume after coming out of standby unlike the cheaper bars.(With the exception of 'nightmode' that disables and goes back to normal after bringing the bar out of standby).When viewing a movie with a Dolby signal the bar can be set to play the front channels (with f.surround) / just the sub channel (both speakers dedicated to bass) or the front and sub channel, when you select the latter it will play the front channel through the left speaker and the sub channel is played through the right speaker, quite clever really. These are enabled with the remote.Too be honest though I've not needed to use that, this may not be a 2.1 speaker and a lot of reviewers say it has no bass but that hasn't been my experience at all, The reflex bass can be quite punchy especially with action movies (guns explosions) when viewing films from my PC the volume has never been higher than halfway, most of the time it's a few steps past quarter (and a few steps below when I'm trying to sleep).Let's be realistic though it's never going to be in your face bass rattling windows, vibrating under your feet... (making the neighbors hate you), You are going to need to buy a unit with an active sub for that .... and spend the extra coin to pay for it.Movie explosions/music sequences can still be heard downstairs a lot of the time during the day (small two bed house)Finally, in the event you have your speaker in front of your TV and it blocks the sensor, this bar has a iR repeater built into the back, when enabled it picks up your remote commands and duplicates them at the back of the soundbar, sending it to your TV sensor. I've not needed to use it even though the bar is in front of my TV my signal still reaches... But a very handy feature in the event you need to use it.Plus standard features, USB for music/podcast playback, Bluetooth mobile / tablet audio streaming (prob some other odds and ends I've forgot to mention)The only conclusion I can come too (in regards to some of the negative reviews) is a lot of reviewers didn't read the included instruction book and thought they activated modes when they infact turned them off (one light blink).I tried both the :-AZATOM 2.1 180WTOPVISION 2.1 120WThe latter being in the top ten Amazon rank for soundbars (due to a sly free gift offer)Both of those offered big claims in regards to performance but they are greatly inferior to this soundbar in more ways then I've mentioned here.Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this bar is perfect, but for the money it is a lot better than my previous purchases and I'm happy with it overall. (It's fit for purpose).I paid £87.97 for this bar and it's worth every penny, A much better sound presence then the standard downward facing speakers built into my LG-SmartTV.> July 2021 edit:This review was originally written with my LG smart TV paired to the Sony bar.I thought it was only fair to add, I have just linked it to my Philips ambilight smart TV via arc input and the audio is very low compared to the LG and the volume does not display on screen as was the case with the LG setup.(After playing around with this problem further, I can restore volume levels by going into the TV settings and selecting, Settings|All settings|sound|advanced|delta volume -and moving the slider up, As for the volume being displayed on the screen I've still not figured that out)Just wanted to add this information for full transparency.I hope this review helps.

This soundbar is pretty good for the price. It improves the TV sound. It's not outstanding as the volume and punch is not a lot more than the TV but it helps to improve the sound and speech. I use it with an HDMI connection. It aslo plays music from my phone via Bluetooth. It's neat so fits below the TV without being obtrusive.

I originally had an old TV, Blu Ray player and Sky box hooked into a traditional hi-fi amplifier, but when I bought a new Sony TV it didn’t have a line-out socket to allow this, and despite it being a very modern TV, the audio was never great.Budget was an issue and I wasn’t looking to spend a huge amount of money. And a full Surround Sound option wasn’t really an option as I didn’t want more wires threaded around the place.This Sony sound bar connects to the HDMI ARC input on the TV and channels audio from all connected HDMI devices. If you don’t have an ARC connection, you will need a vanilla HDMI port and Optical Digital Audio, for which a cable is provided.Audiophiles may criticise the sound quality but I find it much much better than the native TV audio. My only minor gripe is that it lacks a little bass but this isn’t a deal breaker. You will definitely notice the difference when switching between the sound bar and the TV audio. The sound is ‘fatter’.I’ve not tested Bluetooth music streaming much yet as the connection kept dropping, even when the phone was right next to the sound bar. However this might be down to my 4-year old phone that also has trouble connecting to my car stereo.All in all though, this is a great entry level sound bar for those on a limited budget.Pros:Very easy to setup with a single HDMI ARC connection.Channels audio from all connected HDMI devices.Excellent sound quality for a low price.Looks great. A simple black box with no extraneous frills.Cons:Lacks a little bass, which is quite noticeable when playing music over Bluetooth.Slight delay of 1-2 seconds in getting audio from power on and switching modes.HDMI cable not supplied.