- Oh, I'm sorry, Jake.
All the weights on Jake. Oh, okay.
This is the family room of my house.
If you've been keeping up with this series,
or if you at least have two functioning eyes,
you'll see that it is currently a construction zone.
But don't let that fool you.
When this room is done, it's going to be a sweet place
to kick back and relax with some tunes, some TV,
maybe have some friends over
or employees as the CRA informs me.
I'm supposed to call them, but before we can do that,
we need to solve some problems.
Thankfully, Sony sponsored this video
setting us up with a sick A90J OLED TV.
And you might've noticed
the room's got a bit of a weird shape to it,
their HT-A9 spatial surround sound system.
What the heck is a spatial surround sound system?
Look at this picture, got some stuff to figure out here.
(Upbeat music)
Spatial sound mapping, this is actually
kind of the perfect deployment for this thing.
- [Jake] Yes.
- So you take these four speakers,
it's not like a traditional soundbar.
And then you spread them out around the room
and it creates what Sony says, is 12 virtual speakers.
Including, and this one really tripped me out,
a virtual center channel because
the funny thing is the center channel is the one
that is kind of the reason that people go and upgrade
the built-in speakers on their TV. Right?
So that they have that clearer dialogue.
- [Jake] I'm happy for once that like a sound manufacturer
is making something not black.
- Yeah. They've got kind of like,
like kinda like architectural,
like kinda textured finish on it.
Actually it looks really sharp.
- It's like concrete color almost.
- Yeah, I like it.
- [Jake] I'm a lot more optimistic about these
now that I've seen how big they are
cause soundbar rear channels are usually like tiny.
- We also tried out Sony's latest gen soundbar
on short circuit and their spatial calculation crap
has gotten really good,
like we were getting virtual top channels
on the short circuit set.
- [Jake] What?
- Yeah.
- [Jake] How?
- I know, I know, I know it's like a 26 foot ceiling
and there's sound treatment on it.
- [Jake] Isn't it, isn't more than like, it's huge.
It's a Warehouse.
- Very discernible, very noticeable.
- [Jake] Okay. I'm excited.
- Yeah.
- [Jake] Oh, this is interesting.
- Yeah. We'll talk about this box in a second, but couches.
Are we going to set up some couches?
- [Jake] I guess so. We're gonna have to unset them up.
- Yeah. There's couches in the garage.
- [Jake] Really?
- Yeah. Now something that's not pictured on the box at all,
is this cute little controller hub.
This is gonna be doing all of these
spatial audio processing.
And it also acts as an HDMI pass through,
so it can take up to an 8K or 4k, 120 Hertz HDR signal.
And then it'll take Dolby Atmos, DTS X,
or a myriad other audio formats,
and then pass the video back through to the TV.
And then it wirelessly transmits audio to all of these guys,
and presumably takes feedback from them
in the form of sound, in order to correct for
the shape of the room, which this one is super weird.
Let's see if we can take a closer look at this puppy.
Grills don't come off, so if you like the naked grill look
then you're plum out of luck.
But, under here we've got link button, power, power plug.
I mean, wow, that's it. This is our rear left.
Oh, that's a nice little diagram,
in case you're super dumb.
They've got a handy little diagram.
They even show how it's supposed to be oriented,
flat side away.
Speaker noise, come out this way.
Thanks Sony.
The real reason I wanted to take the grill off of this was
to show you guys the configuration.
Cause it's a little bit unusual, on the front,
you've got a woofer, handling mids and lows
and a tweeter to handle your highs.
Okay, that's pretty normal.
Any normal surround speaker would look like that.
Oh, there's also what looks like
a base port down at the bottom.
It's really hard to tell though.
This color and texture makes my eyes go kind of funny
when I try and look through it.
Then things get weird because on the top of each of these
is an additional driver that is a top channel,
but then each of them has one
and then they've all got two microphones.
And that's where this whole wackiness
with the 12 virtual speakers thing comes in
because they're all going to be listening to each other,
in order to contribute to these virtual speakers.
I am really going to have to hear this to believe it.
Before we do that though, we're gonna need a TV
and we're gonna need a couch.
We're here for this couch. We bought this at like,
you know how furniture stores are always
going out of business and having a big final sale.
- Yeah.
- Well, this one was actually going out of business.
- Are we going to be able to get it through the door?
- Yeah. Is it gonna be easier or harder with the box?
- I just don't want to damage it.
- The worst part is that this couch
is gonna ultimately be in the basement.
So it's gonna have to come back down the stairs.
- I think we should leave the cardboard on.
- Okay.
- Let's just try to get it up the stairs.
- Oh, well.
Man fall down.
- I'm not letting go, I got it.
- Funny.
Okay.
- Come on.
- I can do it, I am under it.
- [Jake] Come on Mr. Tech tips.
- Oh God, I dropped it.
Hold on, I got to just do a little,
I was watching the Olympics. right?
The 2020 Olympics, and they're all like, oh God.
- [Jake] Oh, you're getting crushed.
- Oh my butt-hole.
Oh, I'm sorry, Jake.
All the weight's on Jake. Oh, okay.
Are you able to turn it?
Pivot, pivot.
Oh God.
I need to, I gotta get it on my back, okay.
- That sucked. Oh my God. That's the hard part, right?
- Actually. Yeah, I think
it's pretty smooth sailing from here.
I think we gotta go clockwise.
- [Jake] Wow, we would be the worst movers.
- I know. Right.
I'm sure Jake is gonna hate this.
- [Jake] Oh, why?
- I promise you, I promise you it's comfortable.
- Okay.
- And it's gonna be for the basement.
It's gonna have a basement vibe.
- Looks like it should go into the basement
and never come out.
- Yeah. Well, that's the plan. That's the plan.
- Oh yeah. It's just so ugly, I love it.
- Look, tell you what, just hold your tongue
until you sit in it. Okay?
- It's too firm.
- I mean that's fair. That's fair, I'm a firm couch guy so.
- Oh, there's so much (beep) gonna go down this crack.
It's a big crack, feel the crack.
- The big (beep) crack.
My biggest complaint with my current couch
is the complete lack of lumbar support.
So the pendulum may have swung the other way a little.
- Too far.
It's okay, Give it like six months
in this cheap couch, we'll have worn in a little bit
and then you'll feel the plywood on your butt,
it'll be great.
- TV?
- Yeah.
- Let's do it.
- Here, I'll go back this way and you can go up.
- Yeah, for sure. Man, this TV is balln'.
Sony recently made the move on their soundbars
to start just having the subwoofer
as an add on purchase and it makes a ton of sense.
Especially now that I see
other products in their lineup like this,
where it's like, do you want a sub-woofer?
Do you not want a sub-woofer? it's totally up to you.
We definitely need to undicefy this a little bit.
So here, let me just pull this down.
- How are you gonna undatafy that?
- I got a plan, I got a plan. I got an idea.
I'm gonna go like this.
I'm gonna start with this one.
Hold on, give me a sec.
I just gonna give it a little, right there.
- [Jake] Oh, a whole boy.
- In the longer term, the plan is to kind of retrofit
a flat panel mount into here,
by kinda ripping out this middle chunk.
But I was kinda thinking
I would let the cabinetry makers do that.
And maybe for today we'll commit a sin.
I know it's sinful, we'll put the TV on the mantel.
- [Jake] I think that's a great idea.
- My one concern is that
the mantel does not appear to be supportive.
- [Jake] Well, look underneath it.
What does it look like underneath? can you see?
- Oh no, I think, it looks like it sits on top of this,
which sits on top of a big fat lot of nothing.
Probably fine.
- [Jake] I think it's fine.
- Okay. All right.
- Yeah, face on the other direction.
- You know what? I'm just, oh, sorry. I didn't.
- Oh God.
- I got it. I got it.
- [Jake] Oh my God.
- I'm gonna put it downstairs.
Hold on. Let me just, gonna put it downstairs. Okay?
- [Jake] There's no stairs there.
- Oh yeah, bud. There it is. How I tighten it?
Oh, you put it in a separate screw to lock in place.
- [Jake] Oh, that's the black screws over here.
- Okay, that makes sense.
- [Jake] Wow, that does actually make sense.
- Ready? And one, two , three.
Oh God, it's a little heavy.
Now I could put the speakers right next to the TV like this,
cause we actually do totally have space for that.
But, if I, you know, didn't like the aesthetics
of that setup, part of the whole deal with these
is that you can kinda put them like wherever you want-ish.
As long as they're front right, front left,
rear right, rear left.
So we're gonna kinda play around with our placement here,
and put this one here.
In order to plug these in,
we're obviously gonna need the accessories.
So it comes with a remote, just like a soundbar would,
a little power brick for the processing dock thing.
You get four matching power cables, HDMI
and of course batteries for remote.
There's our HDMI in, that's coming from our computer.
And then, oh, I guess I'm also holding my second one.
These are both HDMI 2.1 cable.
So we should be able to do full 4k 120 Hertz.
Now it should be noted that one HDMI 2.1 feature
we will not be using is variable refresh rate.
But even though Sony hasn't roll it out
on the A90J, at least not yet.
Jake and I are hopeful because which one is it?
- [Jake] There 700H, the flagship LCD.
- Just got it like yesterday,
- [Jake] in China.
- Yeah. The rollout is happening, I believe.
What do you think for angle? Maybe more like that?
- [Jake] Yeah, I think that's pretty good.
- Okay, let's find out if these
power outlets are actually powered.
- [Jake] Oh they are you can see
there's a light on the speaker.
- Oh, Beautiful.
- [Jake] I don't know if this one is though.
- Wonderful.
Wonderful.
- They just synced up.
- Did it already sync?
- I think so. Well, we've only plugged in two of them.
- Just like that, aye.
- It's quite nice.
- Yeah, so they work then confirmed.
- I'm just boppin' right now.
- Physical feature, by the way, lots of Sony TVs have this,
where you can use the speaker
that is actually built into the screen
and vibrates the screen as a center channel.
So I guess that'll help enhance things.
Oh, do you have to do that?
- [Jake] Oh you have to give it a cable.
- Oh, it totally does.
- [Jake] So, is it in the box?
- Yeah, no, it came with the cable.
I just didn't really think I needed it for anything.
For our sub we've got the SW5.
So this is the more premium option out there
to kind of build your own kit subwoofers.
It's 300 Watts and should be
plenty enough for a room this size.
- [Jake] Well, it looks nice too.
- Yeah, it's got like kinda this, kinda
cracked leather lookin' or not cracked, but like leather,
kind of textured looking finish on it, I like it.
Oh wow, this demo mode is kind of impressive.
- It really doesn't sound like
it's just stereo in front of us.
- Okay, so do you wanna try with
TV center channel off to start?
- I think we should.
- All right, let's try it.
Oh, that's gonna be a problem.
Okay, we got 30 seconds of quiet,
Jake I'm gonna run the thing one sec.
- [Jake] Okay, once he runs it.
Andy, you gotta sit.
Andy sit.
Wow.
- Okay that was it.
- Even just the like confirmation that it's done.
- Yeah.
- I felt very,
- Extremely spatial.
- Surrounded.
- Big brain Jake over here, didn't bring an ethernet cable.
So I ran to my old house and got a 50 footer,
which is not enough to run down the stairs
but I'm hoping we can grab it in this wall space.
Okay, tell me about your galaxy brain moment here.
- Oh, okay, I had an even bigger brain moment.
So this system here doesn't have a wifi antenna,
so it can't pick up any of the signal downstairs,
but I was like, it could probably pick up a
tethering signal from my phone,
if I put my phone right there.
On new phones, you can take the signal
it's already getting and tether it.
So I'm taking the wifi.
This is acting basically as a repeater right beside it.
And I was downloading overcooked at 15 megabytes a second.
- I can't even find where that
wall space opens up down there.
I think we're stuck with your
galaxy brain phone tethering idea.
Andy made a good point, you guys might wanna consider
watching this video with headphones
and we'll get the editor, hey editor, to actually leave me
in the left channel and Jake in the right channel
because you guys will be able to hear
the spatial audio in the demos.
- [TV Narrator] It brings the on screen action alive,
and immerses you in every moment.
- Okay, so obviously we're going to hear stuff
coming from behind us, but the virtual sides.
- How is there not speakers beside us?
- It's better than I expected.
- Well, especially considering the huge gap right there.
It's pretty hard to make out four discreet speakers.
- Yeah.
- You know what? I get it.
I went into this, not really understanding
what this thing was. Right?
Cause it was like, well if you wanted to put all the work
into scattering a bunch of speakers around
wouldn't you just get a home theater in a box.
And if you want it to look nice,
why wouldn't you get a soundbar?
But that's what this is.
- Yeah.
- It's the middle ground.
- You don't have to run wires.
- It hits way harder than a soundbar.
You get the so approval factor
of having something that looks nice.
You're not rewiring anything.
- Yeah.
- And
- You can put them anywhere.
- Yeah.
- You put one on your coffee table behind you.
You put one on your, like your mantel, in the front,
look they're literally.
- They're not in the right places.
- And they sound totally fine.
- Like it's not cheap, but when you compare it to
something like a premium soundbar.
- It's basically the same thing.
- But way better spatial performance.
- Yeah, if you go your best buy
and buy your home theater in a box.
It's easily gonna be two, three grand, so yeah.
- Or it's gonna probably suck,
whereas this actually sounds like really decent.
- Yeah.
(Pop music playing)
- I definitely would recommend
getting the add-on subwoofer for this.
- Yeah.
- Maybe not for like an apartment,
but if you have like a townhouse or something.
- Yeah, you should go for it.
- Sub is good.
- And you can always turn the sub down,
but having it there, big difference.
- But it's cool that you can start with a soundbar or
surround sound setup thing, and then add the sub later.
You don't have to pay for it if you don't want it.
- [On TV] Where the hell that come?
Just came out of nowhere.
Probably team reported a storm it their last transmission.
- Yo, turn it down a bit.
- [On TV] Hostels using it for code, like an helmet.
Let's not find out.
(Engine roaring)
- Yeah, there was no speaker there.
I could have sworn I heard that sound
come from right there.
- Yeah, Right behind you.
- [Both] And there is no speaker.
- Same thing with the tin closing.
- Yeah.
- That's center sort of channel.
- You know, what's cool actually?
It's the TV's up there acting as our center channel,
but I don't hear it coming from up there.
- No, it's fine
- It's kinda just. Yeah.
- Same thing.
I definitely hear something over there too.
- And there's.
- Nothing there.
- Wow.
- So that's it guys.
Thanks Sony, for sending these over, sponsoring the video.
Thanks you guys for watching.
Honestly, these might even make sense
to just live in this room.
I was gonna do a soundbar.
Hey, Yvonne.
What's the wife approval factor
of these cylinders.
They look fine?
Okay. Bye.