My impressions is on the last page!
https://www.avforums.com/threads/sony-ht-rt...4#post-22907877




Anyways, after 2 weeks of usage the sub has gotten a little bit more smooth. It's less bloaty especially. It's unreasonable to compare it with my entry level SVS PB-1000 since that's like a whole different league above the RT5.

But otherwise, I think it's decent at best.

I know many people are always skeptical about the whole wireless thing, which is a legitimate concern. I'm always a wired guy, never wireless when it comes to audio. But damn, hats off to Sony. Not a single drop out yet despite me having 14 wireless devices in my home.
I even turn all of them on in the same room to stream a random vid on YT, not a single distortion, cut or clip in the wireless sub and rear speakers of the RT5.


If you only watch stereo sources, NT3. But at this point, I suggest going for the Philips HTL5140b instead which is even better.

Otherwise, RT5 hands down.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Dec 2 2015, 04:28 PM

Still would go for the RT5 if you're going to play games. Majority of the games now a days do have their audio mixing done in 5.1. Not saying all games are mixed well, but generally most games are a lot more immersive in 5.1.

Obviously keep the expectations in check. Comparing a high-end 2.0 system to an entry level 5.1, the winner will always be the stereo simply due to dynamics alone, much less to say anything else.

But yeah, under a reasonable budget, the RT5 is the way to go. Astro usage wise, the last time I even watch a movie on Astro HD was like 3 years ago. I'm not sure if HBO HD or FOX HD or whatever has at least DD5.1 on the movies they air? If so, that's a plus.

I have requested Philips to loan me a unit for review, they haven't gotten back to me yet.
Thing is, I don't know that many people in Philips to help me get a unit. Sony different story.

What source are you playing?

Also, have you done your calibration yet? Understand that the included mic isn't really very good, it's better to manually set the audio levels by using a sound meter.


1. I explained before not to rely on HDMI ARC/CEC. It doesn't always work and this is exactly the prime example of it. Are you very sure you connected to right HDMI port on your TV though? Not ALL HDMI ports on the TV supports HDMI ARC, so you need to make sure you connect to the correct one.

2. Or why don't you just connect everything to the soundbar via HDMI instead? It's much better as you won't have to deal with audio delay.

3. That was generally the case a couple of years ago. But like I said, don't expect or assume HDMI ARC to always work flawlessly because it doesn't. Applies to every soundbar and AVR out there.

I meant, why not just connect your android box and HyppTV directly to the soundbar, then send the sound to your TV?
It's much simpler.


By playing a test tone and using a sound meter to measure the correct audible levels in relation to the distance you sit.

Generally, you want the front LR channels to be the exact same volume. The mid channel can either be the same or slightly boosted if you have difficulty hearing vocals.
The rears can be a little tricky, in a perfect environment you could set it to the same volume as the front LR. But unless you have designed-front-scratch HT room, this isn't actually that possible. I personally set it to 0.5 decibels lower than the front LR, but that's because I have them 0.8 meters directly behind my back. Correct rear speaker placement in a 5.1 setup is actually 30-45 degree behind the listener, not directly.

As for the source, is your player properly sending the correct signals to your RT5 or not?
Example, if you are playing a movie from your PC, is your PC configured to 5.1 in the audio settings and is your movie player using the correct bitstream format? Does your source even have at least DTS/DD5.1 encoded audio?

If from other players like say an android player or something, many of them downmix multi-channel source into 2.0 but still send out a wrong signal most of the time. People wouldn't notice it on their TV speakers because they are in stereo, but when you put it on a 5.1 setup then the difference becomes very obvious.

So yeah, make sure you have all the correct settings. I have no low volume issue, setting the volume to 26-28 is very adequate for me in any 5.1/7.1 movie/game. There are not effects that I could not hear or difficulty in discerning vocals.

Tip, set the listening mode to Standard (or Movie, since they're actually the same thing). All the other pre-sets are basically pre-EQ that kinda spoils the sound in one way or another.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Dec 7 2015, 12:15 PM

Have you updated your firmware on your RT5? IIRC, the launch firmware had this bug. The latest firmware fixed this issue.

Then it's 1 of 3 problems you are facing:

1) Your source/player is stereo, not multi channel.
2) You set 2ch Stereo in your Sound Effect under Audio Settings which downmixes ALL multi-channel audio to stereo.
3) Your Audio Output is set wrongly, usually set it to HDMI + Speaker.


Cinema mode takes any source and expands it to 9.1, virtually. So this is why even if your source is stereo, your back speakers has sound. But since you said your 2 rear speakers doesn't work, then it's probably because your source is stereo in the first place.

Read the manual, may not be a very good one but all these things are answered in there.

You can de-select which input you do not want in the settings. Maybe try disabling USB input, set your input to HDMI 1 and then turn off the soundbar. Re-enable the USB input after that.

My RT5 remembers the input I last have it off.

Don't need to keep asking about the CSS5530. There's a reason why until today there are no official reviews out there. If Philips don't want to send out review units then what to do? It's not like it's damn cheap to just suka suka buy and do review on it.

Store audition =/= home/room usage.

Environment is one of the biggest factors in sound quality of which many people don't seem to realize. What you hear in store will not be what you hear at home. Even if the audition is done in an audio treated room in their store, that would still be different than that of your home.

Philips isn't sending out their CSS5530 for who knows what reason. Everytime I ask, they say if I want a B5 instead or not. I don't, because I already have the HTL9100 which sounds damn near like the B5.

Too bad, never going to happen.

Best you can do is sell 2nd hand mint condition with some losses.

Similarly, you can get damn near reference audio level just by spending a few hundred bucks from http://www.diysoundgroup.com/ and DIY yourself.

Why need to pay companies like wharfedale and KEF to assemble it for you, tune it for you and charge you quadruple the price?

Please man, I know you want to be witty, but we get it.

"American guys" don't even make speakers now a days. Stop living under a rock.

Don't need to be a generic smartass by trying to talk like someone you aren't. Kthnxbai, thread exit is that way.

On the front. Go into their assembly areas and you'll see majority are illegal immigrants.

Source: I lived in the US.

But this is going off topic. The whole point is, soundbars do have a place. They aren't inherent crap but some smartass wanted to chirp about how considerably cheaper speakers will sound better and of course they do. I'm just saying you can go dirt cheap and get damn near reference audio quality, if a comparison wants to be made.

Audio decode information can be seen by pressing "Display" on your remote. It's shown on screen. Obviously, you need the UI to be enabled in the settings.

1) Use this link: http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/content/c...ate-0343/HT-RT5

2. Yup, I mentioned this before. The XMB is from Sony's Bravia TVs back in 08-10. Slow indeed.

3. Use a volume calibrator like Sound Meter. Download to your phone (make sure your phone has 2 mics), sit in the middle and calibrate the volume. Rear speakers should never be louder than front speakers btw.

The important thing to look for in a HDMI cable not longer than 5m is:

- Make sure the spec of the cable you're buying is correct. There are just far too many HDMI 1.3 cables posing as HDMI 2.0 cables on the market now. Why? You know why.

Many people has ran into the issue of not being able to display 60hz from their PC to their receiver despite both inputs being HDMI 2.0. The reason is the cable, not their hardware. In this case, the RT5's HDMI 1 port is the only port that is HDMI 2.0, the others aren't so make sure of that as well if you're going to run 4k60p.

In strictly stereo 2.0 usage, NT3 > RT5. The punch on the NT3 is livelier, more impactful. The difference however isn't very significant though, it's only noticeable at best.

But put a multi-channel source on play, well... virtual 5.1 will never beat actual 5.1, so there's that, no contest there.


Mentioned many times, ARC was and still is never a reliable way to connect your sources. One of the main reasons I so wholeheartedly recommend the RT5 is because of its input connections. 3 HDMI ins, 1 optical, 1 analog.

So I don't see why you wouldn't just connect all your devices to the RT5 directly. You eliminate the issue of audio sync issues, you eliminate any ARC headaches, and if you game, you get the lowest possible input lag given from the soundbar.

If you have more than 4 digital devices, then you can always get a good quality HDMI switcher (none of that bs self-powered crap) to supplement.

If the soundbar you are going to buy has enough HDMI ports for all your devices, then just connect everything directly to it via HDMI. Then HDMI out to your TV. Keep it simple.

If not, then devices > TV via HDMI > soundbar via optical.

Understand that if you choose the 2nd option, your TV may only be able to send DD signals or worse, just 2.0 PCM. TVs that bitstream DD/DTS via optical are VERY rare.


So... what's the problem?

You basically only have 1 device, so connect Astro to the soundbar directly then.
Your TV? Just use optical out from your TV, problem solved. But like I explained before, you may not get 5.1/7.1 channels from your source since most TVs cannot even send DD 5.1.

Your preference, there's no "best". Tonally, the Movie/Standard setting is the most "accurate" one. But accuracy is a very relative term in audio, so yeah again up to you.

You can't switch upmixing features like DDPL or DTS-Neo on the fly. It doesn't work that way, you select one and stick with it. Alternatively, you can just use ClearAudio+ and all stereo sources will be upmixed into 5.1 irregardless.


I've heard of a few issues about low volume on the RT5. I do not have that issue, volume at 30 is plenty loud for me (certainly louder than an TV volume). Of course, loudness is a very subjective thing as well. What may be loud to me may not be to you. Environment plays a vital part in loudness too btw.

Either ways, I have not tried Astro with the RT5 and I don't even use Astro anymore. So I'm not sure what the settings are needed under the decoder. It sounds to me like your decoder is sending the wrong audio signals to the RT5, resulting in the wrong dynamic range, thus low volume. Are there any audio settings on your Astro that you may have to switch? Preferably for the decoder to at least encode all audio streams into DD 5.1 first instead of maybe sending 2.0 PCM?

Don't agree with whathifi at all.

They play a movie right after the mic calibration, of which they called it accurate.

whathifi is like IGN, run by people who knows very little about what they're actually trying to say.

I mean look how stupid the opening is:

Then turn around at the end and say:




So basically before even diving into any details, they concluded at the beginning the HTRT5 is for you as long as you want a surround experience but then contradict and say it isn't at the end. Dafuq did I just read?

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Jan 28 2016, 06:37 PM

Among the 3, sound quality wise the YSP 3300 is the best. Has a sub that works well with it instead of being a separate piece of equipment that sounds rather uncohesive which is what he ST9 and RT5 is, in comparison that is. Aggresive, immersive and tight bass is what the 3300 is known for.

The Sony ST9 on the other hand is more laid back, but it lacks anything that makes it special. It wants to be neutral, but it can't because when a source calls for it to handle anything in the spectrum, it doesn't do it as well as the YSP 3300. The sub for the ST9 is also obnoxiously boomy for no reason, clouding details which the ST9 doesn't already do very well at.

The RT5, obviously sounds the worst among the 3. But my experience with it has been pretty good thus far, as long as the room isn't too large. What it lacks is good sub and proper amplification. Otherwise its level of immersiveness is close to that of the YSP 3300, at nearly half the price.

Depending on the size of your living room and how it is laid out. The 3300 really works great when there are proper walls to reflect its virtual surround sound. The ST9 works in a similar way, except not as good.
The RT5 works best if your living room isn't too big because otherwise it cannot produce enough volume.


My personal opinion however is; if you are going to spend RM4k on a soundbar then I think you're way better off in just getting a pair of bookshelves. For example, the Sony SSCS5 for RM700 + a separate sub at RM2k or so. Spend the rest on a receiver or stereo amp. Just this setup alone will blow the socks off the YSP 3300, the only thing you have to deal with is some extra steps for setup.
The good thing? Your path to upgrade is only limited by your wallet down the line. The 3300 gives you zero choices for upgrading, if ever. Soundbars also lose their value much faster than individual speakers, so selling it off isn't going to be easy.
Don't give me the excuse of individual speakers being cable clutter and whatever else, that's simply not true. A stereo bookshelve setup is only 3 compulsory cables more than an all-in-one soundbar.


Conclusion: either go with the RT5 or if you are okay with spending RM4k, get a proper 2.1 setup.