Sony HTSS360 5.1 channel Home Theater System

5 Responses to “Sony HTSS360 5.1 channel Home Theater System”

1. Jonathan Wong says:

   January 17, 2010 at 2:08 am

   I own a new 40″ Sony Bravia LCD that I hooked this system up to. I was very impressed with its sound and its wide range of features for the price! However, there were a couple areas that I feel need to be addressed.

   PROS:
   
   - Excellent sound, especially the Movie DCS mode which adds a ton of depth to any movie
   
   - Easy setup
   
   - Excellent integration with a Sony TV. I can fully control my LCD from the receiver remote after hooking up the HDMI cables.
   
   - Full HDMI switching makes initial connection and switching between sources a snap. I can switch between cable and my PS3 with 1 button.
   
   - Wide range of format handling, including Linear PCM.
   
   - Wide range of sound modes.
   
   - No color distortion issues when switching between HDMI sources. This seemed to be a problem in older models.

   CONS:
   
   - I found the bass to be a little lacking due to the fact that the subwoofer is passive. I swapped the included one out with this: Yamaha YST-SW216BL Advanced YST II Front-Firing Active Subwoofer and it brought the sound to a whole new level!
   
   - Uses proprietary speaker wire connections. Sony makes it very hard to swap the subwoofer like I described previously because the receiver uses proprietary plugs for the speakers instead of generic speaker wire attachments. The system comes with 4 thin speaker wires with plugs to the receiver on one end, and bare wire on the other to hook up to the satellite speakers. However, the subwoofer’s is HARD WIRED, so it can’t be detached at all. What’s worse is that Sony only sells their speaker wires in packs of 5, for a whopping $55.
   
   To use my new subwoofer, I simply found an aftermarket plug with a small length of wire on eBay, spliced it with some standard 18 gauge wire of my own and hooked it up to my new sub. Voila, it worked like a charm.

   OVERALL:
   
   Out of the box, the system is a solid 4/5. With a powered subwoofer and a little bit of handiwork to get around Sony’s greed, it can be improved to 5/5.
   Rating: 4 / 5
2. Douglas Burkett says:

   January 17, 2010 at 4:43 am

   As someone who was in the process of purchasing my first blu-ray player I was looking to upgrade my older Sony surround sound system as well. I was looking for a couple of things in a new system: One, that it had plenty of HDMI inputs and two, that it had a high-quality sound for the price point.

   As for the most important item, the sound, this is a great system. People have said it is like listening to a $500-1000 system. I don’t know if it sounds as good as a $1000 system, but I would say it does sound wonderful like a $500-700 system so for the price it can’t be beat. The highs sound very clear and crisp and the bass is deep with depth without losing too much ‘punch’ or getting too ‘muddy’. The only minor issue I have with sound is that when dialogue gets loud the center speaker (on rare occasions) ‘flinches’ and has the slightest sound like feedback. It could be the case itself vibrating as I have it sitting against the T.V. base/stand so this could be the problem as well.

   Out of the box the system takes a little time to set up (as does any surround system with the speakers, etc). This system looks sleek and is identical to the companion blu ray player I purchased to go with it; they have a matching black color, are matching in size and are similar in faceplate size and in overall sleek design. The receiver for this unit is about half the height and depth as my old Sony one, leaving me more space to add other components into my rack.

   The speaker wires are thin and the speakers each have proprietary connections going into the receiver but it sounds so good I don’t feel any need to replace the wires so this is a moot point for me.

   Once the system is arranged and the speakers all connected there is a little microphone you can plug into the back of the unit, place it in what would be the ideal listening spot in the room and using the remote you can access a little sequence of sound tests in the menu to have the unit self-calibrate itself. This is a nice feature to use to get started but I found tweaking was needed to get the best possible sound…the bass was way too loud using the self-calibration. However, in all other aspects as far as distance of the individual speakers and the volume level of each speaker, the self-calibration did very well and was pretty accurate in these areas.

   The unit’s set-up and menu is all accessed by remote and uses kind of a branching mode in which to reach all of the individual settings. You have to look at the little screen on the receiver and this can be tedious but is easier once you are familiar with how to access the various areas of the menu. An on-screen menu would have been a great addition for this unit (but of course would also have raised the cost).

   The HDMI connections for me were great. I have a blu ray player, a cable/satellite tuner and a 5-disc DVD upconverter/CD player all using HDMI cables for optimal performance…being able to run all 3 of those into the receiver and then running just one HDMI cable from the receiver to the HDTV cut back on the spaghetti of cables and gave me the best signal performance possible from all of my components. When you select the input on the receiver (blu ray player, cable, etc) that is what the receiver will play as far as audio and is the signal that will be sent to the HDTV as well.

   However, there are two issues with this HDMI set up. First, you will not be able to use more than one component at a time. For instance, you can not listen to a CD while at the same time watch video from your cable or satellite because you will not be able to choose more than one input to play at a time UNLESS you connect them directly to each other instead of running them all through the receiver. Then you could play a CD through the receiver and play video from the cable or satellite box directly to the TV (bypassing the video around the receiver).

   The second problem is that the audio and video does not always output correctly with the selection of the input on the receiver. For example, I have noticed that on occasion I may select the cable/satellite on the receiver and the audio will be there but I will not get a picture on the HDTV even though the TV is tuned to the right setting. If I turn the input on and off on the receiver or turn the TV itself on and off suddenly the picure miraculously comes on. Other times I will play a blu ray disc and I can get the picture on the TV but the audio will not be recognized or played back by the receiver (even though the picture and sound are going through the same HDMI cable) and I will have to either turn the receiver on and off or the blu ray player on and off to get the audio going. I can’t figure out any particular pattern this follows but it does happen frequently…other times it works correctly with no problems. Perhaps this would not happen if all of my equipment was Sony and the components all ‘talked’ to each other better (my HDTV is not a Sony brand). I’m still trying to figure this out as it is annoying. I am always eventually able to get everything working together-it just might take a couple of extra buttons to get there.

   One other very important piece of info is that this unit will accept a linear PCM channel for audio. This means you can playback the True HD Dolby and HD DTS Master lossless sountracks on blu ray discs AS LONG AS the blu ray player you are using has the processing for those formats built into it. The companion Sony player (the S360) as well as many newer ones do have the HD soundtrack processing in them.

   In the end the performance and sound far outweigh the rare issue with the center speaker and the quirky HDMI input/output problems. If the price of the system was in the $500-600 range I would have to move it to just 3 stars. But the price is great for the quality of sound this unit produces resulting in my 4-star review.

   Rating: 4 / 5
3. D. Chandler says:

   January 17, 2010 at 5:58 am

   When I recently bought a new Sony 40″ LCD TV I discovered the TV speakers were better than my old cheapie surround sound system. I then bought this Sony HTSS360. I’m a long way from an audio expert but I know good sound when I hear it and this system has it all the way from the high to the low pitched sounds. I can now hear even faint sounds/sound effects I never knew existed with my old sound system. Between the new TV and this surround sound system all my existing DVD’s are like watching all new movies. It may be a little on the subjective side but my movies appear to have better color and clarity than when the feed was direct from my DVD player. Very easy to set up and play using one remote with the Bravia Sync. In my case just two HDMI cables, sat box and DVD player, to the receiver and one HDMI out to the TV, easy.
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. hamy says:

   January 17, 2010 at 8:54 am

   Athough I have purchased many items on the net, things such as foam beds, 61 inch DLP TVS and Blue Ray players ,this is my first review.All the other stuff was was great but this system is nothing short of fantastic.The sound is clear, crisp and powerful.My expectation before getting this system was the hope that it would at least improve the sound quality of my blue ray movies as well as standard DVDS.I did not expect it to bring it to a whole new level but it has.Enough of the preliminaries and more how it performs on movies. The first movie I viewed was THE PATRIOT I could not believe the rich powerful sound coming from the speakers, during battle scenes the sound of the cannons were booming in my 14 by 14 room, I felt like I was in the middle of the fight.This system goes up to 39 and I only had it at about 22.In the movie Downfall you could hear bullets whizzing all over the room.When I watched the movie Gettysburg which I have many, many times I was hearing things emanating out of the speakers I have never heard before such as wind blowing in the background,horses hooves, men marching through grass, cricketts and other objects clagging together.In the final battle of the movie Transformers a sound came out of my rear speakers that made me jump.In many of my movies during battle scenes I could literaly feel my table and back wall vibrate.If you want a movie like atmosphere for under 300 bucks, this is it.Hope this review helps.In this troubled stressful world I can sit in my leather rocker recliner with a bowl of popcorn and a cold diet coke with a movie in my blue ray player hooked up with HDMI cables to my 61 inch Samsung 1080p LED TV and this amazing home theater system and let the world fade away at least for a little while.
   Rating: 5 / 5
5. S. Ovadia says:

   January 17, 2010 at 11:41 am

   I upgraded from a 9 year old AIWA 5.1 Dolby Surround System that couldn’t handle the HDMI Cable inputs. The old system cost me about $400 and included a powered Subwoofer and the 5 speakers. This new Sony is 1000W, but the speakers are 3 Ohms (as opposed to the 8 Ohms on most home system speakers). So even though the Sony system is twice the wattage of my original system, the sound does not fill the room as well as my Aiwa.

   After ordering the Sony, I experimented with an Optical cable from my Panasonic Viera HDTV to the AIWA and was happy with the sound quality. My worst fear was that the new system would sound worse than what I already had, and sure enough that was the case.

   Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t sound bad. But if you have an older surround system without HDMI that you are happy with, I would recommend using an Optical cable (which reportedly has sound quality loss compared to HDMI) rather than upgrade to this system.

   On the positive side, the HTSS360 does work nicely in my common setup of Cable box, Blu Ray, and TV. I have the Cable box and Blu Ray connected via HDMI to the HTSS360. Then the HTSS360 is connected to my TV with an HDMI Cable. I also have the cable box connected to my TV’s Component inputs and the Optical Audio Out of the TV connected to the Optical Audio input of the HTSS360. I’m not sure if those last 2 connections are even necessary, but I made them due to other reviews that indicated the HTSS360 does not pass through the signal when it is not on, and a note in the Manual that mentioned the optical cable connection. The former point was a big negative for me as I don’t want my kids touching the home theater every time they want to watch TV. In any case, the net result of these connections is rather spectacular. I leave the input on the TV set at the HDMI port that the HTSS360 is connected to ALWAYS. When the HTSS360 is off, the Video and Audio from the cable box appears on the TV as you would expect. So it seems the other posts are incorrect when they say the signals do not pass through when the HTSS360 is not on. But here is the really cool part. When I turn on the HTSS360, the video on the TV blinks momentarilly and then the sound switches from the TV (TV Speakers mute) to the HTSS360. The volume control for my TV (Using the Panasonic remote or my programmed cable remote) now control the volume on the HTSS360!

   All of this makes turning surround sound on a breeze and eliminates the need to have 3 remotes while watching a movie, and allows for the kids to use the TV whenever they want without fiddling with my home theater.
   
   NOTE: I set the HDMI Control setting on the HTSS360 to ON (Default is OFF).

   Last points: I kept my original 8 Ohm speakers which sound much better than the 3 Ohms that came with the Sony. The exception being the powered sub woofer which kicked out nothing but noise. Sony’s passive woofer does a good job belting out the lows and I don’t think it needs much adjustment as others have indicated. I’m not sure if there is any issue with using 8 ohm speakers (overheating of the amplifier or more wear on the components?), but the center speaker that came with the Sony, in particular, sounded tinny and my Aiwa center speaker sounds deep and rich in comparison. Also, you do not need to know how to use a soldering gun to extend the speaker wires. Just twist on more speaker wire and cover with electrical tape and you’re all set. 30 seconds max and anyone can do it.

   Bottom line, in hindsight I would have saved my money if I knew I could get such good sound quality through my old 5.1 system with the optical cable, but I’m happy enough with the ease of use in the new system that I can justify the purchase.
   Rating: 3 / 5