HT-S40R Real 5.1ch Dolby Audio Soundbar for TV with Subwoofer & Wireless Rear Speakers, 5.1ch Home Theatre System (600W, Bluetooth & USB Connectivity, HDMI & Optical Connectivity, Sound Mode)

Purchased Sony HT-S40R after a lot of research and i have also checked the reviews here on Amazon. Initially i was a bit worried about the few negative reviews that i had seen on this platform, but as the majority of the reviews were positive, went ahead and ordered the Item from Appario Retail limited, Kolkata. I got this item for Rs 25000/- from Appario Retail, where as on the Sony India site the same item was Rs 35000/- so i saved Rs 10000/- straight away by not ordering from Sony. This is one of the big electronic item that i ordered on Amazon, otherwise i usually prefer to buy it from the original Manufacturer.Pros:1) Excellent sound for 12 ft X 10 ft living room - connected to a 43 Inch Sony TV (KD43X80K). This TV has HDMI ARC port, so connecting the S40R sound system was very simple with the HDMI cable provided.2) The Sound system volume can be controlled by the TV remote itself. I have tried out various music, movie YouTube clips - the system gives enough sound from anywhere at 45 volume to 65 to 70 - did not go above this level as then it was too loud for my living room.3) Some users have complained about Bass being not good or the sound not being 600W - i disagree with this - as mentioned for a Living room of 12 x 10 ft size the Bass especially lower bass was very good.4) The various modes like - auto, cinema, music, voice & night mode are effective - it depends on the type of the clip or movie or music you are playing, on some high quality clips i could clearly notice the difference between various modes.5) You can adjust only sub woofer volume by the dedicated buttons given for this on the remote.6) You can also adjust the Rear speakers distance from the listener.7) Important - place the rear speakers at slightly above the head height behind the seating position, you can clearly hear sounds from these rear speakers even at 45 volume level - be it normal YouTube music or cricket commentary - ideal distance of the listener from the rear speakers according to me is 3 to 5 feet.Do not place these rear speakers along with the TV, sub woofer or sound bar - place them behind you.8) You can also clearly hear the left - right sound separation through these speakers - try out A.R. Rahman music - i tried the the following track among many others - BGM track from Tamil movie "Thiruda Thiruda", also tired out "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen - it has enough highs and lows, so that you can check out your speakers.9) I received the Item in original SONY packaging, with a small amazon cardboard covering on one side of the L shaped original packing - the item arrived in excellent condition from Kolkata to A.P.10) Installation is very easy and took about 10 mins - no need for any Sony technician for installation or demo - incase you have any doubt on the various options & settings - checkout YouTube clips.11) However, i did call for the Sony tech one day after receiving and installing the item by myself - so that the product is in Sony database for warranty purposes. Sony tech also came with in 7 hours after i sent the e-mail to Sony customer care - this is just to check all O.K and to make sure the product is in Sony database for Warranty purposes.12) All in all - for most people with normal sized living rooms - this is an excellent product to experience virtual surround sound specially if your TV supports ARC mode, and DTS and Dolby Atmos, as mine does - even though this sound system is not Dolby Atmos, still as the source input is of good quality, your output is also excellent.13) Going by the reviews - few people had some issues with either connecting the Blue tooth or with the Rear speakers - i did not have any such issues, the rear speakers connected immediately and also the BT connected very quickly.14) Prior to this i had connected my TV to a Bose Ipod Dock (15 year old and a good outdoor portable speaker) - which used to give much better sound the than the TV alone, once my Ipod dock stopped working recently, i checked out the Bose TV sound bar (cost Rs 30000/-) and rejected it as while it was better than TV speakers itself - there was no bass, no surround etc;.15) So, within my budget i went for Sony HT S40R which worked out excellent for my living room and budget - honestly most of us do not really need anything much costlier than this for the few hours that we use our TV.16) Lastly - if you pick up a single party type speaker to connect to your TV, instead of a sound bar as this is supposed to give more bass and sound - remember - party type speakers especially those that are suitable for outdoors - throw sound in all directions - this can end up irritating those that are not watching the TV and are doing the household work nearby or next room - so with Sony HT-S40R - you have sound bar - which has three speakers in it, with the two side speakers angled slightly towards the center, keep the subwoofer pointed in the same direction as your seating position and place the rear speakers behind your seat - this channels the maximum sound to you seating position, with less sound bleeding to the surroundings - do not misunderstand - you will still hear sound to the sides but it wont be as loud and irritating as before with only the TV speakers or a single party type speaker.

The product was so good and the clarity of sound is too good and installation was done by Harish and the installation was done so perfectly worth of spending money on this product who is sound lover

Very Nice product

Pros:- Flawless with Streaming Apps: Native support for Dolby Digital (AC3) means Netflix, Prime Video, Hotstar, and YouTube play instantly in full, discrete 5.1 surround sound.- True Physical Surround Sound: Real physical rear speakers (powered by a dedicated wireless amplifier module) and a discrete center channel push genuine spatial audio; no fake wall-bounce DSP tricks here.- Massive, Room-Shaking Audio: 600W of total power with a thunderous subwoofer and a dedicated "Voice Mode" that keeps dialogue pin-sharp during intense action sequences.Cons:- Older HDMI ARC, and not eARC.- HDMI-CEC / ARC Crashes on Older TV Hardware: Connecting a secondary device (like a PC or console) alongside the soundbar can overload the HDMI-CEC chip on older or budget Android TVs (like older Hisense models), graying out ARC and forcing you to use Optical.- No Native DTS or AAC 5.1 Hardware Decoding: The system natively decodes Dolby Digital (AC3) and LPCM 2.0 only. It lacks native hardware decoders for DTS, DTS-HD MA, or AAC surround tracks when playing high-bitrate media through local players like Kodi.- Clunky Menu Interface: Navigating deep audio settings (channel gains, speaker distances, Dynamic Range Control) must be done letter-by-letter on the tiny front-panel ticker LED display on the subwoofer.- Minor TOSLINK Audio Sync Delay: When connected via Optical TOSLINK and scrubbing or resuming local media in Kodi (especially transcoded AAC tracks), there is a brief 2–3 second delay when seeking forward or backward, before the optical stream locks back in sync.Detailed Review:I bought the Sony HT-S40R to build a dedicated 5.1 surround sound environment in a small room. After pushing it through its paces with both mainstream OTT streaming apps and high-bitrate local media playback, here is my honest breakdown:1. Streaming Apps vs. Local High-Res Media (Kodi / Plex)OTT Apps (Netflix, Prime, Hotstar, YouTube): 10/10 Experience. Because streaming platforms broadcast in native Dolby Digital (AC3), the HT-S40R handles them effortlessly right out of the box. Plug it in, hit play, and you are instantly immersed in true surround sound.Local Remuxes / High-Bitrate Media: Requires Kodi Passthrough Setup. Because the soundbar only natively decodes Dolby Digital (AC3), it cannot decode raw DTS, DTS-HD MA, or AAC 5.1 tracks on its own.CRITICAL KODI WARNING: If Kodi is NOT properly configured for Passthrough, you won't get actual discrete 5.1 surround sound. Instead, Kodi downmixes or mirror-duplicates the sound so that all 5 speakers just play the exact same stream (all front/center audio mirrored to the rears) rather than distinct, directional surround channels!The Fix: Set Kodi's Settings to Expert, set Channels to 2.0, turn Passthrough ON, enable Dolby Digital (AC3) receiver, disable DTS receiver, and turn ON Dolby Digital (AC3) transcoding. This forces Kodi to convert DTS/AAC into real 5.1 Dolby Digital on the fly, giving you true individual channel separation!2. TV Hardware Quirks (HDMI ARC vs. Optical TOSLINK)If you have an older Android TV with buggy HDMI-CEC handling, beware: connecting a PC or set-top box to a second HDMI port can cause the TV’s ARC controller to lock up, killing the audio output to the speakers.The Workaround: Switching to an Optical TOSLINK cable permanently bypasses TV CEC crashes.The Catch: Using Optical comes with a tiny nitpick; when pausing, resuming, or continuing a local file in Kodi (especially with AAC audio), there is a quick 2–3 second audio re-sync delay before the stream locks back in step. That's because of the low bandwidth of the TOSLINK cable and how fast Kodi transcodes the codec. You won't face this issue with the streaming services.3. User Interface & Menu TweaksWhile the system packs plenty of deep audio customization options (individual speaker gains, speaker distance delays, Night mode, DRC), adjusting them is tedious because there is no full color on-screen menu. You have to scroll through settings on the tiny LED ticker display on the front of the subwoofer unit.Verdict: ABSOLUTE CINEMA IN YOUR ROOM!Once you get past the initial setup hurdles and feed this system proper discrete 5.1 surround audio, it sounds utterly spectacular. The physical rear speakers pushing audio from behind your head, combined with the chest-thumping bass from the subwoofer, deliver a raw, thunderous, theatre-grade immersion that no virtual single soundbar at this price point can even touch. It's Sony after all.If you primarily watch streaming services, it’s a plug-and-play masterpiece. If you are an enthusiast playing local high-bitrate media with DTS/AAC tracks, you will need a few minutes to tweak your Kodi transcoding settings and accept a brief optical sync pause; but the moment an action scene kicks in, the sheer scale and punch of the sound make every bit of setup effort 100% worth it. Absolutely recommended!

Ok there is this rule which should go blindly for any electronic personnel who wants to go for the quality. If you ever wanted anything of quality, always choose Sony. TVs are top notch and so is the sound system. Many local brands may come with similar price but Sony's quality is altogether of the next level. Sound is also pretty good but it has to be a 10x10 room. Only when that surround sound feature will you feel that the bass can actually shake. It's a very wonderful surround sound system and always choose Sony on anything because they are made to last forever I think. They never go defective or anything happens so keep your eyes closed and put your fingers on Sony and just buy it

I really like the Sony S40R speaker. The overall build quality is excellent, and the audio quality is impressive. The 600W output delivers powerful and deep bass, while the sound remains clear and balanced. The overall music quality is very good and perfectly suitable for my room. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a powerful home audio system.

Best sound

The product is awesome I have no words to express about the sound quality. It works better in sony tv with hdmi support and product quality and features are awesome, base is very good and give u a feel of watching movie or hearing songs on theatre. Very much satisfied with sony's performance, i always love it .If you are planning to buy in Amazon better try to avoid it because your package will arrive at a very very good

Best sound quality ever experienced. However, there's a lag in remote control functions if you connect with a tv other than sony. Also the Display is only compatible with sony tv. I used it on tcl tv, remote control functions do not display on it.

This was a completely outstanding set up when it came out of the box. It was perfect. There’s not a single scratch anywhere. The packaging was just excellent. I set it up pushed a couple of buttons and the thing sounded fantastic. I highly recommend this for the money. It’s really good. And by the way, the base is great!

Llevo ya un buen tiempo con el sistema, vale mucho su precio, pero tengan cuidado; muchos no se percatan y compran la versión alámbrica (HT-S20R), revisen bien que están comprando la versión inalámbrica (HT-S40R) si así la quieren.Las bocinas traseras se escuchan muy bien, pero si las sientes con ruido bajo puedes aumentar el volumen con las instrucciones del manual que trae, lo mismo con el subwoofer.Una vez conectado todo al encenderlo se vincula solo así que no tienes mucho que hacer aparte de disfrutar de tu compra.

Quality is good, surround sound is good. Downside not enough bass. Overall I like it

Nice product