Sony HT-SF200 2.1 Channel Compact Sound Bar with Built-In Subwoofer Black | HTSF200.CEL

Product Information

Those looking for a genuinely musically capable soundbar will likely need to increase their budget – to the level of the Sonos Beam, for example – but the SF150's performance is still a decent upgrade on that of most TVs. Verdict But if you can’t get it as loud as you want, perhaps can’t even get it as loud as the TV goes, then that is a problem.

Inputs are all recessed on the rear left with just enough clearance for the bar to sit flush if wall mounted (the SF-150 has hooks for wall mounting, but fixings aren’t included in the box). The power connection is similarly recessed but on the right side – so, depending on your set-up, you may end up with two visible cable runs instead of one.The next step in the price analysis was to look at the average price you would typically expect to pay for Home cinema systems and sound bars and as Currys PC World was selected for this review we’ve used them for gathering our information on the average price of Home cinema systems and sound bars. Consider the price. We’ll dive into a lot more detail on the price of SONY HT-SF200 2.1 Sound Bar, Silver shortly, but in terms of quality, the obvious advice here is ‘you get what you pay for’. It’s really just being aware that if you’re buying the cheapest of the Home cinema systems and sound bars from Currys PC World you might not expect the same level of quality as you’d get from a decent quality product like SONY HT-SF200 2.1 Sound Bar, Silver. There are also settings to enhance dialogue, a night mode to reduce dynamic range and bass, and lastly Dolby Dynamic Range Control, which compresses audio to make the difference between the quietest and loudest sounds less apparent.

We are immediately impressed by the improvement from the lifeless sound of our test TV’s built-in speakers. Streaming the opening scene of Unbroken from Netflix with the soundbar in Cinema mode, there's a tangible breadth to the soundstage as the planes fly past and dramatic contrast as we switch between locations within the aircraft. It's a problem because I am fairly sure that is not supposed to be the case. If the soundbar and TV were from different makers I could understand it but they are both Sony products and the HT-SF200 is listed as a Bravia Sync compatable item. Also, try disconnecting the cables that are connected between the TV and the system, then connect them firmly again, you can also try to dsconnect the AC power cords of the TV and the system from the AC outlets, then connect them again. There's a choice of three preset sound modes – Standard, Cinema and Music – and an Auto option that changes these settings automatically. The auto-detection is pretty accurate, but as there's a notable dynamic disparity between the modes, we find it easier to select the presets manually.

If you have your heart set on a particular brand or even a selection of brands then we’d suggest you spend a bit of time writing up a list of the brands that you would happily buy. This can really help you in narrowing down the selection when it comes to choosing a product. For example, over at Currys PC World you can filter products by brand, so you could filter just to show the brands on your list. This is especially useful knowing that there are 65 Home cinema systems and sound bars to choose from at Currys PC World.