Sony HT ST5000 Soundbar for movies and music?

[Nostromo]

As we were getting ready to downsize after retirement and move into a penthouse, I made plans to set-up a Home Cinema system in the lounge. As there was not enough room for a wired surround sound system based on an AV Receiver like I used to have, I decided to plan the Home Cinema based on a soundbar with rear speakers. I originally opted for Samsung HW Q90R, which has a soundbar with 2 rear speakers but when an AV installer came for a survey, he felt that satisfactory placement of rear speakers would not be possible because of the layout of the room. There are intervening doorways, sloping ceilings and built in furniture in the 'rear' of the lounge that make this very awkward.

I therefore changed my order to the Sony HT ST5000 Soundbar, which has no rear speakers, as you all know. The lounge us about 17 x 11 feet and the 'front', where the TV and soundbar will be located in a bespoke cabinet, is fairly proportionate with a low-ish flat ceiling and no obstructions . I am getting this professionally installed but it won't happen for a few more weeks because of essential interior work going on on the flat.

My question to other owners of the ST5000 is their opinion about how the sound effect is with TV and BD movies as well as music. I own hundreds of CDs and will have a Cambridge Audio CXC CD transport (no DAC of its own) plugged in via optical cable into the soundbar.

 

[jacksonation]

Nostromo, you likely have an answer to your question by now, but in case it helps anyone else... I have that same ST5000 soundbar, and it's good as soundbars go. We had to transplant the 5.1 system we had to a bedroom because the layout of our new living room wasn't working for all the speakers and equipment, esp the center speaker which couldn't be placed under the TV screen now mounted over a fireplace. So we went with this soundbar. It does not compare well with a true 5.1 system, but on its own it is acceptable as a sound source for most TV/streaming. It is immersive enough that I don't find myself wishing for another system while watching a well-mixed movie. I don't listen to music on the soundbar, though this may come into play for very casual listening in time. When I want to hear music I go out to my studio where I've got a listening station. My guess, however, is that the Sony will not be very good for music if you are trying to really engage with the music. If I have more info on this from actual listening, I'll try to update--and I'd be curious about your experience if you went with the Sony.

 

[Nostromo]

Thanks. I'm afraid I changed the order back to Samsung HW-Q90R bar with its standard rear speakers after I found a workable solution to place the latter. The system now works very well for both movies and especially music. I have a lot of DTS CDs which have surround sound and I play them off a Cambridge Audio CXC CD Transport that is connected to the soundbar by Optical cable.