Sony HT-RT3 Soundbar Home Theater System

Sony in 2016 added a new home theater system to their line-up in India - The Sony HT-RT3 Soundbar home theater system. It is an affordable option at Rs 18,990 if you are looking for a 5.1 channel surround sound system for your home to watch movies on. We tested the Sony HT-RT3 and here's what we think about it.

What's Cool?
The Sony HT-RT3 comes with a soundbar, two rear speakers and a subwoofer. Setting it up takes very little time with your TV with an HDMI cable and when it comes to connecting all the components to the sub-woofer frame all you need to do is match the colour codes of wires. It can also be set up with a Blue-Ray player too. So you really don't have to wait for an engineer from Sony to come and set it up for you at your home

The system boasts of a total output of 600W, and we can't argue with that as you can feel that it's a capable Dolby Digital surround sound eco-system. It comes with Sony's S-Master digital amplifier that helps the speakers on the soundbar produce a distortion free result even at loud volumes

The Sony HT-RT3 is a complete multimedia package as you can not only watch movies but also stream music via Bluetooth or NFC from your phone. There is also a USB audio playback on this home theater system so you can keep your TV switched off and still play music.

The remote interface of this home theater system is fairly simple to use and you really don't need to read a manual to shuffle through settings on the system. Overall, the sound output is fantastic for the price range that the Sony HT-RT3 is placed in and in our opinion it's a better sound system for gaming than watching movies. It's also compatible with Apple TV and Google's Chrome Cast.

What's Not So Cool?
The Sony HT-RT3 comes with optical connectors but not an optical cable inside the box. To find an optical cable in a retail store in India is still tough and an inclusion of that would make it a perfect setup for home entertainment. Sony though does provide the HDMI cable and component cables along with the box of Sony HT-RT3.

Also, it's too much of a stretch to ask for wireless speakers in this price, but if Sony could have had that in the HT-RT3 it could have been much more hassle-free as the user would not go through the pain of hiding hanging wires. But, it's more of a wish list from us to Sony

Verdict
Sony is a company known for providing quality home entertainment solutions that are practical. The Sony HT-RT3 also delivers on those aspects. With a price tag of Rs 18,990, we think they have hit a bull's eye with the Sony HT-RT3 Soundbar home theater system in delivering a quality sound experience in an economical pricing