Review: Sony HT-CT80 Soundbar Home Speaker

• May 29, 2017
• James Skemp
• review

The following is a review of the Sony HT-CT80 Soundbar Home Speaker, received as part of the Amazon Vine program.

Working Great in Our Kitchen

For a couple of a months we’ve been looking at Soundbars at Costco, and at what Best Buy has on sale each week, to use within our living room. We previously had a 5.1 system in there, but once we switched to a smaller table for our TV stand, we didn’t have the room.

After receiving the Sony HT-CT80 Soundbar we hooked it up to our TV, a Samsung UN49KU7000 49-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart LED TV, and gave it a spin for a couple of days. We used the included digital optical cable (hooray for them including it) and watched television shows and movies, to try to get a nice range with it.

However, after a couple of days we decided that we actually liked the sound coming out of the television more. Having to use a different remote for the audio was something we could get over, but the range seemed better with the TV itself.

Our kitchen had a 2.1 speaker setup, but after doing some thinking we ended up putting this system in there instead. We used the standard audio in initially, but after a day switched over to Bluetooth. We also stopped using the subwoofer entirely, and then created a new home for the soundbar on top of a shelf my SO put up. And there it has lived since.

For this usage, which is where we listen to public radio, music, and watch/listen to various shows on Netflix/Hulu through a Galaxy Tab 4, it works way better (for us) than it did hooked up to our television.

The only problem we’ve had is that at times the sound will cut off during periods of extended quiet. For example, if there’s no background music, no talking, and low background noise for a handful of seconds, the Sony HT-CT80 Soundbar will seem to shut off. Once sound starts back up we’ll lose about a second of it before the speaker starts outputting audio again. At this point I’m assuming this is Android doing something, but I’m still trying to troubleshoot this.

Maybe it seems a little weird that we put a soundbar into the kitchen, but it was such an improvement to our setup there that we made a shelf for it, and it quickly became second nature for us to reconnect the tablet to it for sound. The alternative would have been to hook it up to another TV and try it there, but we prefer better music.

For these reasons, I give the Sony HT-CT80 Soundbar four of five stars. Recommended if you’re looking for a starter soundbar, but not if your television sound is already very nice, and you’re not going to use it for different purposes.

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