Many great things come in threes! There’s RUN DMC, currently the Deadpool franchise, the Lord of the Rings films, and A Tribe Called Quest (RIP Phife). Well, Sony is hoping to add to that list with their powerful Trio. The Sony Bravia Theater Trio is for those who want sound as big as their TV, according to Sony, but in a simple package that won’t require setup and configuration time as big as your TV.

The problem that Sony says they’re solving with the Trio is this: many soundbars aren’t wide enough to create a soundstage that complements TVs 65 inches and above. And that’s how we get the “Trio.” Three speakers: one unique small center channel, and left and right cylindrical speakers, each 13 inches tall, that you can place as far apart as nine feet. There’s more to it, but we’ll get into that below.

3.8/5

Brand

Sony

Connectivity

Wi-Fi 6, HDMI 2.1, Bluetooth 6.0, Bravia Sync

Integrations

Bravia Sync, Spotify Connect

Ports

Power, HDMI, HDMI eARC, USB-A

Pros & Cons

• Room-filling sound
• Wide soundstage
• Unique design
• Musicality

• Pricey
• No sub or rears included

Price, Availability, specs

Launched in May 2026, the Sony Bravia Theater Trio can be purchased directly from Sony.com for $2000. You may also be able to get a better price on the sound system, depending on the available bundles at the time you purchase it. You’ll find it available for purchase from other online retailers, such as Amazon.com, and in brick-and-mortar stores, such as Best Buy.

Let’s briefly talk hardware

What you get out of the box, and the setup

It’s called the “Trio” for a reason. In the box, you’ll find three separate speakers: a center channel soundbar and left and right speakers. You’ll also find the accessories to support them, but that’s it. No subwoofer included. Plugging everything up and getting setup started was as easy as the last Sony system I reviewed, the Theater Bar 5. And, like the aforementioned, you’ll also get a handy remote control in the box.

This time, though, Sony includes a room calibration microphone in the box that you plug into your smartphone. Sony also lets you use your smartphone if you don’t have one with a USB-C port, but says the USB-C microphone will give you a more precise measure of your space’s acoustics. I couldn’t really hear much difference between the two in my space.

Although I initially listened to the system without the subwoofer because it doesn’t come with one, once I set it up, I had to adjust its location a couple of times to get the best bass response in the room. Sony sent me the Sub 7 pictured in the gallery above.

Three speakers are better than one?

It’s all about the soundstage

When I review high-end audio products, one of the items I spend time listening to is the “soundstage.” That is the three-dimensional imaginary space created by the sound system, allowing you to hear specific elements of the audio and perceive them within it. Are they coming from the left or right? How far out to the sides? How far above, or behind the speakers? A good soundstage creates the perception of sound across three key dimensions: width, height, and depth.

Within reason and relative to the generally close configurations of conventional soundbar drivers, the further apart your speakers are, the greater the stereo, or surround effect. With regard to soundbar systems, this is one of the best I’ve listened to in terms of soundstage. Having that separation between the left and right speakers really broadens the sound field, giving it greater depth and creating a more compelling sense of immersion than some other systems I’ve listened to.

For me, those two speakers really are the stars of the show because not only does the distance create a wider, more engrossing sound field, but the upfiring drivers on the speakers, pictured above right, really go a long way towards filling your space with sound. The center channel definitely does a good job of giving you clearer dialog than your TV, and if you have a Sony Bravia TV, they even have some tricks to further improve dialog.

Sony offered to send me their new Sub 7 subwoofer, and I have to say that, as strong as the Trio is on its own, it feels more complete with the Sub 7 adding more gravitas to the lows. Matter of fact, let’s talk about the sound in real-world tests.

I’m all ears

Real-world tests

I played back some streaming content, YouTube videos, 4k UHD Blu-rays from a Panasonic player, and music from my Apple TV 4k. First up, the Blu-ray discs. I popped three of my current favorite “reference” discs into the player: Sinners, No Time To Die, and Dune: Part Two. I played with all of the Bravia Connect app’s Sound Field settings to find which I thought was best, and landed on turning Sound Field off altogether.

While the Sony 360 Spatial Sound Mapping seemed to be the closest to object-oriented surround sound on the discs, to my ears, some sounds and effects were playing across multiple speakers instead of being discreetly positioned. It appears that turning the Sound Field options completely off doesn’t actually give you the raw output of the disc either, but, again, to my ears, it gave the best perception of element location. If a gunshot occurs screen left, it sounds truer to that positioning. A helicopter on the right? Same thing.

Admittedly, it was close between off and Sony 360 Spatial Sound Mapping, for me.

To my ears, with the climax of the Matera, Italy chase scene in the first act of No Time To Die, having Sound Fields off gave the best sense of where in space all of the 360 degrees of gunfire was coming from. While I did feel that the center channel could’ve been stronger on dialogue during the chase, the sound was bright and crisp, and the low frequencies were reproduced convincingly when the Bond villain walks up to the car while shooting at the bulletproof glass, splintering it but not breaking it. The mix of low-frequency impact and higher-frequency splintering sounds was clear and sounded natural.

With Sinners specifically, Coogler’s ambitious time-bending musical sequence had transcendent sound quality as rendered by the Bravia Theater Trio. Wunmi Mosaku’s ethereal narration, which really marks the beginning of the sequence, sounds like the voice of a goddess from the heavens, and all the music, layered with various sound design effects, is reproduced compellingly and feels organic rather than virtually augmented, with Sound Fields disabled. Now, the scene did sound great with Sony’s 360 mapping engaged, but I preferred the imaging with it off.

Dune: Part Two showed off the speed of the subwoofer during the final battle scene of the movie. There are frenetic moments filled with explosions, fights, and ornithopters, contrasted by moments when it all stops, and things get quiet with a calm ferocity. When those transitions occur, the subwoofer and the left and right channels handle transient effects beautifully and resolve cleanly without muddying the bass.

I then used my Apple TV 4k to listen to music via Apple Music and was definitely not disappointed. Let’s be clear, this is not audiophile-grade equipment. Detail retrieval won’t be on par with purpose-built, music-specific DACs, preamps, etc. That said, the instrumentation, soundstage, and clarity were absolutely entertaining and immersive. To keep with the theme of surround sound, I listened to well-engineered, high-quality Dolby tracks. Thelonius Monk’s “Monk’s Dream (Take 8)” was a delight on the Theater Trio. The piano was crisp and bright, basslines had weight, and the Sub 7 did an excellent job of resolving after the initial attack of upright strings.

This experience was further bolstered by a listen to the Atmos mix of “Start A Riot,” from the “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” OST. The subbass hits on this track are fierce, but the Sub 7 and Trio’s bass response was tight and controlled, no mush, no slop! It’s in orchestral tracks that you can hear the difference in detail retrieval; overall, though, orchestral content was still very entertaining.

My final thoughts

A Trio of takeaways

1. The Trio’s final form isn’t complete without a sub. Alone, high-frequency sound is forward, with mids very prominent, but bass is thin. Still a better experience than your TV’s speakers, though. The Sub 7 made the experience feel more well-rounded, but to experience the Trio at its best, you’ll want rear surrounds (something I generally advocate for in any surround system).
2. You should absolutely be adding a subwoofer to this system, but the Sony Bravia Theater Trio is already very pricey. At nearly $2,000, the Trio adeptly solves the problem of having to put in the work of building and installing a traditional standalone speaker surround system. Sony makes surround sound easy here. What they don’t do is make it easy on your wallet, and that’s going to likely be a tough nut to crack for many consumers.
3. By the time you’ve added a sub and rear surrounds, there are some sound systems that get close and to some may even best the Trio and cost less, with the inclusion of a subwoofer and rear surrounds.

At the end of the day, the Sony Bravia Theater Trio is a solid surround system that does a fantastic job of accomplishing what Sony set out to do: improve the soundstage experience. But it’s going to be up to you to listen for yourself and decide whether it’s worth the premium once you have all the additional speakers in place, compared to the competition.

Connectivity

Wi-Fi 6, HDMI 2.1, Bluetooth 6.0, Bravia Sync

Integrations

Bravia Sync, Spotify Connect

Ports

Power, HDMI, HDMI eARC, USB-A

Power

Center Speaker 31 W/Front speaker 26 W

Speaker Arrangement

3.0.2

Dimensions

Center 23.2 inches wide x 2.5 inches high x 6.5 inches deep; Left & Right speakers 6.3 inches wide x 13.26 inches high x 6.4 inches deep