HDTVs generally don't offer good sound simply because of geometry: Speakers need space, and when you put that much electronics into that shallow a case, there isn't enough room left for air to move and give you a full sound. Home theater systems and soundbars let you augment your HDTV's speakers with ones far better suited to reproduce your favorite movies' audio. A new variety of systems let you place your HDTV on top, and are designed to virtually disappear in your living room while still delivering better sound. The $299.99 Sony HT-XT1 is one such model; it offers a three-source HDMI switch and built-in Bluetooth to give your home theater even more functionality. It's affordable, too, but its narrow sound field and modest performance keep it from being genuinely compelling. If you can spend $100 more, you can get the more powerful Zvox SoundBase 570 ( at Amazon) , which lacks some of the HT-XT1's features, but beats it in audio quality on all fronts.
Design
The HT-XT1 is a semi-glossy black slab measuring 2.9 by 28.4 by 12.3 inches (HWD) and weighing 17.6 pounds. The front sports a black metal grille, behind which rests a white alphanumeric LED display. It can support up to 66 pounds, and is intended for use with HDTVs between 32 and 55 inches in size. It's elevated slightly on four broad inverted cone feet that hold it up by about an inch and keep it steady. The top panel of the speaker holds touch-sensitive Power, Pairing, and Input buttons on the lower-left corner and an NFC zone for Bluetooth pairing with compatible devices on the lower-right corner.
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A total of 170 watts runs through the HT-XT1. Each stereo channel, driven by 1.4-by-3.1-inch oval cone drivers, receives 35 watts. Two circular 3.9-inch woofers on the underside of the speaker receive up to 100 watts for the subwoofer channel.
The back of the speaker holds three HDMI inputs, an HDMI output, an optical audio input, and a 3.5mm audio input. The HDMI ports let you hook up three sources and switch between them easily, which is nice if you're running low on HDMI ports on your HDTV. The audio return channel of your HDTV can still send audio from directly connected devices to the HT-XT1 through the HDMI output port, without connecting a dedicated audio cable. Optical audio is vital for audio sources that don't connect through HDMI and the 3.5mm jack is a helpful extra, but a lack of stereo RCA inputs limits its support for legacy audio sources unless you get adapters.
The remote is a unique rectangular wand with buttons arranged in a striking zig-zag geometric pattern. When closed, the remote has flat, prominent Power, Input, Muting, Volume Up/Down, Sound Field, and Voice buttons for basic controls. Pulling the bottom half of the remote away from the top reveals nine additional small rubber buttons for Night, Display, Subwoofer Volume Up/Down, Return, Menu, Menu Navigation Up/Down, and Enter.
Performance
Without a subwoofer, the HT-XT1 can struggle a bit with music that features very deep low-end, like The Knife's "Silent Shout." It didn't outright distort with the synth bass notes or the kick drum hits, but it leaned toward distortion and suffered from some slight rattling.
Less bass-heavy music sounded much better, though not entirely without fault. Miles Davis' "So What" got a pleasant amount of low and low-mid emphasis, with the rumbly upright bass and the saxophone sounding properly sharp and clear, but the horn lacked enough richness to round it out. The opening strings in the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter" sounded out clearly without getting too bright, but when the vocals kicked in, they fell into the background against the drums and guitar.
The harsh, distinct soundtrack of Platoon can really put the high-end of a sound system through its paces. Unfortunately, the HT-XT1 felt both under-powered and under-imaged by its small design. Even at maximum volume, the rough scrapes and crunches of the jungle and the shrill whine of the flutes didn't fill up the room with much force, or give the tense scenes the oppressive sense they warrant. The speaker system also failed to produce much of a stereo sound field, resulting in the movie feeling small compared with other soundbars and soundplates.
The more conventional blockbuster score of The Amazing Spider-Man fares more favorably with the HT-XT1. The swelling orchestral sweeps resound on the speaker, making the film sound larger than Platoon. Voices sound crisp and clear, though the Movie mode seemed to cut back a bit on higher frequency sound effects like Spider-Man's web shooters.
The Sony HT-XT1 is an inexpensive and feature-rich way to add both more powerful audio and more HDMI ports to your HDTV. It certainly offers a significant improvement to the sound you'll get out of your average 40-inch flat panel display, though it lacks a bit of clarity in the mid-highs and power in the low-end, and its sound field isn't particularly impressive in size. It's a handy sound system designed to simply disappear under your HDTV, and for the price it's a decent performer. If you want more power and don't need HDMI ports, the Zvox SoundBase 570 offers bigger and better overall sound in an ever-so-slightly larger frame for $100 more.
The Sony HT-XT1 under-HDTV speaker system adds audio power and extra HDMI ports to your television, but its performance is underwhelming.
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