HT-S200F

Overview

HT-S200F is a compact 2018 Sony soundbar with a built-in subwoofer. The black bar is 580 mm wide, 64 mm high and 95 mm deep, weighs 2.3 kg and can be wall-mounted.

Sony lists 80 W of total power from an S-Master amplifier, with two front-facing speakers and the built-in subwoofer in one bar, so there is no separate subwoofer box.

The TV connects over HDMI ARC (with HDMI CEC and BRAVIA Sync) or the optical input. Bluetooth (version 4.2, SBC) streams music from a phone, and Sony also lists a wireless TV connection over Bluetooth. A USB port plays WAV, MP3 and WMA files. The box includes a remote control with batteries, an optical cable, an AC adaptor and power cord, foot pads and the manuals.

You control it with the buttons on the bar or the remote. Sony lists Auto Sound, Cinema, Music and Standard sound modes, plus Night Mode and Voice Mode. There is no Wi-Fi, app or voice assistant.

What the specs mean

• 2.1 speaker setup: two main channels (left and right) and one subwoofer channel, here built into the bar, with no centre, surround or height speakers. Sony lists S-Force PRO Front Surround, a virtual surround processing that Sony says emulates cinema-style surround sound.
• HDMI ARC, not eARC: the Audio Return Channel sends the TV's sound to the soundbar over the HDMI cable and lets the TV remote control the volume. The newer eARC adds high-bitrate formats such as Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos and uncompressed multichannel audio; HT-S200F does not support eARC.
• No HDMI passthrough: the soundbar has no HDMI input, so a console or streaming box connects to the TV, and the TV sends the sound back over HDMI ARC.
• Audio formats: Dolby Digital and LPCM 2ch.
• Expandability: none; Sony lists no optional wireless surround speakers, and no add-on subwoofer is listed for it.