Sony A1 Bravia oled Preview – The first television with a ‘hidden sound system’
Sony is a pioneer when it comes to OLED technology. The company launched the first OLED television in 2008: the XEL1. This very first commercially available OLED television had a screen diagonal of only 11″ and had to fetch no less than three thousand euros. Sony has also been making expensive OLED screens for the film and broadcast industry for many years that are used as a reference monitor. OLED panels can be scaled up to large sizes for the living room.
For its first OLED television for consumers, Sony, like other manufacturers who make OLED TVs, has therefore teamed up with LG Display. During the press conference at CES, Sony showed this first large OLED TV; the A1 Bravia oled.
Of course, the A1 is suitable for HDR playback, with Dolby Vision and HDR10 currently already supported. Later this year, an update hybrid log range will be added. Nothing was known about support for Technicolor’s latest hdr format at this time, but it seems that this format will not be supported. During a presentation of LG’s W7 OLED , it became clear that hardware support is required for this; only a software update will therefore not suffice.
The appearance of the A1 is very sleek, because in addition to the OLED panel, with very narrow bezels all around, there is nothing to see at the front. The screen stands on the TV furniture without a base, so that nothing distracts from the image. So no speakers are visible either. This is the case with more televisions, but in general the speakers are mounted downwards in the housing. Since there is no space under the screen with the A1, this solution is not possible.
Sony uses a unique audio system with the A1 that has been baptized Acoustic Surface. It is a hidden sound system where the sound comes from the picture panel. That sounds pretty futuristic, but the operation of the system is actually dead simple and exactly the same as with just about any other loudspeaker: by means of a voice coil and a magnet. Only the voice coil is not connected to a loudspeaker cone, but the OLED panel is vibrated by it.
There are four voice coils behind the screen that are bundled in pairs so that there are two stereo channels. If you know a little about loudspeakers, you will probably now think that a flat screen panel does not make an ideal loudspeaker. For example, for good bass reproduction you actually need a sound box to prevent acoustic short circuit. Sony has therefore hidden a subwoofer at the back in the kickstand that keeps the screen upright.
We were able to listen to the system during a demonstration in a separate enclosed room at CES and the sound quality was remarkably good. It feels completely natural that the sound comes from the screen and not from below or next to the screen. This is also the reason why speakers are always placed behind the screen in cinemas. The sound quality can certainly compete with an affordable soundbar, although the more expensive audio systems naturally perform better.
We listened from different positions and noticed that the sound straight from the front sounds considerably better than when you sit diagonally in front of the TV. It is not the case that the sound sounds bad at an angle, but the stereo image is clearly much nicer in the middle of the screen. This is because high tones mainly propagate in a straight line. Many tweeters therefore have a convex shape to improve the radiation behavior . Still, it’s a nice solution that sounds distinctly better than the down-firing speakers found in most other modern televisions.
The A1 is a bit reclined due to the kickstand and unfortunately the angle of inclination cannot be adjusted. Especially if the TV is placed on a high piece of furniture, it may look a bit strange. It is also possible to mount the TV on the wall, but because in addition to the subwoofer, all connections and the power supply are housed in the kickstand, it cannot be removed, only folded. It has vesa screw holes that allow it to be attached to a standard wall bracket. The thin OLED panel therefore hangs relatively far from the wall. When the TV is mounted on the wall, the kickstand acts as a hinge that allows the angle of the screen to be adjusted vertically.
According to Sony, despite the fact that the same LG panel has been used, the A1 offers better image quality than other OLED televisions because its own image processing has been applied. We do not endorse this claim; the image certainly looked very good during the demonstrations, but not better than we are used to from other OLED televisions.
Sony has confirmed that the Bravia A1 will come to the Benelux, but when exactly is not yet clear. It is also not yet clear what the television should cost, but given the price of comparable OLED TVs from other manufacturers, we estimate that even the smallest 55″ model will cost around four thousand euros.