Sony Preps 360 Spatial Sound Firmware Update for Upcoming Rear Speakers

A Sony over-the-air firmware update will bring 360 Spatial Sound Mapping capabilities to the company’s HT-A7000 and HT-A5000 sound bars when connected to Sony SA-RS3S and SA-RS5 rear speakers, it said Wednesday. The rear speakers will be available for preorder soon, Sony said. The update will be available Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT via a download that can be extracted to a USB drive or over Wi-Fi via the sound bar, it said. 360 Spatial Sound Mapping technology creates multiple “phantom speakers” by synthesizing sound waves based on positional information of the sound bar, it said.