Sony has announced three new speakers for its ULT Power Sound lineup, ranging from a $450 portable option to a $1,500 monster built for genuinely large gatherings.
All of them will be available to purchase starting this month via Sony’s official website, Amazon, and Best Buy.
How do the three new speakers differ?
The new ULT Tower 5 is the entry point into the lineup. Priced at $450, it’s the most compact of the three, yet somehow, Sony manages to pack in up to 300 watts of output. With a 20-hour battery life and an IPX4 splash resistance rating, you won’t feel anxious about carrying it around as well.
Higher up the price ladder is the ULT Tower 7, which costs $650. For the additional $200 over the Tower 5, you get 360-degree sound that fills a room with up to 420 watts of power, enough to enjoy your favorite movies or web shows on a big screen. It carries the same IPX4 rating, but the battery life goes up to 30 hours.
If you ask me, the Tower 7 is the most balanced pick of the three for anyone hosting regularly (indoor or outdoor).
Sony’s most powerful ULT speaker yet, the ULT Tower Max tops the range at $1,500 and easily justifies that ask. With three dedicated woofers and four tweeters, the speaker pushes up to 2,150 watts of power, which is enough for bigger living rooms, halls, or even larger outdoor venues.
What else is new about the lineup?
Sony is upfront that every model has been tuned with input from hip-hop sound creators, including Grammy-nominated producer Dot Da Genius and drummer-producer Daru Jones. So, apart from power and room-filling sound, you should also expect deeper low end and clearer vocals.
To facilitate that, the company has included a new circular woofer, paired with bigger cabinets and a bass-boosting duct. Enhanced Sound Field Optimization reads both the room’s layout and its background noise, then automatically rebalances the entire frequency range.
Sony has also announced two new profile buttons. While ULT 1 and ULT 2 push varying bass intensity, the new additions FLAT and LIVE offer a truer, unprocessed sound and a spacious live-concert feel, respectively. Additional features include karaoke mic support, syncable lighting modes, and the ability to pair multiple ULT speakers together.