- Sony reveals 3 new party speakers: ULT Tower 5, ULT Tower 7, and ULT Tower Max
- ULT Tower 3, £349 (around $470 / AU$660); ULT Tower 7, £499, (approx. $680 / AU$940); ULT Max £1,299 (about $1,800 / AU$2,500)
- New circular woofers, multiple sound modes, 360-degree party sound
Sony has revealed three new party speakers and — hurrah! — I’ve had the chance to hear them for myself. The Sony ULT Tower 5, ULT Tower 7, and ULT Tower Max look to offer almighty audio output for parties, DJ sets, or even karaoke sessions, with various ways to play and connect.
These bass-conscious new speakers are built around newly developed large, circular woofers (a departure from Sony's almost rectangular X-Balanced woofer unit, typically seen across the ULT range), and according to Sony, the Max model specifically delivers the most powerful bass in the ULT Power series to date. Their bold designs — which also deviate a fair bit from previous ULT speakers — as well as their massive power outputs and broad connectivity options could make them a major rival for the likes of JBL’s PartyBox models, if the sound is right.
Just how good do Sony’s new ULT speakers sound? I attended an impressive demo and I’ll reveal what I thought shortly. First, let’s run through everything I learned about Sony’s Towers, from technical specifications to nifty new features.
Taking a closer look
Let’s look closer at each of the three new ULT Tower speakers, and go through the key technical details.
The ULT Tower 5 is the smallest in the new line-up, but it still packs quite the punch. It contains a 230mm woofer and two tweeters with a 300W maximum power output. Meanwhile, the ULT Tower 7 boasts a larger 280mm woofer, alongside two mid-range units, and four tweeters — two front-facing, and two rear-facing. The rear tweeters are also angled for a wider soundstage. The ULT Tower 7 has a 420W maximum power output.
Finally, the ULT Tower Max is a true beast of a speaker. It has three woofers, two front-facing, one rear-facing. But it also comes with two-midrange units, and four tweeters, two of which are rear-facing. Its high-power amplifier delivers 2,150W of output, making it one of the most powerful party speakers I’ve ever encountered.
I want to focus in on the woofers for a moment, because Sony were really keen to stress the changes made for the new ULT Tower models. Unlike some previous models, the new Towers have circular driver units for the woofers, rather than the ‘X-Balanced’ alternative.
Sony Product Manager Mike Somerset told me: “X-Balanced is fantastic for a smaller, compact system and maximizing the surface area inside — let’s say, for a rectangular speaker unit, you know. And it also delivers a really great, impressive ‘attack’ bass. But with these, we really wanted to emphasize deep bass — and to be able to do that we’ve moved to this circular driver unit”.
The speakers also have large capacity cabinets and ULT Duct tech, which is intended to help each model produce “deeper, more powerful bass with greater authority”.
Do it your way
As well as talking up the outrageous power of the ULT Towers, Sony was keen to share the impressive customizability of the speakers. That’s because there are a number of sound modes, all of which are designed for specific situations and genres.
There are two ULT modes. The first, Sony says, is intended to enhance deep bass for “a rich, low frequency sound that makes your heart tremble,” with the second made to ramp things up even further for “even greater power, delivering body-shaking bass and strong sound pressure”.
What’s perhaps more interesting, though, are the ‘Flat’ and ‘Live’ options. As you’d expect, Flat is designed to make a track sound as it was intended to at the mixing desk, with a more neutral, balanced approach. Live, however, is focused on delivering a more spacious sound, with a strong emphasis on vocal clarity.
The speakers were tuned with the help of a number of "Hip-Hop sound creators," including producer, songwriter, and DJ, Dready, who spoke with me about the EQ adjustment process. On the Flat tuning, he said, “That’s how I would have it on a DJ set, because obviously on the controller you have the lows, mids, and highs, and we just gave it a nice blend… so, you know, when people take it, they can express themselves how they want”.
Of course, if you want to personalize things even further, you can connect to the speaker with the Sony Sound Connect app and make use of the multi-band custom equalizer instead.
So…how good do they sound?
Do the ULT Tower speakers sound any good? Allow me to go through them one by one.
The ULT Tower 5 arguably impressed me the most, relative to its size and cost. Sure, it leaves out the 360-degree Party Sound feature that the larger models adopt (presumably due to its lack of rear-facing drivers), but its raw power and regimented sound were hard to ignore. When listening to Luther by Kendrick Lamar and SZA, the speaker showed its considerable versatility. The vocal sample in the intro sounded textured and resonant, but then the drive and power of deep bass hit with surprising impact. Bass, though the clear star of the show, sounded controlled yet powerful, and never shrouded vocals in the mids or drums up high.
We cycled between the various sound modes, and the switch between an ‘attack’ bass and deep bass mode was pretty striking. It was incredibly seamless to sift through the different modes using the ULT logo — which also happens to be a button. It’s too early to say if it’s a sure-fire hit, but for £349 (around $470 / AU$660, but these are guesstimates based on the UK pricing right now, since Sony hasn't disclosed official pricing for these regions at the time of writing), the ULT Tower 5 sounded far more impressive than some rivals I’ve tested in its price and size class.
Things got even louder when we switched to the ULT Tower 7. We tried listening to Don’t Start Now by Dua Lipa, and low-frequency sounds were full-bodied, agile, and striking. Treble sounded pretty forward to me, with higher-pitched percussion seeming highly prominent, while vocals sounded clear and well-weighted in the mix.
We also tried out Money by Pink Floyd, which is a great testing track for any speaker. The 360-degree sound seemed pretty effective here, and when pairing two ULT Tower 7s together in stereo mode, the spaciousness of the track was brilliantly recreated. Vocals and guitars sounded tonally accurate and well-separated, but that low-end still came through with immense drive.
Finally, we hopped over to try out the behemoth that is the Sony ULT Tower Max. I’m no stranger to a rave, and the Max made me feel like I was listening to a set at my local venue. I was able to pick a track of my choosing, so I threw on Breather by Chris Stassy. And this perfectly showed off the huge sound of the ULT Tower Max.
The pumping, deep bass was genuinely earth-shaking, and I could almost feel it vibrating through my soul. But spacey sounds in the mid-range still came through cleanly, and were provided plenty of room to express themselves. If you want truly mesmerizing power at a relatively moderate cost (all things considered), then the ULT Tower Max could be one to keep an eye on.
We also tried pairing ten of the ULT models together, and… as you can probably imagine, the results were palpable. Auracast technology allows multiple models to chain together, and even the LED lighting syncs up across each speaker, making for an especially immersive listening experience.
Final thoughts: enticing new designs and competitive pricing
The new ULT Towers feel like Sony’s attempt to genuinely take on JBL in the party speaker arena, with the latter being particularly dominant in this field. The party speaker segment has increased in popularity as of late, and we’ve even seen new entrants like Marshall releasing its Bromley 450 and Bromley 750 speakers.
But could the ULT Towers rival the likes of JBL’s Partybox models? Well, at a glance, I think they could. They offer incredible power, more than a lot of mainstream competitors, they have a new design with attractive lighting, refined sound with rounded woofers, and plenty of ways to make them sound right for you. And that’s not to mention the wide connectivity options, including Bluetooth, RCA, XLR, and USB-C.
For the power and features on offer, they’re also priced relatively modestly, with the Tower 5 coming in at £349 (around $470 / AU$660), the Tower 7 at £499 (in the region of $680 / AU$940), and the ULT Max at £1,299 (about $1,800 / AU$2,500).
I was also impressed to see the battery life of the speakers, with 30 hours on the ULT Tower 7 and 20 hours on the Tower 5 — that’s quite a lot of playtime given the power demands. And although features such as 360-degree audio and sound modes are exciting, Sound Field Optimization (which analyzes speaker placement and surround noise levels to offer the best sound possible) are even better. That’s something that could really set this model apart.
We’ll have to test the ULT Tower models out for a bit longer to determine whether they can compete with the best, but so far, it’s fair to say that they’ve impressed me.
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➡️ Read our full guide to the best Bluetooth speakers
1. Best overall:
JBL Flip 7
2. Best cheap:
JBL Clip 5
3. Best high-end option:
Bang & Olufsen A1 3rd Gen
4. Best party speaker:
Tribit Stormbox Blast 2
