Two and a half years after Sony first launched its ULT POWER SOUND line of powered Bluetooth speakers, the company has just unveiled a new flagship party speaker, the ULT Tower Max, as well as two additional models, the ULT Tower 5 and ULT Tower 7. You can read about the new lineup here. They’re designed to bring powerful sound, DJ capabilities, karaoke and a light show virtually anywhere you want.
While the ULT Tower Max was impressive when I heard it at a recent press event, the sheer size and weight of that unit, as well as its requirement for AC power, didn’t personally appeal to me as much as the step-down ULT Tower 7. And, after testing that speaker for a while, I feel that it may be the sweet spot in the new line-up for power, portability and pricing. At $649 (MSRP), it’s not exactly cheap, but it’s less than half the price of the ULT Tower Max flagship and it can definitely bring the boom. But I’m getting ahead of myself…
What Is It?
The Sony ULT Tower 7 is a large format party speaker. Weighing in at about 50 pounds and measuring roughly 27.7 by 16.3 by 13.6 inches (HxWxD), it may not be the speaker you’ll pack for a quick weekend getaway, but it will do quite well for tailgating or for a glamping or car camping trip where you want reasonable portability along with maximum sonic power. It also does surprisingly well on a pontoon boat. But we’ll get to that.
The ULT Tower 7 is in the middle of the new models as far as size and power, but it’s the largest of the three new speakers that supports true portability with a built in battery pack. The ULT Tower 7 can power your tunes for up to 30 hours on a full charge, at reasonable to high volume levels without the lights engaged. If you want the accompanying light show, this will cut your usable play time in half to about 15 hours. In case you forget to charge the speaker before a party, a 10 minute quick charge will give you up to 3 hours (180 minutes) of use. And, of course, you can use it while it’s plugged into AC power and charging. To maximize battery life, and disable the light show, just hit the “Stamina” button on the back.
The ULT Tower 7 features a new 11-inch (280mm) woofer, two midrange drivers and four tweeters, two on the front and two on the back to provide 360 degree sound. Specs claim it can hit about 103.5 dB SPL and can reach down to about 51 Hz.
The ULT 7 has four handles, one on each side on the bottom and the top of the speaker. It also has thick, solid wheels that will help in moving it across smooth surfaces. I would have liked to see a retractable handle like you’d find on carry-on suitcase as pulling it from the integrated lip/handle required me to stoop a bit. Trying to pull it down an inclined dirt path didn’t work very well so I ended up carrying it most of the way down to our dock (and into the pontoon boat) for outdoor testing. While 50 pounds isn’t exactly light, the placement of the handles made transportation fairly straightforward.
The ULT Tower 7 can be paired with another Tower 7 in stereo mode, either in the app or via a press of the “stereo pair” button on the back panel. If you want to pair it with more than one additional speaker, the ULT Tower 7 features Sony’s new “Party Chain” feature. With this, you press one button on the first speaker to become the host, then press the same button on any additional speakers to synch them to that host. This allows all chained speakers to play the same music, perfectly synchronized. When you link speakers via Party Chain, each speaker’s volume can still be individually adjusted, but the physical volume control knob on that host speaker can also control the master volume on any connected speaker.
We tested the Party Chain feature and found that it worked easily and reliably to link an ULT Tower Max, Tower 5 and Tower 7 together. And a simple turn on the dial on the host speaker turned all the speakers down together.
The only drawback to this new Party Chain feature, which uses Bluetooth Auracast to link the speakers, is that it does not provide backward compatibility with earlier powered speakers in Sony’s ULT and SRS lines. You can only link the new ULT Tower 5, 7 and Max speakers with each other (for now). We assume any future ULT speakers will also include Party Chain and will be compatible with these new ones. Also, because Party Chain uses an open version of Auracast, you can actually link it to other brand’s Auracast-enabled speakers, which is nice.
The ULT Tower 7 includes rubber feet on the bottom and on the right side so it can be placed horizontally or vertically with no fear of scratches or damage to the cabinet or drivers.
As a true party speaker, the ULT Tower 7 can do Karaoke, with both ¼-inch and XLR mic inputs. It includes built-in key adjustment controls on the back of the unit in case Freddy Mercury’s or Whitney Houston’s vocals are a bit outside your range. These controls worked as expected when I queued up a few of my favorite karaoke tunes. And yes, I did hit the high notes in A-HAs “Take on Me” without adjusting the key. Pay no attention to the folks in the audience covering their ears.
If you fancy yourself a DJ, the Sony Sound Connect app includes light show customization, as well as built-in sounds and effects like a phaser, airhorns, crowd noise and robot voices you can mix on top of your favorite tunes. If you prefer to just pre-assemble a “mix tape” on a USB thumb drive, you can plug that into the USB-A port on the back, press play and sit back and enjoy the music.
The Set-Up
There isn’t much to do, in order to get the ULT Tower 7 working. It did arrive with a low battery warning, so I plugged it in for an hour or so, in order to prepare for its maiden voyage. The unit enters pairing mode when you first turn it on, or whenever you press the pairing button on the top. Pairing via Bluetooth was quick and painless. I had brought the speaker down to my friend’s boat, and went back up to my cabin to grab some tasty beverages. By the time I got back, the speaker was already blasting out Pitbull tunes at a volume that would likely be audible on the far side of the lake. Hey, I figured, it was their boat, so they’d be the ones who’d get in trouble.
Listening Notes
Now this may not be specifically marketed as a marine speaker, but I will say the Ult Tower 7 was well suited to the task of providing musical enjoyment on our sunset cruise. Placed in the bow of a 22-foot pontoon boat, the speaker delivered the tunes to everyone on board, including those in the back of the boat. Even when my friend gunned his 90 HP motor and the noise of that motor, the wind and the water drowned out all conversation, the ULT Tower 7 belted out Fleetwood Mac, Allman Brothers, Queen and even KX5/Deadmau5 clearly with powerful bass and dynamics. It could easily cut through the sound of the wind and the waves without sounding strained or harsh. My friends all commented on how powerful the sound was and asked repeatedly about price and availability.
The ULT Tower 7 includes several ULT Power Sound modes which can be selected in the mobile Sound Connect app or by pressing the ULT button on the unit itself. There’s ULT1 which comes with a not-so-subtle deep bass boost and ULT2 which is like a loudness button on steroids, with a bump in the mid bass and seriously high SPL output. Sonic purists (or those indoors) may prefer the “Flat” mode which plays your music cleanly, without editorialization. There’s also a “Live” mode, which adds reverb to make your tunes sound like they’re being performed live. For outdoor listening, I favored “ULT 2,” but inside I preferred “Flat” mode, with some tweaks to the 10-band EQ available inside the app.
If my friends’ reaction to our little outing is indicative of anything, I expect this to be a very popular speaker for Sony. At one point, they may or may not have tried to throw me overboard, just so they could keep the ULT Tower 7 for themselves. And this is a clear indication that Sony is on to something here (and also, that I may need new friends).
Master of Any Genre
In addition to a sampling of jazz, soundtrack and rock tunes, I listened to several tracks from the debut Kx5 album from 2023, a collaboration between EDM artist/producers deadmau5 and Kaskade, and found that the ULT Tower 7 was equally adept at delivering the soulful lyrics as well as the throbbing synth bass lines. Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” also cut through the noise on the wind and water with the signature bass and drum tracks clearly defined and Stevie Nicks’ voice ringing out across the lake. “Thunder Only Happens When It’s Raining.” Maybe, but those bass and drum lines certainly sounded thunderous through the ULT Tower 7.
Back safely in the cabin, I loaded up my favorite internet radio station Radio Paradise, and chilled out for a few hours of their eclectic and always enjoyable music. Tunes from Yes, Pearl Jam, Neil Finn, AWOLNATION, Talking Heads and Bela Fleck, along with many artists I’ve never heard of, came through with a natural sonic balance, with lyrics clearly audible and instruments full of power.
For those who haven’t discovered it yet, you simply must check out Radio Paradise. A real internet radio station with songs selected by real human DJs, not algorithms or AI. There’s an app for Android and iOS. You can also find it on TuneIn Radio or on their web site at RadioParadise.com. And now back to our regularly scheduled review…
From my experience, the ULT Tower 7 seems to be equally at home with rock, pop music, EDM, jazz, folk music or even soundtracks and classical. Its various sound modes and flexible 10-band EQ will allow you to tweak the sound balance to match your specific tastes. But I will say it is perhaps most impressive with bass-heavy rock, pop and EDM. When that bass drops in ULT1 or ULT2 modes, the ULT Tower 7 is sure to bring a smile to your face.
The Bottom Line
The ULT Tower 7 offers powerful clean dynamic sound, deep bass and extended battery life. Its new Party Chain feature enables a simple button press to link multiple speakers together, but at the expense of backward compatibility with previous Sony party speakers. Its DJ, Karaoke and light show features put it on par with or better than much of the competition, but it’s the sound that sets it apart. Highly recommended.
Pros
- Powerful sound with deep impactful bass
- Long battery life – up to 30 hours on a charge
- Big wheels and 4 handles make transportation fairly simple
- Flexible set of inputs including Bluetooth, XLR, RCA, ¼-inch and RCA
- Party Chain makes linking multiple speakers simple
- ULT button/dial on the front of the unit makes volume control and mode switching simple
Cons
- No HDMI port for TV connection (can use analog input if TV supports it)
- A pullout handle would make it easier to move around
- No backward compatibility with previous Sony speakers’ “Party Connect” mode
- 50 pounds is a bit heavy to lug around
- Fairly expensive
Our Ratings
★★★★★★★★★★ Performance
★★★★★★★★★★ Usability
★★★★★★★★★★ Build Quality
★★★★★★★★★★ Value
Where to Buy:
Related Reading:
- SOUNDBOKS Launches “Mix” Bluetooth Party Speaker
- JBL Drops Boombox 4 and PartyBox 720 Party Speakers
- Best Budget Bluetooth Speakers Under $150: Editors’ Choice
- Sony Expands ULT Power Sound Wireless Speaker Line with ULT Field 3, ULT Field 5, ULT Tower 9 and ULT Mic
Mike C.
September 5, 2026 at 2:57 pm
I like it when seasoned audiophiles who own megabuck systems that sound thin and sterile get depressed after hearing these things.