LG - 2.1-Channel Soundbar with Wireless Subwoofer and DTS Virtual:X - Black

This was a replacement soundbar for our 43" LG flat screen. Two things attracted me; price ...it's at a significant discount; reviews ...a long litany of positive comments. Icing on the cake; the 35" long "bar" fit perfectly along the top edge of the TV and the sub fit the "cubby" in the TV cabinet. Mounting the soundbar was a challenge; the bar is designed to sit on the TV cabinet or be mounted to the wall, either on a shelf or using the included wall brackets. Mounting the bar to the TV, above or below, requires buying a mounting kit with "L" brackets in it. Our flat screen is on a moving mount; it swivels, extends and retracts so the soundbar has to be mounted to it. Two threaded points on the bottom of the soundbar are the only mounting options. The marginally sized cut-out on the back of the soundbar for HDMI connections makes installing them difficult. The HDMI jacks are not marked; labeling is on the roof of the cutout that's impossible to see with the bar installed. Marking the "ARC" specific HDMI jack is a good idea. Initially the TV and soundbar didn't work using the ARC feature. I got no sound even though the bar/sub powered up properly when the TV was turned on. I tried different tactics and eventually got the ARC feature to work. I believe re-seating the the HDMI cable for the ARC function is what did the trick. The sub-woofer has a rear-facing port and, for best effect, you should place the sub so the rear port isn't blocked. When I installed this in my television cabinet I cut out the back panel where the sub was placed. Robust fidelity is how I would describe the "voice" of this soundbar setup. The combined unit is rated at 300w rms(!): 50w/ch for the bar and 200w for the sub. THD is 10% for both bar and sub ...not the greatest but, unless you're gonna crank the volume, it shouldn't be noticeable. My ears tell me this has a much fuller sound than the Sony unit it's replacing. The LG soundbar has 4 sound programs: "AI Sound Pro"; "Bass Blast"; "Standard"; "DTS Virtual X". In addition you have the ability to adjust treble and bass and set the Sub-woofer output level. "AI Sound Pro" works nicely; IMHO the best "sound effect" of the bunch. Tweak the treble a bit for voice clarity, add a bit of bass and dial in the sub output level and you're good to go.

I'll just start by saying that this isn't the best for music. It doesn't sound as powerful as some of the others at this price point, like the Sony HT-S400. The LG SN4A's sub just can't keep up. But, for movies and TV, it does ok. I think the AI Sound Pro setting is good, and I leave it on. I do have to crank the volume up for some programs, There is no HDMI cable included, but there is a pretty long optical cable inside. I used it until I figured out the eARC connection, which was a setting I needed to change on my TV (changing the sound processing from Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital). The SN4A cannot process Dolby Digital Plus. I do like the SN4A, and I think it's perfect for a bedroom TV. The display on the front automatically dims after a few seconds, which is a fantastic feature. It also has an HDMI input for another device to connect to directly, if you need it. I think for a small to medium-sized room, this will perform at its best. Any larger of a space and this will sound underwhelming. You'll want to go up a class or two for sure.

Works very well and the sound is good along with the bass from subwoofer. Looks good hanging right underneath my tv, though I could use a bigger one as this one falls around 12" shorter than tv. Durable too because while hooking it up it was on brackets and I accidentally let it fall around 3' to the desk beneath it and it still works just fine.