We just purchased a new 55" LED TV for our great room and needed a sound system (as is well known, the flat panel tv speakers are horrible). We did research for several days and had finally settled on either the Sony CT150 or the Boston Acoustics TVEEM20. Both had recieved great reviews. The problem with Sony is that the subwoofer is wired and contains all the inputs as well as the sensor for the remote. Thus, the subwoofer must be near the TV and easily visible (given the wall mounted location in our room, its a pain to run 10 foot cables through the wall). The problem with the BA is that it only has the circa 1980 RCA input (which few modern TVs seem to have as an output option). After much research we decided we had to settle for one or the other and went to Best Buy to test them. Once there, we stumbled upon the LG which hadn't even been stocked yet (just saw the box in the corner). After checking out the specs, we were delighted to see that LG had settled the problems! Wireless subwoofer can sit out of sight yet provides great effect. The sound bar has two optical inputs, plus a USB port and is Bluetooth enabled. All ports are on the bar, so you only need a short single optical cable from the TV to the bar.
Set up took about 2 minutes; plug in the bar, the subwoofer and plug in the optical cable. That's it. Be sure to turn off your TV's speakers to avoid any issues with sound bleeding.
Sound is great, assuming you have realistic expectations. This is not a $2000 home theater system so don't expect that. However, for a $300-$350 range soundbar, the sound is outstanding! Other than a tiny bit of static when set on a couple of the pre-installed sound effects (which goes away when we tried a different setting), its great. Plenty of power for our great room which is open on two sides and has 20 foot ceilings open to a loft (basically the worst acoustical set up you can imagine). Yet the LG puts out plenty of power; haven't even turned it up more than half way as even that was blasting. Great range of sound as far as we can tell; seems to hand music, movies, games, etc very well (again, use the different sound settings to get the best effects depending on source and type of content).
The Bluetooth sync is extremely easy. My wife had the Ipod running through the system by the time I was done putting away the box. The LG has a specific sound setting for MP3 files that upscales the frequencies, etc. The sound is really amazing.
If we had to come up with any negatives, we only have 2 very minor ones. My wife doesn't like the look as much as the Sony (the LG speakers are exposed, so it looks a bit more industrial); but even this is relative and very minor. We both agree its stylish and low profile. The only other negative is that it won't sync with our DVR universal remote, so we have to use the sound bar remote for volume control, and the other for everything else. Not really a big deal.
In sum, we stumbled upon this by accident (didn't even know LG made a soundbar, which is ironic given that we had bought a new LG LED tv just a few days earlier) and couldn't be more pleased. If you're looking for a good, low profile sound system for your tv but don't want to go to a full theater system, this is a good option. If you're an audio snob, you probably won't like it, but then again you probably sholdn't be looking at soundbars anyway. LG LSB316 Sound Bar with Wireless Subwoofer
I saw on an online post in a tech blog about a year ago that LG was going to launch a sound bar product. I was intrigued because I had purchased three LG lcd TV's in the past couple of years for different rooms in my home. I think they make a good product that is competitively priced. Sound performance has never been a strength of any flat screen product, and until you get a set in place in your home, in a specific room and live with it for a while, you really don't understand how good or how bad the TV performs.
My 47" family room TV was underperforming, but I did not want to go the whole distance and install an AV receiver and expensive speakers as I had done in the "man cave" that my son has since taken over for XBox and other teen activities. So, when I finally saw the pre Consumer Electronics press release from LG late last year that a sound bar product was in fact coming in 2011, I was interested. I did not see a lot of exposure from CES 2011, but knew it was only a matter of time before it popped up in stores given spring product launch/introduction cycles.
So last weekend the Best Buy circular in the local paper came and showed a free LG sound bar with the purchase of a 55" LG TV, stating the retail value to be $329. The sound bar from LG was available, but I doubted the retail price if Best Buy was offering it as a freebie, as a new prodcut (the LG and BB marketing guys really know how to kill a new product margin...but to my benefit). I quickly went to the web, looked at the Best Buy site ($329), the LG site ($329), Amazon ($256 sourced through World Wide Stereo ... went to their site, $269) and then did a broader Google search....nobody less money than Amazon, with shipping inlcuded!
WOW, Amazon is living up to their price leader reputation I thought. I had been through this before with Amazon. Sometims they hit a price point, and it only lasts for a few days or a week or two, and then the price goes up and you know you have missed the opportunity to buy for a low price. I didn't know if this would be the case with a brand new product, but I thought, based on other sound bar products I had looked at, that this was a good product at a good price. So, bought it on Saturday, it was delivered on Monday. Can't do much better than that Amazon.
Oh yeah, the sound bar. Came in a big box. Nicely packed to avoid damage shipping all the way from South Korea or wherever LG built this. The sound bar is small in size. They say it is built to match up to a 42"; makes me think they must have a larger version coming out next. But the 39" wide version looks good sitting on my console in front and beneath my 47" LG TV. Set up was very fast and easy (can be wall mounted, bracket included). Plug in the optical cable to the Comcast DVR and the sound bar. Set the wireless sub woofer on the floor next to my TV console and plug it in. Turn on both devices (TV and DVR). Everything works, first time, less than ten minutes, amazing! Also nice that they included at least one optical cable so you can get the system working right away.
The remote is small, intuitive and if you have an LG TV, automatically controls both (wish it controlled my LG BluRay...but I guess I'll be looking at a Harmony remote next), was easy to use. After it was all set up, I looked at the instruction manual! The sound was good, not great, but much better than we had from the TV. It can really pack a punch though when you turn up the volume. There are different settings for the sound depending on the type of programming you are watching. I have always thought this was kind of gimmicky, but since having something similar on a new AV receiver, I realize that there is real value in the way they have rigged these electronic chips. We look forward to the much improved experience watching BluRay movies or streming Netflix or just watching regular TV. Definitely happy with my purchase and the price I paid. Good product, good value. Glad I waited for this and didn't buy a bigger much more complex 5.1 type set up with all of the hassel extra wires and need for an AV receiver. I know the sound could be better, but in a smallish sized room, this is perfect for what we need.
The absolute icing on the cake is the BlueTooth connect. We have several Apple iTouch and iPhone devices in the house and a big library of iTunes and music on our home server. I have been looking at a Sonos set up to stream music through the house but want to see what Apple does with AirPlay before I make a final decision and investment. The sound bar BlueTooth, although it is by no means a hi fidelity device, gives you a little more freedom to unlock your music from a sound dock or ear buds. The LG LSB317 once again worked flawlessly connecting to the iPhone and iTouch and the music didn't sound half bad.
The worst part of the whole experience was the stupid label that LG placed on the front surface of the sound bar. It did not peel off easily, and it probably took longer to take it all off with rubbing alcohol that it took to unpack the box and set up the system......go figure! I guess LG doesn't have any packaging engineers?
I think LG has a winner on its hands with this product. - Highly Recommend - Soundbar - Lg - Home Theater'
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