LG is one of the most well-known brands in existence, they really are everywhere. From phones and tablets, air-conditioning units, fridges, dishwashers, microwaves…you get the idea. LG are also well known for their audio department too and have produced some great products over the years.
The latest product I got my hands on was their new SH7 soundbar. The system itself comprises of a four channel soundbar and wireless subwoofer, which on paper sounds very promising as the majority of soundbars at this price point make do with just a two channel bar and sub.
Out of the box the soundbar and subwoofer feels and looks upmarket with its nice brushed silver finish on the soundbar and textured pattern to the subwoofer. The soundbar is well thought out and cleverly hides its buttons on the back to clean up the looks on the front and top of the bar. There is a small bright screen that shines through the front grill mesh to display what input you’re on, volume level, sub level, bass & treble adjustment, sound modes etc. The supplied remote is on the small side but allows easy enough adjustment of various sound modes and adjustments as well as sources.
Connectivity is taken care of thanks to a good range of connections; optical, HDMI (1 in and 1 out) plus ARC (audio return channel) and an analogue 3.5mm jack connection.
“LG’s entry-level soundbar offers impressive sound for the price.” ‘Techradar’
There are some handy sound features built into the SH7 the best of which is something LG call Auto Sound Engine, which in summary optimizes any of the incoming audio to give a balanced sound however loud or quiet the volume might be, so when those annoying adverts come on much louder than the broadcast the SH7 will do its best to quieten things down for you. Another nifty audio feature is Adaptive Sound Control which in essence controls the bass and treble according to what’s happening on screen, so if you’re watching a movie with lots of action and speech, the bar will adjust itself to try and bring the speech to the forefront of what’s happening.
The thing is, all of this clever technology in principle sounds great, but in practice it doesn’t do as well as you’d hope. Having watched a couple of scenes from the brilliant film Kingsman, I was instantly grabbed by explosive effects, pin-sharp detail and a very very wide soundstage with the bar set in its cinema mode. Action zipped across the room and was given plenty of energy and enthusiasm. Huge bass and action was being brought to the forefront, however the speech really wasn’t, at some points in-fact it was totally swamped by the action going on. Playing with the settings yielded little results in terms of improvement, be it using the Adaptive Sound Control setting or leaving it in standard and adjusting the bass and treble myself, I could never achieve a balanced sound which being fair as this price point isn’t anything unusual.
The SH7’s enthusiasm should lead it to an enjoyable fun sound when playing back music.
Speaking of music it leads me nicely onto the streaming functions the SH7 has. Being part of LG’s Music Flow wireless system it should do well here and indeed it does. Supporting all of the latest streaming music services including Google Cast which makes playing all your favourite content a breeze. I selected Spotify connect for my listening, first up was a track by DNCE called Body Moves. It’s a fun track with great rhythm and bass for the SH7 to get itself stuck into. It certainly does get its teeth right into the track, bass filling the room and treble sparkling away, it’s certainly a more enjoyable listen compared to movies, still far from perfect but great for the price. Once the volume is ramped up that sparkling treble takes a hard edge and can become tiresome after a short while. To really test its low end extension I then listened to a track by AlunaGeorge called Mean What I Mean. Again the LG jumps head first into the track delivering the gusto to the bass the track wants. It’s far from subtle but it’s enjoyable and entertaining.
Overall the LG looks great on paper but falls short in the real world. Given its price point, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that there are limitations to its performance. The LG SH7 is still a versatile performer so come give it a try for yourself in one of our demonstration rooms!
Click to find out more about the LG SH7.
Author: Aaron, Bournemouth store
