Love your razor thin TV – but feel the sound is a little lacking (as per most new TV’s)? Well, surely you need a bigger soundbar that will no doubt detract from how slim your new TV is? Well, LG may have created the answer for you.
LG have been producing ultra-thin soundbars for the past few years as part of their offering alongside the ‘made for wall-mounting’ G series. However, even if you’re not looking for a new LG OLED this bar is unique enough that it might just be the upgrade you’re looking for anyway.
There’s a whole host of what are perhaps known as ‘TV add-on soundbars’ out there, and LG along with Samsung bear most of the blame for that. Keen to keep their offering competitive, they’ve been trading blows by adding free or discounted soundbars for some time now, meaning the bars often get written off as a freebie. Whilst this might sometimes be sort of, maybe, a little bit true – there are occasionally some standout options.
The LG USG10TY is the successor to the recent G1 and GX series bars from previous years, staying about as narrow as a speaker can (the bar is a svelte 3.25cm from front to back), the bar might not be suited to tabletop installations, but with a flat mounted TV you’d be hard-pressed to find a more discrete soundbar solution.
Super-slim but with powerful sound, the LG USG10TY is a stylish soundbar that’s perfect for wall mounting.
Although technically only a 3.1 soundbar including the subwoofer, LG have sprung to ensure the bar can process Atmos sound via the eARC port. Does it sound as good as something dedicated like the Sennheiser Ambeo or the Sonos Arc when dealing with full Atmos – no. But does it remind you of a battleship, or try to get you to add a subwoofer and surrounds to complete the experience – also no.
The bar acts closer to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) by using some clever processing to provide more ‘vertical’ sound than a 3.1 bar would usually be able to, and from it’s slim box frame – does an excellent job. The sub is also designed carefully to provide as much whack as possible from a smaller box than you’d usually find attached to a bar. With wireless coming as standard, you can tuck the sub away in a corner, behind or sofa or somewhere similar to keep the illusion of minimal speakers going.
The clever processing continues with LG’s AI sound processing. Similar to their picture engines on their award-winning TV’s, it detects what content is being played and acts accordingly. Flitting between sport, where within seconds it’s managed to focus on dialogue clarity as the commentators keep the energy high and shout out on pitch occurrences (you’ve caught me reader, this reviewer is not a sports fan), and then directly over to a YouTube trailer for The Batman, specifically for a ‘lower quality’ source. The bar quickly adjusts and clears up the less than stellar, compressed sound, making the growly tones of Gotham’s defender more intelligible and keep the explosions and punches tight and exciting without drowning out the rest of what’s going on.
As icing on the cake, the LG USG10TY is also network ready for all your music streaming needs and for integration into your smart home. It’s ready (and mercifully easy!) to set up with Airplay 2 if you’re in Apple’s ecosystem, Google Home or Alexa with only a few clicks and swipes on their respective apps.
Are there better bars on the market if sound quality is the utmost of your concerns – yes, but if that’s the case, why not look at a home cinema system to really push the boat out? If, like many others, you need something to enhance your listening experience when watching your favourite Netflix show, or family movie nights so you can hear dialogue over the crunching of snacks without impacting too much on your living space, then get down to your local Richer Sounds and have them fire up this discrete and impressive bar for you to test.
Author: Tom, Cardiff Store
