LG SN11RG Soundbar Review

Bringing Maximum Cinematic Experience at Home with Dolby Atmos and Surround

Let’s be honest, movies are best at home, but to feel you have a home theatre system, you need proper sound. To be able to achieve this, other than getting a 4K TV set, you will also need to have a really good sound system in order to get the whole movie theatre experience. Sound is as important as the visuals but how big or compact you want this sound system to be? The LG SN11RG Soundbar with Dolby Atmos and Surround might just be what you are looking for as it is without a doubt one of the best, if not the best soundbar that you could buy today.

Soundbars are making a big come back in the entertainment industry. Compared to a traditional home theatre system, they are compact and super easy to install. Connecting the soundbar to TV usually takes a single cable, since it comes with HDMI, which feeds both video and audio in the same cable. More often than not these days soundbars have a Bluetooth connection to connect your smartphones, tablets, or laptops so you can play/ stream music, movies, or games at your own time. Most importantly though, soundbars produce deep bass sound and sharp mid’s and high tones that can compete with the best sound system in the market> Not only that but they are exponentially smaller in size and will definitely give you the best cinematic experience.

Overview

The LG SN11RG with Dolby Atmos and Surround speakers provide warm and high-quality audio straight out of the box. The soundbar determines the most suitable sound setting based on your surroundings. With Dolby Atmos and DTS:X technology, it can generate the three-dimensional surround sound that we often hear inside the cinema. We tested this here playing a few movies and were blown away but its precision. Expect accurate and high-resolution audio coming at you from every corner in the room, all feeding through its wireless rear up-firing speakers. Plus, the LG Soundbar SN11RG is compatible with Google Assistant so you can easily play music, control smart devices, and manage any task easily just by using our voice. Essentially, one of the best soundar for TV.

Key Features

• Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual:X
• Dolby Vision and HDR10 support
• Built-in Google Assistant and Chromecast
• Meridian Audio technology
• Wireless surround sound ready
• 4K pass-through (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection 2.2)
• Up to 24 bit and 192 kHz High-Resolution Audio
• 5.0 Bluetooth streaming
• USB playback
• HDMI eARC

Design

Measuring at nearly 57 inches wide, 2.5 inches thin (144cm x 6.35cm), and weighs 15.9 pounds (7.2Kg), the LG soundbar’s slim design still packs both a subwoofer and rear speakers covered. It has a sleek and elegant design that features a series of controls on the front panel such as the power, function select, volume, playback, and buttons for the Google Assistant. It goes without saying that you have full control of all features via a remote and/ or also through a mobile app called LG Wi-Fi Speakers.

To connect the soundbar with the LG Wi-Fi Speakers app, simply press the home button on the remote control. Click on the Setting icon, choose Sound, then Sound Out. Change the setting to “LG Sound Sync Wireless” and press Device Selection. The TV will start to search for compatible devices. To go into pairing mode, just press the LG TV Button and the LG Soundbar name will appear on the screen. Wait for the Bluetooth connection until the “Paired Device” show.

The subwoofer doesn’t look as neat and sleek as the main soundbar but you could hide its rather chunky size behind some carefully placed furniture. It is hard to find any subwoofer appealing as they are all rather oversized.

The rears are like the baby brother of the subwoofer serving about function than anything. But they are small which is consistent with the function they are intended for, rear surround sounds. You want something that you can easily hide, and these are quite small. The advantage with all these 4 peripherals is that they all connect to each other wirelessly so there is no need to worry about long cable runs that make a room always look untidy.

Features

Setup

Setting up the LG SN11RG Soundbar is very simple and hassle-free. Unlike the old home theatre system, there is no need for multiple cables or AV receivers to run the device. Just plug in the soundbar, download the Google Home app, and connect it to your home Wi-Fi. To connect the soundbar to your TV, LG provides a connection for either HDMI and optical audio options. Bear in mind though that optical audio, if that is the connection you go for, does not support Dolby Atmos and limits the surround sound effect. The one thing that we loved is that the subwoofer and rear speakers are automatically connected to the soundbar. This makes the whole set up done in a couple of minutes even if you are not technically savvy.

In addition to this, and we found this to be a rather nice touch, LG includes a wall mount bracket for the soundbar and rear speakers which gives you an extra option to fit the speakers anywhere you want in your room. One thing that is a must is getting the LG Wi-Fi Speaker app, it is a very handy thing to have on hand as you get features such as channel balance adjustments and audio delay adjustment. It is not a substitute for the remote itself but it is essential to run LG’s Artificial Intelligence room calibration. This brilliant feature measures and adjusts the sound accordingly based on your room’s size and shape by playing out a series of test sounds.

We are used to just placed the speakers anywhere that resembles “ok” and off you go. Now we need to get accurate and precise so some might find a little complicated setting up the LG Wi-Fi rear and subwoofer speakers, we certainly did at first. However the process is really straight forward, the sound really does all the work but the advantage of being able to have so much control over the sound you get and the sound effects are all well worth it.

Connections

These days we expect multiple I/O (in/ out) connections whether it is a 4K TV, 4K Blu-ray players, streaming devices, gaming consoles, etc. The connections are decent but we were a little disappointed that there wasn’t more. The LG SN11RG Soundbar has two HDMI inputs and one HDMI out which we feel in this day and age might not be enough especially if you have an outdated model of TV. When you buy a soundbar like this one you want it to be as functional and flexible as possible and although slightly limited (we wish it had at least 3 HDMI inputs) it still gives you plenty of connections and configurations.

There is also an available port for USB in the back of the LG Soundbar for multimedia playback (we used that a lot to be frank) . You also get one optical audio connection that unfortunately does not offer Dolby Atmos playback. The optical audio option cannot handle advanced audio formats so it limits the sound to a basic format like the Dolby Digital 5.1 (which to most people, might actually be more than enough).

The HDMI output port supports ARC/eARC (audio return channel), so that audio can pass through compatible TVs to the soundbar. The HDMI signal allows through 4K and HDR, including Dolby Vision, as long as you have a capable TV to handle the signal. It’s a shame, however, that the soundbar doesn’t support HDR10+, which is an alternative to Dolby Vision growing in popularity.

With the SN11RG soundbar, you get high-resolution audio of up to 192kHz sampling and 24-bit depth as well as  support for both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks. I can also decode Dolby Atmos music which, taking all in consideration, turns this soundbar into a serious sound system.

Smart Features

Google Assistant and the built-in Google Chromecast play a key role as part of the  LG SN11RG soundbar’s smart features. Through these you get easy access to music and/ or change track with just a voice command. We love this feature and never get tired of using it. It makes you feel you are inside a “minority report” movie. The built-in microphones are very responsive in picking up commands so rest assured, the voice command works super well. We tested this by giving it a command even when the sound was blasting, and it picked up the voice clearly.

Performance

The LG SN11RG soundbar is the best soundbar for TV from LG that §we have ever tried, by far. It produces immense sound and has the ability to cover any room with three-dimensional ambiance thanks to the help of Dolby Atmos and DTS:X sound formats. The up-firing drivers in the speakers create accurate and detailed sound even in the high frequencies. We tried to push the soundbar to its limit and try to get distorted sound but even at its loudest, the audio was crisp and sharp. Furthermore, the subwoofer projects exceptional detail in the mid’s and highs while giving you a seriously deep bass.

However, there had to be something we could pick on. We felt that vocals on movie soundtracks tend to sound a little thin. Also, the sound of punches, explosions, crashes or deep bass lacks the impact we were expecting and feel inconsistent. Sometimes they blow you away, other times you are left feeling a little flat. It is a bit disappointing because it is these scenes which usually are the ones you can’t wait to listen to because of the massive sound effects. And even if the subwoofer delivers impressive deep bass, pushing the speakers to its limit with heavy bass drops can cause some slight reverberation on the sound.

Sound

The LG SN11RG soundbar supports not only ApaDolby Atmos and DTS:X but also other audio formats such as Meridian Technology, Bluetooth 5.0, and a 24-bit/192 and 192 kHz audio resolution. This wide range of formats allows the soundbar to enhance and control the audio signal you get to give you a truly mesmerizing sound experience. It projects the sound literally to every corner of the room, giving it enough weight and warmth to fill whatever room you decide to install in.

Adjusting the levels of the sound for different effects for movies and music is made possible with AI Sound Pro. AI Sound Pro can convert almost any incoming sound format into a fully functional multi-channel signal by mixing the music and vocal across the front and rear speakers on the fly, rather than just increasing the sound randomly. The results in sound quality are mind-blowing spectacular. It is not perfect but it does an incredible job.

Additionally, the Night-Time mode can easily soften the sounds, boost the dialogue, or match the content to the appropriate channels with Neural:X. Neural:X is a feature similar to the Dolby Surround feature. It upmixes regular 2-channel, 5.1-channel, or even 7.1-channel soundtracks to add overhead sound information. This process and remix of the tracks and signals guarantee a wider dynamic range. Gosh, it is really technical stuff but what it boils down to is that this option gives you also an incredible versatility and in terms of sound quality, truly jaw-dropping.

Conclusion

LG packs its LG SN11RG soundbar with genuine cinematic performance and it would be the perfect addition to complete your home entertainment system. Boasting Dolby Atmos and DTS:X technology, you can be certain that you are getting a very clean, sharp, and crisp sound to give you the most optimal movie experience. Although we wish LG would consider supporting HDR+10 but hopefully they’ll do in the next model. Regardless, you are getting an amazing soundbar that will last you for years. Overall, there is no doubt that SN11RG has what it takes to compete with other leading soundbars.

As a side note, when purchasing a soundbar, make sure that it has Bluetooth capabilities so you can stream music or movies from our devices.

If for some reason this soundbar is not what you are looking for, check out our soundbars review section or the speakers sound system section. We are sure there is something there that will suit your needs and budget.

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