LG - Sound Suite M5 Wireless Spatial Speaker with Wi-Fi and Apple Airplay 2 - Black

This is my third M5 speaker. The first two are in my living room, connected to the soundbar for a full Sound Suite system. This one lives in my bedroom as a standalone speaker that I use for music and audiobooks. Sound quality is great for the price. Very full and dynamic. The build quality is premium - it's well constructed with premium materials and looks great in the space. If you're looking for a Sonos full home audio replacement - this system has a little ways to go. It technically works with Apple Airplay and Google Cast, but it's not without flaws. Given the product is so new to market, I'll give them some grace as they work through the kinks.

THIS… IS the LG Sound Suite M5, LG’s next generation speaker that can do it all. The M5 can function as a standalone speaker to add sound to any room (able to be painted with others) or connected to your LG soundbar to complete your sound experience. With tons of features and plenty of sound, let's take a look at just how well the M5 performs. Ok so taking this out of the box and right off the start, the M5 looks fantastic. Its sleek yet super modern aesthetic allows it to blend in anywhere and with a reasonable footprint, it is easily placed on any table (or mounted on your stand/wall). The speaker has a metal foot at the bottom and a sleek metal grill on the top with a cloth wrapping around the front giving it a super premium aesthetic. The fabric does a good job at hiding dust while also being easy to clean with a lint roller and a few rolls over the fabric. On the top of the speaker, you will see its 5 button touch user interface. It has the traditional volume up and down with a pause and play button, an input button and then a heart button. The heart button is a super neat ‘customizable’ button which changes to a preset playlist, content or feature with one touch. On the rear of the speaker is a power button, a usb-c port to plug into your other device for audio such as a PC/usb and a mic on/off switch for the microphone used when calibrating your room. Something unique that LG did was the inclusion of an adjustable RGB strip at the bottom which it uses to show Setting up the M5 is really simple and straightforward. You are prompted to download the LG ThinQ app and create an account with LG which was effortless, followed by a quick pairing and poof! Done! My M5 speakers got an immediate firmware update that did take a few minutes, but otherwise, I was set up and ready to go in less than 10 minutes. LG using their top of the line Alpha 11 processor really shows in not only how these speakers respond to touch input, but in its near instant response from the app as well. I paired these M5’s to my H7 for a complete sound setup and honestly had no issues as the process was not only easy but really quick. The App allows you to control the M5’s rather easily for adjustments and enabling smart features such as its spotify connectivity. The cool thing about the M5 is that it will wirelessly connect to your newest generation (gen 5) LG TV wirelessly (2.4g/5ghz wifi) without the need for a soundbar as a hub. You can also use 4 of these in tandem (M5/M7) for any room with no other device needed, but must have at least 2 M5’s for dolby surround sound. Ok, so this is what we are alllll here for! How does it sound? Well…Really good! It is a 1.1.1 setup, So 1 main speaker, 1 subwoofer (3”) and 1 ‘height’ (up firing) speaker that does a really good job at filling up a medium sized room when in tandem. I think that these offer a really well balanced sound profile with the 3” subwoofer, and with the app you get decent control over the sound stage as well with several different modes and a 3 band EQ. LG does have an ‘AI mode’ that auto adjusts the sound profile based on what it thinks the music is and to be honest it is really good and the mode I use for everything. I think that outside of a traditional theater sound, the M5 and M7 speakers work fantastic for adding comprehensive music abilities to a kitchen or general space that doesn’t revolve around a TV. The reliable connection and easy to interface makes me want to put these all over my house due to their great sound and fantastic reliability. Wrapping this up, I was shocked to see just how good these speakers would be when not used exclusively for home theater use! Normally my wife is not too entertained by the new gizmos that I bring through the door, but having music this good in surround sound in the kitchen area while we cook has sold her on getting more of the M5’s. That's before we even get into just how good these speakers are when paired to my H7 soundbar. LG has truly hit it out of the park with these, making it effortless to recommend from a home theater standpoint, or a home audio. That being said, bestbuy has a great return policy so you are never stuck with a speaker that doesn't fit your home or your expectations. Until next time :)

Amazing set of speakers. Each one is basically a 3 in 1. They have a front and up firing speakers and integrated woofer. The have the newest Dolby Atmos flex connect feature, that you can use to connect them wirelessly and in any place, they don't have to be either just front or rears, place then anywhere and they will be tunned accordingly. The first and main feature, is if you own one of the newest LG Oled TV series 5 (I have a C5), you can add them to the TV via this system (my TV got a firmware update for this, just FYI), and the TV will work as a center speaker and these can be used as additional speakers, i.e like rear surrounds. I did test that and works good, however since I have also the H7 soundbar that works with these, I ended up pairing them with it. The soundbar does its tunes and configures them correctly to where you place them. I did put them on the rear. And each speaker, like I mentioned are basically a 1.1.1 system. They fire to the front, and up (so the sound bounces on the ceiling and hits you as if you had real height speakers) and they also have an included woofer, and this was great, I was thinking I was going to have to buy their woofer to add it (they have one you can add), but it the bass was great enough and great for me. What surprised the most, is the height channels sounds, were great and distinctive, they usually recommend for best performance a flat ceiling, and unfortunately mine is slanted, but with its auto tunning with Dolby flex connect, it was great and I was amazed! With Dolby flex connect you can add more if you want, so I'm planning on getting another pair and put them on the side, instead of a woofer (plenty of bass as it is). Amazing solution from LG that lets you flexible upgrade your sound system and easily tune it!!!

Speakers came in perfect condition from my local carrier. Unboxing is straight forward and upon opening you immediately notice the incredible build quality! Absolutely beautiful design in my opinion that could fit into any household and keep the misses happy due to its aesthetics! I also really like the design because they can fit on almost any stand or any table and fit in to anything. We paired these with our LG soundbar and our 83” C5 OLED TV. Pairing was straightforward in the app where you can make multiple sound adjustments depending but if you are going to buy this high end speakers use the sound mapping it provides via the app to calibrate your specific living area. This makes a huge difference and in my opinion is something you can’t skip. For sound we used them as stand alone and a stereo pair and paired with our LG soundbar for atmos content. I sit really close to the left rear and while listening to music in stereo it’s full blast but I’m spacial audio that’s where you win. I love the ability to control the system in multiple ways… remote, app, or my OLED TV. Still some software glitches but I’m sure updates are coming. I recommend.

This review will closely mirror my H7 Soundbar review as the M5's were sent with an H7 Soundbar for evaluation PROS Amazing Dolby Atmos Flex Connect Nearly infinite placement options Superior looks compared to predecessor MUCH more appealing than their S95TR predecessors CONS Sterile / No Soul Sound Mono drivers best suited for surrounds Little help from bass radiators Must have an H7 Soundbar or LG TV to use DAFC No direct Amazon Music streaming support LG ThinQ App The LG ThinQ App is not my favorite app, but it does an excellent job of taking products from across LG's entire consumer products line and combining them into one, common app. LG has done a good job at making uncommon appliances all easy to use and configure with one app, instead of forcing users to use multiple apps for each of its product lines. They should get a tip of the hat for their efforts. Not to mention, the ThinQ app works equally well on my Android 16 devices as well as my iOS devices. SET-UP The M5's are set-up and configured easily with the ThinQ app. Set-up and firmware updates are easy to complete and pain-free. Upon first opening the M5's, I tested them solely as a stereo pair with no soundbar. Once plugged in and their firmware updated, they easily "talked" to each other and without the soundbar, magically figured out I was wanting them set up as a stereo L/R configuration. It was slick. An immediate prompt verified my desires and after a somewhat lengthy programming, they were up and running without issue. It was slick how they worked and calibrated themselves. SOUND QUALITY Like I said above, this review will closely mirror my H7 review, the sound from the M5's is sterile and has no soul. They aren't overly bright, nor are they warm and rich sounding. Judging speakers is 100% subjective as what one person likes, another may despise. To each their own. While I don't despise the sound quality of the M5's, I'm not taken aback by it either. The M5's would not be my first choice in a stereo pair for music listening, nor would they be my first choice as a L/R pair in a surround system. However, they work great as surround channels in a DAFC system, providing just the right amount of ambience where, frankly, the M7's would be overkill. DOLBY ATMOS FLEX CONNNECT I think a little explanation could be needed when implementing a DAFC system, as it took me a bit of research to wrap my head around it. Alone, the M5 speakers will are not able to be used as a DAFC system. They can be used as a stereo pair and tied together easily with the LG ThinQ app, but in order to implement them in a DAFC scenario, buyers must either have a compatible LG TV with DAFC built-in or the H7 Sound Suite Soundbar, or both. If you have a compatible LG TV, the TV becomes the brains of the DAFC system and serves as the controller. It will "reach out" to the M5's and determine their placement and positioning and do the math and configuration of your system. Likewise, if you don't have a compatible LG TV, you must have the H7 soundbar to have a DAFC system. You can hook an H7 soundbar to any TV via the e-ARC HDMI port and let the H7 become the brains of the DAFC system. It will take over the role of the controller and configure your system. I tried the M5's with a compatible LG TV and with a non-compatible Hisense TV using its e-ARC channel and found that either way, DAFC performed equally with the only difference be the quality of sound from the TV's internal speakers versus a dedicated soundbar. CONS I don't like that by default, the M5's cannot be used a destination source for Amazon Prime Music streaming. They are only compatible with Spotify Connect. I don't use Spotify, so for me, it is demerit for the M5's. Secondly, I'm not a fan of the sterile sound produced by the M5's. It's not offensive by any means, they just lack soul. There's no warmth, there's no musicality. As a set of surrounds, they work perfect, but I would not use them as a stereo pair for streaming or as my main L/R channels in a full DAFC system. Again, evaluating speakers is totally subjective and I fully admit that I'm snobby when it comes to listening. FINAL THOUGHT Would I recommend the M5's? Yes. They work great a set of DAFC surround channels. That's how I have them configured in my system. I initially tried them as standalone L/R stereo pair and then used them as L/R channels along with my H7 soundbar. They didn't cut it for me. But they work perfect as an inconspicuous set of surrounds. Configuring them in any scenario is pain-free and some of the easiest I've ever experienced. Anyone that's configured surround systems in the past should be absolutely floored at just how easy and accurate the Dolby Atmos Flex Connect system can be set-up. It is truly game changing. You literally place the speakers where you want them, plug them in, and using the room calibration tool in the ThinQ app. It plays a series of music and within seconds configures the positioning, crossover, delay, placement, etc. Just, Wow! RECOMMENDED