LG - Sound Suite H7 Soundbar with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect - Black

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  An Incredible Soundbar with Maximum Flexibility

  • Tech Insider Network Member

  This soundbar is truly fantastic with amazing sound and most importantly, support for the fantastic Dolby FlexConnect tech that allows real flexibility and great sound from add-on speakers. We were honestly impressed by the heft and sound quality from this sound bar. Even within our oddly shaped living room with a vaulted ceiling, LG/Dolby delivered a balanced and immersive sound after its auto-calibration. We own an LG G5 TV which additionally allows for a wireless connection between this soundbar and the TV, but we opted to connect it directly via HDMI and allow the soundbar be the central coordinator for our two M5 speakers. Even with an irregular placement with one speaker behind and another halfway back we had an incredibly immersive sound without a typical surround layout. While we’re getting amazing sound with less components than is typical for a 5.1 equivalent setup, the FlexConnect within this soundbar also has the ability to support more speakers than a 7.1 setup, if you wish. It takes a lot of guesswork and calibrating out of the mix and makes for a very approachable system, even if you might find yourself messing with sound settings at times for various kinds of media, whether that be booming movies or ‘talky’ dramas where you might want the voice to come through more balanced. Luckily LG provides some quick options both from the ThinQ app and their remote. On its own it’s a very nice, hefty soundbar packed with speakers positioned for awesome stereo and good bass, but for surround sound with additional speakers, it’s industry-changing and absolutely the future for most people. At 47” long, it’s also hefty and powerful in itself. We were able to get very similar sound from the H7 and two M5 speakers as we were able to get out of a big receiver, and a full wired 5.1 setup with and a huge subwoofer. In several ways, LG provided the more immersive sound, with better dynamic range - allowing explosions on screen to sound ‘explosive’ rather than toned down. For a perfect comparison, we may buy LG’s compatible sub (W7) to gain more power in the lower range, but it’s still incredible. In additional to allowing flexibility in number of additional speakers and layout, it’s made our living room much more streamlined. The soundbar looks much more clean than our prior left, center, and right speakers - with all of their inherent bulk and cabling. If starting fresh, this is the way to go. Finally the tech has reached a point where buying a receiver doesn’t feel like a necessity in a theater setup. The small screen on the front is great for relaying modes and is very subtle in practice, almost reading like E-ink, despite being OLED in itself. It never distracts from the TV. A central glow on the middle, lower edge of the soundbar also provides some feedback when adjusting volume - and to indicate that it’s active. My only three small issues with this soundbar is that LG doesn’t give a lot of guidance on how to ensure you’ve set things up in the most ideal way. I had an initial issue with delayed audio and it took me a while to realize that I needed to switch my audio output to ‘PCM’ rather than ‘Bitstream’ to eliminate the problem. Second, the included remote borrows the same design and layout as our LG TV, causing confusion at a glance when we grab for the wrong remote. It almost seems like LG went out of their way to fill each button slot with options you may or may not need, rather than make it more straightforward. Third, the ‘AI Upmix’ feature never made improvements to the sound, but rather caused voices to sound distant and tinny. I always leave it off now. Overall__ Despite those nits, it’s a hefty, quality soundbar that makes any TV sound incredible. It then goes further to support a very flexible surround sound system when you add on either M5 or M7 speakers, with great flexibility as to where you place them - and no speaker wires and just standard power plugs on each, with all sound handled wirelessly. I love the sound from this H7 soundbar in both setups and would happily recommend it to anyone, especially if they may want to have the flexibility to extend their system in the future.

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  Scott S Posted 2 weeks ago

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Powerful, great sound and super customizable!

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 50 Contributor

  Amazing sound bar. So far its the best one I've have gotten, and I have had many over the years, started with just a 2.1, then a 5.1, then a 7.1 and finally this one. The build quality is amazing and there is quality fabric everywhere and it has some heft to it, its long too! At 47", you got to make sure you got the space to put this guy down! Installing it is easy and it has the new Dolby flex connect, which is an amazing system, truly revolutionary. If you have a newer 5 series LG Oled TV (I got a C5), you will be able to connect the soundbar to it wirelessly to it, however there is an update that is coming, so far I was only able to connect two independent M5 speakers, but then I decided to reconnect them directly (wirelessly to the soundbar) (and for that, there was also a firmware update on the TV), so I connected the soundbar via HDMI and it has one eARC HDMI port (one con, doesn't have more input HDMI's, so you must use your TV's ones, and via eARC it will pass the sound to the soundbar). If you don't have one the latest LG Oled TV's, you can still use it this way. The soundbar has a little screen on the front for some information, but I mostly use the app to look up the settings and tune it. With Dolby flex connect, you can place your speakers anywhere you want and it will automatically tune the sound to where they are placed (plays sounds to calibrate itself), since I had two other M5 independent satellites (and they are basically a 1.1.1 speaker themselves), I placed those on the rear, like rear surround ones, and it calibrated the system perfectly. The app is good enough and lets you tune your sound to your liking. Sound was amazing and immersive, considering I have a slanted ceiling, not perfectly flat, I could tell the sounds coming from above from Dolby Atmos height tracks just fine! I was wowed. It also has a setting where the sound can follow you and tune itself to wherever you are seating on the room, so no more having to seat perfectly in the middle of the room for a good listening experience. One small con is it does not support DTS:X sound formats. I also tried my video game console and it worked great too (it outputs Dolby Atmos) and I did not notice any lag between the action on the screen and the sound effects. Like I mentioned, I have two M5 speakers as rears (and each has a front and top firing speakers and integrates subwoofers), but with this system you can add more seamlessly and it will auto tune them. I'm planning to buying a pair more and put them on the sides and I'll be set! In all, best sound system I've had and if you are planning on upgrading your sound setup, you won't be disappointed!

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  JamexRZ Posted 2 weeks ago

• Rated 4 out of 5 stars

  Dolby Atmos Flex Connect is a Game Changer

  • Tech Insider Network Member
  • Top 100 Contributor

  TLDR: A significant upgrade from LG's previous generation. Dolby Flex Connect makes setting up a surround sound system pain-free. This review will mirror a lot of my M5 review, as they were sent along with this H7 soundbar for evaluation. PROS Flex Connect Auto Room Calibration Multiple Placement Options and Configurations Compatible with all TV's that have eARC, not just LG CONS Non-standard wall mount bracket spacing for soundbar Cold sounding with little warmth from drivers Not compatible with Amazon Prime Music APP / INSTALLATION For anyone who has ever set-up a surround system in the past, the Dolby Atmos Flex-Connect is an absolute game changer. Buyers are no longer required to run dozens of feet of speaker wires, knock holes in their walls for surrounds, connect everything to an often-complicated home theater receiver and then spend hours calibrating to perfection. Today? Easy. If you have a compatible LG TV, buyers need only find 3 power outlets, as plugging in the power cords is the most difficult part of installing an LG Sound Suite. Don't have a compatible LG TV with Flex Connect built-in? No worry. The system works just as well with an e-ARC connection as well. I tried the system with both a compatible LG OLED and a non-compatible Hisense TV. Both work flawlessly with the Sound Suite. This new LG Sound Suite is replacing a good, but aging LG S95TR surround system. While the S95TR was good at the time, but WowOrchestra was already reaching end of life. Plus, the S95 system was very particular with speaker placement. VERY PARTICULAR. Even with its built-in calibration, sound was still a bit off and not fully convincing and enveloping. You can immediately tell after a true back-to-back comparison that the Dolby Atmos Flex Connect has far more precision and processing power than the long-in-the-tooth WowOrchestra and the S95TR. While not my favorite of apps, LG should be commended at developing a universal app that accommodates products from all their consumer lines. Just like nearly every recent product, the Sound Suite is configured with the LG ThinQ app. It's easy enough to use and does a decent job of organizing disparate products under one roof. Setting up the Sound Suite in the ThinQ app was easy and non-eventful, though it took considerably more time to update firmware and adopt the speakers than I would have thought. DOBLY ATMOS FLEX CONNECT What makes DAFC so revolutionary? It the ease and simplicity of nearly unlimited speaker placement options and the ability to overcome and compensate for less-than-ideal placement. DAFC is FAR superior to WowOrchestra in EVERY way. Start by getting your soundbar connected via whatever means (e-ARC or Flex). Once configured and updated, you can then add your L/R or Surround speakers. Not sure how you want them to work? No worries. Try them as a L/R Front pair. Change your mind? No worries either. Feel free to move them to surrounds. Why? Because as soon as you move speaker placements, the Flex Connect algorithm will go back and adjust those speakers based on placement. No configuration changes, no menus in your receiver to navigate, just a simple tap within the LG app and the magic begins. Using a series of test tones (music) the soundbar listens to itself and any other available Flex Connect compatible speakers. In my case, compatible speakers included the LG Sound Suite M5's. Using some technical wizardry, the Dolby Atmos Flex Connect algorithm automagically determines speaker placement, distance, volume levels, delay times, etc. It works so slick. I can't believe how far home theater has come since the first Dolby surround receivers. What used to take hours to tweak to perfection, now takes literally 1 minute, at the most. It is scary accurate. SOUND QUALITY While the LG Sound Suite is a solid step above my existing S95TR system, i still find the Sound Suite overly flat. It's as if Peerless went above and beyond to try and make the Sound Suite neutral sounding. Almost too much so. Even after calibration and tweaking of the tone controls, the Sound Suite lacks soul and sounds unnecessarily sterile. Hard to describe and not a deal breaker, but if you are used to a system that sounds warm and welcoming, this is not for you. To give a fair break to LG, this system ships without the available subwoofer. Having the ability to produce some lower octaves may, and would surely, change the entire listening experience. Even with its neutral sound, it still is leaps and bounds better than my SG10TY soundbar and sub combo. The added woofers in the H7 soundbar do a better job at providing a much fuller soundstage than the SG10 or the S95TR. NEGATIVES This system supports Spotify Connect and Apple Airplay but doesn't natively support Amazon Prime Music Streaming. The system will not show up as a destination in the Prime Music app while streaming unless you pair it with lossy Bluetooth while using an Android-based phone or tablet. The second issue is as mentioned above, the overly sterile sound and lack of personality. FINAL THOUGHTS The era of huge AV receivers, hundreds of feet of speaker wire, and what often comes just short of a renovation to install a home theater is coming to a close. I've been a home theater buff since the very beginning of the Dolby Pro-Logic systems back in the day. I remember spending hours and days making over rooms into dedicated home theaters. My OCD attention to detail often earned props from the spousal acceptance factor, while the multiple remotes that were often required, complicated menus, and input switching did not. Even basic home theaters were often too complicated to be readily accessible for all family members. LG and Dolby are changing all that. As soundbars started becoming more popular, us home theater folks would scoff at their sound quality and dimensionality. The offerings today are putting us in our places. Easily blurring the lines of a dedicated home theater and a soundbar-based system. Offering performance that is often on par with all but the most lavish systems, make a system like the LG Sound Suite wildly appealing. Ease of installation and configuration without the penalties inherent to systems like these in the past. Home theater soundbars and systems have come a long way. Well done LG! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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  NAMO Posted 3 weeks ago