Customer Ratings & Reviews

I was eyeing this soundbar system religiously. I was waiting for it to hit rock bottom price. I was able to get this open box excellent for $459.99. I have an LG C3 77 to go with the soundbar system. The soundbar is amazing, paired easily with WOW cast. I purchased mainly for sporting events. With the clarity of the center channel was spot on and the amazing 3D spatial sound from the rear speakers added to the immersiveness. The subwoofer adding deep bass was great. I recommend this system especially if you already have an LG compatible TV.

This may be one of the best sounding sound bars I have heard. It has great vocal clarity while still sounding full. The rear channel speakers play a huge roll in creating a truly immersive experience. I currently live in an apartment and I frequently have to use the system at lower volumes since I have adjoining walls and even at lower volumes the system out performed my expectations. It is also nice that the unit can use your phone via the app to correct for the space. I am currently using this sound bar with an older LG OLED CX and it does not support the ability to use the WOW Orchestra feature, but I am sure that if your tv supports it, it would only make it better. Overall, this sound bar system creates a great sound that fully envelops the room while maintaining clarity. I would definitely recommend this product if it fits within your budget.

I recently purchased the LG 9.1.5-Channel S95TR Soundbar, and I couldn’t be happier with my choice. It pairs perfectly with my LG G4 77-inch OLED TV, creating a seamless and immersive home theater setup. When I first bought the TV, I didn't expect to spend this much on a soundbar, but after experiencing the quality of this system, I can confidently say it was money well spent. The sound quality is truly exceptional — it feels like you’re sitting in a movie theater! The surround sound, deep bass, and clear dialogue make every viewing experience incredible. Highly recommended to anyone looking to elevate their home entertainment system. It’s worth every penny for the immersive experience it delivers!

Sounds amazing, has a huge sound stage.i was pleasantly surprised by its powew.

What incredible folks you have! Your service technicians came in, brought the new equipment, set it up and helped us configure it... and I'm sitting here enjoying the LG sound system. I don't think we could have better help! 10 out of 10! Pay these two guys extra cash!

When buying used, make sure all components are there had to buy my LG control separate from amazon. Overall awsome system when paired with LG Tv works in sync.

Pairs well with an LG OLED tv. Pretty much plug and play. There is an order you will want to plug them up in. Subwoofer first, then rear speakers then soundbar. In that order. They sound great and I caught them on sale so it was a definite win.

If it was not for the sales person at Best Buy, Mr. Constantine. I would have spent more money and brought A BOSE soundbar. With this LG system I have my own Home Theater System. The sound is Impeccable !!!!

Nice sound, semi easy install. Wanted this to match my lg 77 inch OLED. I got it on sale for 999.99. It’s worth that not the 1500 price tag. Overall I’m happy.

Absolutely AWESOME! Best Buy employees are incredible, very courteous and professional! Very happy watching movies now!

I bought the S95TR specifically to pair with my LG G4 for the WOW Orchestra feature, but it ended up being a huge letdown. The surround sound just didn’t feel immersive at all, and the bass was almost nonexistent. At times it honestly sounded like there was a wall between the rear speakers and the soundbar — everything felt out of sync and disconnected. For such a premium system, I expected way more. In the end, I returned it and went with the Samsung Q990D instead. That system blew me away with its bass and true 360-degree surround sound, which is what I was looking for in the first place.

BACKGROUND: I’m running it on flagship Vizio from a year or two ago, through the latest Apple 4K, or Sony 4K Blu-ray player with 4K Blu-rays. I previously had a 5.1 surround sound system that was Dolby Atmos enabled. But this should be a big upgrade. The room I’m using it in is quite small and mostly square, about 10 feet ceilings. Speakers were setup with soundbar in the middle of the front wall. Sub in the left front corner. Surround speakers equal to ears about 75% into the room near sitting position. This has WAY more power than needed for that room. Volume was 10 – 15 and coming in between 40 – 85 dB depending on scene. Obviously goes way louder than that for bigger rooms. LISTENING: This is a significant step up from my previous Polk system. Bass is cleaner, has more rumble, and deeper. Mids and highs are good. But mids can be a bit muddy depending on what I’m watching. Directional sound was highly dependent on content. Most sound for normal TV viewing (dramas, reality TV, YouTube videos, etc) would come directly from the soundbar itself. This is mostly where I heard the “muddiness”. But still was able to hear clearly which is a problem I struggle with often with speakers without having to have the volume cranked up and getting deafened by background music and everything else other than the person speaking. Which isn’t to say that was perfect either as I still struggled periodically but much better than normal. There is a neat feature where you can turn on all speakers to be “surround”. Which made me be able to hear speakers very easily as it was putting the voice and everything through each speaker “surrounding” you with their voice. But is also a bit strange. Music listening was solid but not nearly as good as media watching. I prefer to use my headphones for music listening. TESTING: Saving Private Ryan opening scene on Omaha beach is intense and really gives this a workout. And it performed excellently. Felt fully immersed with great directionality. Was able to hear people speaking just fine. Explosions and all that were top notch. This was a wow moment for me. And that was through streaming instead of 4K. John Wick (streaming). Guns sounded great, with good base and depth, and could tell the different sounds apart, along with hearing the shells hit the ground and all that. Very nice experience. Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning (4K Blu-ray): Easily heard all dialogue. Quiet scenes were quiet. Loud action scenes were loud and immersive. Good directionality. Really enjoyed it. The Acolyte: Was disappointing. But I don’t think that was the soundbars fault. CONTROLS/REMOTE: Feels good, has good heft, but buttons don’t light up, also minimal if any tactility, making it very difficult to actually find what you are looking for in the dark. Works fine. The soundbar itself only has lights to show you want it is doing. Which is a bit frustrating. Especially, at this price point. While yes, other things can give you the information. I’m still a fan of the device itself showing me what I am looking for. The soundbar itself also has touch capacitive buttons for navigation. Which is nice. I used the app to do AI Room dynamics. It worked very well in improving the sound. But only worked 30 – 40% of the times I tried to calibrate. As I was moving some stuff around. This could be improved as I kept getting the error that the surround speakers and subwoofer weren’t working. Even though they were connected and playing sound correctly. BUILD QUALITY: Excellent. This is very large soundbar. It has speakers on the top for the directional audio. Along with top speakers for each of the surround speakers. Which is a good size. They connect to each other via wireless. Which was easy and took care of itself. I had no issues with losing connection of the subwoofer or surround speakers. Also, didn’t get any popping or dramatic sound change issues that I’ve had with other wireless speakers. Inputs include Arc + HDMI IN + Optical. COMPLAINTS: The speakers/subwoofer/soundbar use the same power cord (which is good), however they are very short when it comes to the surround speakers. Making them harder to place. No actual display, just meaningless lights. Remote doesn’t have much tactility to it and no lights making it hard to operate in the dark. Especially, the volume. AI Room Detection fails more often than it works. But when it does makes a big difference. Mounts use smaller screws than average so normal universal mounts (or at least mine) doesn’t work. Also, the surround speakers mount from the bottom instead of the back (likely due to the top speakers). Also, when mounting soundbar to my TV it has multiple threads, but only two of them are indented, and are very wide where it doesn’t even work on my 75-inch TV, so I had to move them in, where it doesn’t sit flesh. Also, are held by two very small screws which makes me concerned of those breaking and the soundbar dropping onto the things below it. Does seem like a lot of thought was put into that. Which for a flagship is surprising to me. I didn’t consistently get the wow factor from the sound. But was very satisfied and don’t have enough experience with surround systems to measure where exactly this sits. It being wireless will also degrade some of that quality and keeping that in mind I think it performs excellently.

The LG S95TR 9.1.5 Channel is a complete all-in-one Dolby ATMOS DTS-X surround sound system that comes with everything you need to greatly improve your TV sound experience. The soundbar is about 49” long, pretty basic, rectangular look, with capacitive and very sensitive touch buttons discreetly on top back edge. The system also includes a good size powered subwoofer and two surround/height speakers. Both the sub and the rear speakers connect wirelessly to the soundbar, all they need is power, so that makes their placement very easy. The only complaint I have is that the power cords are too short, only about 5ft long. The initial setup is very easy, just plug-in all components in the correct order clearly listed in the installation instructions - that is subwoofer first, then surround speakers and lastly the soundbar itself. Once you turn on the soundbar, it will automatically pair all components together and a green LED light will be lit when connected. There is 1 HDMI input, one HDMI e/ARC output, as well as optical-in and a USB in port. The soundbar has a vertical row of LEDs that are used as visual indicators for power on, volume level, input type, bluetooth and chromecast connection, etc. I would have loved it if it had a small display or on-screen menu and indicators that you could see on your TV. The LG soundbar app does provide you with additional information like sound decoder, volume level and many other configuration settings. The remote control looks similar to LG TV remotes but much more basic and pretty cheap looking with very few buttons and because there is no display on the soundbar itself, you’d be hard pressed to use this remote for anything else other than power-on/off and volume control, which can be controlled from your TV remote anyway. You have to use the App to complete the setup, such as connecting to WiFi network, upgrading the firmware, running the AI room calibration and picking from several sound modes as well as a 3-band equalizer. The Advanced Room Calibration feature seems pretty basic, it uses your smartphone microphone to determine your seating position and speaker volumes. It only took about a minute to complete and I couldn’t really tell the difference before and after. The default sound level coming out of this system is quite loud and impressive at first. I found myself having to turn the volume down quite frequently. The subwoofer provides plenty of kick and boom to satisfy most movie buffs, though I had to turn that down as well since it was overpowering. I was quite pleased with the immersive surround sound field that was very enveloping but it kind of blended everything together - not enough separation between the channels and definitely hard to distinguish the ATMOS height sounds that are supposed to bounce off the ceiling from the up-firing front and rear speaker drivers. I paired this with an LG C2 OLED TV and it seamlessly integrated with the WOW Orchestra feature where the built-in TV speakers are paired together with the soundbar. I’m on the fence about this feature at least for movie watching. It further blended the channels and it kind of toned down the volume of the soundbar overall. Dialogue seemed a bit more positional coming out of the screen though, so that could be a plus. All in all this is a solid soundbar system, meant to be high-end and will make a great addition to any medium size room or large bedroom.

The LG95TR is the latest flagship sound bar from LG and it looks nearly identical to its predecessors with some new tricks up its sleeve. The new unit supports Wow Orchestra, which allows you to pair the soundbar with a newer LG speaker, WowCast which streams Atmos wirelessly from TV to soundbar, Up-Firing center channel and other nice features like 4K VRR/120Hz support for HDMI passthrough. Some of these features may have already existed but to me they are new and interesting in the world of Sound Bars. My experience with the 95TR was a bit unbalanced and ultimately I found some rough edges around this otherwise smooth-looking sound bar. Sound- That's why you're here right? I'm happy to report the 95TR sounds amazing with Dolby Atmos mastered content like HBO MAX or Netflix. You'll feel that bass really hit your sternum with the Netflix splash screen "Duh dun.." and the soaring chime of the MAX logo "waahDing!" Watching House of the Dragon and I typically always watch movies and shows with subtitles, especially period/fantasy pieces with any kind of foreign accents, but with the 95TR set to Clear Voice Plus, the up-firing dedicated center channel really contributed to dialogue clarity in a positive manner. The rear channels were also much louder than my older Samsung satellites, almost too loud to the point they at times felt as if they were competing with the main sound bar. While the overall sound quality is excellent for movies and games, audiophiles may feel they are a little bit too rigid with their channel distinction and purpose. There's a more purposefully driven sound quality rather than softer, rounded edges for a more balanced sound stage that you might find on reference bookshelves or tower speakers. Bass does not disappoint and even set to very low levels I had to be careful not to wake the kids into thinking we were experiencing a thunderstorm. Compared to an older Samsung Q700A with surrounds, the 95TR was an immediately noticeable upgrade in sound quality, dialogue clarity, discrete positional sound and bass. Setup- This was simple especially since I already had a sound bar system with wireless satellites installed. I used HDMI input and passthrough on the sound bar from my Apple TV 4K, with another HDMI from the TV to the eARC input on the sound bar for sound from the TV Apps and any HDMI inputs to the TV like my Switch and PS5. The instructions ask you to install the LG Soundbar App, which is highly recommended for advanced controls. The App then allows you to set up Alexa (for music and voice assistant), change volume, change Sound Effect mode, Change source/function, change equalizer, speaker balance/surround, change LED display behavior, and update the software. That may sound like a lot but I actually feel the settings are pretty sparse. I highly recommend using the App, which has a pop up that says ThinQ App is going to replace it in a few months, because the remote and the little light indicators are pretty frustrating and useless to use in my opinion. Quirks- I ran into some headscratching differences with the 95TR connected to my Samsung S89C OLED TV compared to my old Samsung Q700A sound bar, which just worked. First, turning the TV on with my Apple TV triggered HDMI-CEC to turn on my old Samsung sound bar and TV simultaneously, and after a few seconds, the sound bar and TV would synch up and use HDMI IN as the source which was the Apple TV 4K. That's what I needed 95% of time. With the 95TR, frustratingly, the TV would keep defaulting to my Nintendo Switch, which I didn't want at all. I found some instructions to change the Samsung TV to turn on last App which seemed to help, but after long power off periods, it would still try and source the Switch even if it was off. Finally I unplugged the Switch completely and now it seems to work better. I'll keep an eye on this but this is my main frustration so far, but I can't say for sure it is the LG sound bar, only that my Samsung did not do this. Another oddity is that changing volume shows the TV source and volume overlay on the TV, but not the actual volume level, like my Samsung did. Again, may be something with Samsung communicating more over HDMI-CEC to other Samsung devices. Areas that Need Improvement- The lack of any kind of alphanumeric display is a huge downer in my opinion. I know a lot of sound bars don't have digital displays, but I really liked it on my Samsung sound bar even if was only 4 chars or whatever scrolling across. I liked seeing Dolby Atmos scrolling through when enabling Atmos content, now I have to check the app and make sure that's the stream its decoding. The volume levels are also pretty useless because by the time the color or number of dots changes on the dot display, you're at 33+ volume and that is super loud. A LED strip or maybe even some kind of laser projector that casts to a wall behind the sound bar would be super premium, maybe one day. The remote is pretty low quality and clearly designed to be a substitute for the LG TV remote if needed, but the only useful button on it is the input button which then triggers the sound bar to THANKFULLY answer in voice telling you which input you have chosen. Without this feature I would've definitely taken a star off, but realistically I will probably still use the app on my phone instead of digging for the sound bar remote. Aesthetics- this is not a good looking sound bar. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the 95TR looks like a Kit Kat bar or something. Pretty boring looking compared to some of its competitors. Material and surface don't look particularly impressive or premium feeling either. I would expect more for something that will sit so prominently on your media console or mounted to your wall (it comes with heavy duty concealed mounting hardware which is nice) underneath your super slim and beautiful OLED TV and it just looks a little out of place if I'm being honest. There's no facets or bevels, its just squared or rounded off edges with a round cutout grill on top for the upfiring center speaker. While I did not test with an LG sound bar, the extra features such as WOW Orchestra and WOW Cast might be enough for you to go with this sound bar. The other might be the dialogue up-firing center channel, which LG says is industry exclusive, it really does a nice job for focused voice clarity. I am hoping the product gets some firmware/software updates to help through some of the input/power on quirks I experienced but I just tried a few times and it looks to be behaving as I would expect after unplugging the Switch, but that shouldn't be necessary and I hope to plug it back in eventually. I should probably take a star off for the display being unhelpful, the remote being somewhat poor quality and unintuitive, and the aesthetics of the unit lacking inspiration, but the main thing that matters is cinematic sound experience and this does a GREAT job at that, so I'll weight my review towards that context.

TLDR: A versatile system that is extremely easy to set-up and is wire-free (minus power). It does not have the best audio quality compared to the big player in the market but does a good job a providing an enveloping surround sound environment with an app that is easy to use and navigate. However, the remote and LED display are useless. INSTALLATION AND SETUP I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to set-up the new S95TR. After unplugging my existing soundbar and plugging the HDMI cable into the appropriate eARC/ARC port in the LG, supplying power, things went very smoothly. The soundbar, sub, and surround configuration is accomplished through LG’s minimalist LG Soundbar App. This is not a ding on LG. Quite the opposite. The app is easy to use and understand without a bunch of fuss and bloatware. Settings, functions, etc. are easily accessible via a one-page interface, with more detailed adjustments available in the simple to access and find settings menu. After my current soundbar underwent a major app design overhaul this spring, I am happy to report that LG’s app is much easier to use than their primary competitor. While I don’t consider the app and the accompanying documentation perfect, LG has done a good job at streamlining the process. However, this isn’t to say that they couldn’t print a QR code or two in their literature to link you directly to the Play Store or Apple App Store. Come on LG. Not sure what to expect, I installed the soundbar and powered it up. The LG app recognized the speaker after a few seconds and immediately downloaded a mandatory firmware update. No issues. The update installed without drama and after only a couple of minutes, the soundbar rebooted and was good to go. The simplicity LG designed into the S95 and the app is impressive. Unlike some of their competition that requires you to manually pair their companion sub and surrounds, LG needs no extra steps. Getting the whole system up and running was frustration-free. After being plugged in, the sub and the surround sound speakers paired at once to the soundbar. Outstanding work LG. USE The S95 pairs nicely to my existing LG OLED TV, even with it being several years old and one of the first few generations. The TV recognized the soundbar and was easily setup to use the ARC channel for audio. Buyers of newer LG TVs can use the super slick Wowcast feature and eliminate the hardwired connection altogether. Sweet. LG’s wireless communications protocol is robust and dynamic. The 4 speakers (soundbar, sub, 2 surrounds) blend together with no discernible lag or awkward timing imbalance. While I could not find specs on the system, the surrounds appear to support the full audio spectrum 20Hz – 20kHz, or close enough that the sub can pick up for what they lack. Sound is enveloping. LG offers a variety of listening modes, which I find are mostly a gimmick. I find the AI Sound Pro my most used listening mode. Other modes just make the audio sound un-natural and sadly, muted. One thing I find odd, is that by default the surround function is turned off when setting up the system. While this may be the “proper” way to use the S95, I find it odd that LG wouldn’t showcase the surrounds and have them on by default. For those that have a home theater AVR, this setting enables “All Channel Stereo” or “Multi-Channel Stereo” to use the setting name from a competitor. NEGATIVES LG has tried too hard to copy their greatest home streaming speaker ecosystem. The minimalist approach to the S95 doesn’t work nearly as well as the competition. The 3 multi-colored LED’s on the front panel of the S95 do absolutely nothing to help out. After installing and trying the speakers, I still have no idea what the different colors really mean or why I would even care. I agree with what others have said around the interwebs, to make the soundbar great, LG needs to have a better display or eliminate the LED’s all together. I get why they are there. My current big name streaming system gives no feedback without directly using the app. LG has tried to remedy this problem by installing the 3 LED’s, but the end result is lackluster and unhelpful. A mark missed. This missed mark also extends to the remote control. With minimal feedback offered via the LED’s using the remote to change functions and control the soundbar turns into a guessing game. To me the remote is useless. It easier just to use the app to get what you want versus the remote. It’s easier, eliminates guesswork, and provides feeback that your commands were sent and recognized. While the LG offers a plethora of channels, the overall sound quality from each of those channels are not as good as my primary soundbar’s drivers. The LG sounds overly bright, thin, and tinny. Not horrible, or fingernails on a chalkboard, but none the less are inferior to their streaming rival’s products. I think some of this awkwardness could be tuned out via a firmware update, but as used and configured with the LG room correction app, the drivers and audio sound harsher than the competition. Lastly, I have to comment on LG’s poor mounting solution for their soundbar. I’ve sound bars from 4 different manufacturers now and the LG implementation ties as the worst. Not only are the mounting brackets for the soundbar and surrounds ugly, but the soundbar’s mounting locations are in the wrong place for the American market. The soundbar’s mounting holes are 35” apart, center-to-center. National building code requires wall studs a maximum of 16” on center. This squarely places one or both the mounting brackets out of location of a stud, and if mounting on drywall, forces the buyer to utilize a less than ideal drywall anchor to mount at least one of the two brackets. LG’s competitors have a much better bracket to mount their product, especially the biggest player in the home speaker streaming market. Their bracket is thinner, spans the entire length of the soundbar and is nearly invisible once installed and the speaker mounted. Even with the S95 mounted, the brackets look like cheap after thoughts. FINAL THOUGHTS LG has done a good job of updating its S95 lineup. There are a lot of channels to take advantage of the latest and greatest Dolby Atmos mixes in music and movies. Channel timing is spot on with no discernible lag between the sound and video, at least in my use. Setup is simple and LG should be commended for streamlining the entire process like they have done. The app is easy to use and understand with all the basics and little to no fluff to add confusion. To make things even easier, LG has even included an AI Room Calibration feature to their app. It works as intended, even if more rudimentary than the competition. While I find the sound quality of my current soundbar superior to the LG, it doesn’t make the S95 bad. It is just a matter of preference. Honestly, my current system should sound better, as I’ve paid more for just the soundbar and sub than this whole LG system retails for. The difference in price helps overcome the perceived thinness (and at times, tinniness) of the LG drivers. Owners looking for a premium system to complement their TV should put this on their list of auditions. The LG S95 offers a full surround experience in one easy-to-use, tidy, package. RECOMMENDED

If you’re not a tech savvy audiophile and looking for a quick and easy way to step up the sound on your TV without the hassle of hiring someone or running a bunch of wires in a traditional surround sound system, the new 810 watt LG S95T 9.1.5 soundbar with wireless rear speakers and a wireless subwoofer might be a decent option to consider however is not without its shortcomings. In my case, I was looking to increase and spread the sound in a relatively large, open space where we only had a single high-end soundbar (no subwoofer or rear speakers) and wanted the additional rear speakers we could use to spread music through all-channel stereo around that space as well as incorporating more bass and the latest surround sound features. This LG soundbar package appeared to have most features I was looking for so I decided to give it a chance considering I have always been a fan and own several LG products. It took me approximately 30 minutes to set up the LG 9.1.5 sound bar package in the area we wanted it in including running the HDMI to the TV and syncing the rear speakers and subwoofer through the smart phone app. We did have to purchase rear satellite speaker mounts separately as we didn’t have any surfaces to set them on and the package does not include that hardware so keep that in mind if this is the route you for your set up. The soundbar has a matte black look and is quite large measuring a little over four feet long, about 2 1/2” tall and about 5 1/2” deep. When turned on, there are only a few small lights on the front to inform the user whether the power is on and when you are adjusting the volume. The included remote is very simplistic with minimal buttons and felt light and made with cheap plastic therefore I preferred to use the smart phone app where you can visually see what you are selecting. The benefit to the S95T’s minimalist design is that it is not distracting to the user however there is a learning curve to know what the volume level is and using the provided remote to switch equalizer settings unless you are using the smartphone app where you can view and select a specific sound such as movie, music, game, etc. As an audiophile, I would prefer to have an LED screen on the front or even an on-screen display to view/change the setting and/or adjust the volume without using my phone app and without having to decipher, using the owner’s manual, what the three LED lights on the front signify. Through the app, you are able to sync your Amazon Alexa account, update the software, review the owner’s manual and adjust several other settings. There is also an option to cast music to the soundbar but not video which was somewhat disappointing especially considering it has an HDMI output to the TV. I plugged a streaming stick into the HDMI input so, in my case, it wasn’t affecting how I was going to use the soundbar. After setting the system’s hardware up, I calibrated the sound settings specifically for the area using LG’s AI sound calibration button within the smart phone app. That was as simple as holding my phone, which acted as microphone, in the location where you would typically be watching a movie or listening to music, to hear and measure the distance between the user and each speaker to ensure there is no delay, obstructions, etc. Once the sound was calibrated according to the app, I was finally able to take the speakers for a test spin therefore I put on an action movie, of course, to see how the speakers compared to my previous soundbar I replaced and other surround systems in my house. As an avid audiophile, the soundbar and speakers lacked the power and clarity I was expecting to hear from a flagship model and even sounded muffled at times. Unfortunately, toggling through the sound options in the LG soundbar app didn’t make much of a difference. The soundbar was placed in a wide-open space therefore I was able to turn the volume up to 100% volume. At maximum volume the speakers had little distortion during high intensity action sequences and also listening to our favorite music through all the speakers but I felt like the speakers could handle more power than the internal amplifier provided. Selecting the Dolby Atmos listening mode, the sound came from all sides and echoed off the ceiling above giving me a decent surround experience. Using the LG app, I was able to individually adjust each speakers’ volume including the powered subwoofer which was relatively loud for an all-in-one sound bar package. I would consider the LG S95T soundbar package is a decent option for those wanting to level up their audio game and don’t want the hassle of running a bunch of wires, going through the trouble of setting up an entire stereo system or, in my case, simply isn’t another option given the space. However, it does come with a hefty price tag compared to other soundbar options and is not without sacrifices. In my opinion the shortcomings outweigh the features for what could be considered their flagship model given the lack of visual display features on the soundbar, no option for an on-screen display, lack of power in the main soundbar and lackluster remote features.

I was really looking forward to trying out this soundbar system because my previous soundbar "simulated" surround sound using the speakers in the soundbar itself (which sit directly under my television). While the technology that allows that is pretty impressive, it has been my experience that even the best soundbars cannot compete with rear speakers for creating a truly immersive audio experience. To begin, when opening the box, I was disappointed to see "waves" in the grill that extends along the front of the soundbar. The waves start in the middle of the soundbar and extend to the left side (yet are not present on the right). I would say that the soundbar may have been damaged in transport, but the box was in good condition without any noticeable damage. Therefore, I cannot help but wonder if it was damaged prior to being boxed up (or maybe there was some type of manufacturing issue)? Not sure if it shows up in the picture attached to the review, but the shadows created in the grille by nearby lights are very prominent and easy to see (they look like dents in the speaker grille). Luckily, as far as I can tell, the performance of the soundbar and its speakers are not impacted by this seemingly cosmetic flaw. Unlike my previous soundbar with a subwoofer, there are no wires needed to connect the soundbar to the subwoofer (or any of the surround speakers, for that matter). While each speaker (the soundbar, the subwoofer, and the two surround speakers) must be plugged in to A/C power, they connect to each other wirelessly. While I was a little worried at how challenging it was going to be to ensure the speakers are all connected to each other (there are "connect" buttons on the back of the accessory speakers), that particular process was literally plug and play. I plugged the power in for each speaker (in the order stated in the directions) and they all connected to each other automatically. The setup of the system itself does require a smartphone (or tabled) to download the LG Soundbar app. (I already had the app from a previous LG soundbar, so all I had to do was click the "plus" button at the top to add another soundbar system to the app.) I did receive a notice in the app that the LG Soundbar app will be going away and I will have to transition my soundbar systems over to LG's ThinQ app at some point. (Now is not that time, however, as the ThinQ app does not appear to incorporate soundbars yet [at least at the time I started using the system and wrote this review].) The setup was actually pretty simple. Make sure the soundbar is in bluetooth mode, connect to your phone, and open the app. There is a calibration routine that you can run, which was helpful for me in that it told me I had the location of my rear speakers reversed (I had the right on the left and the left on the right). I initially had the surround speakers on the floor behind some furniture, which was a problem. The calibration process told me that there were items in the way of the speakers and I needed to provide a clear area around the speakers. Because power is required, it was not as easy as just mounting the speakers to a wall, however, without having to either run an outlet to the speaker or have an unsightly cord dangling down the wall. I wound up moving some things around and placing the surround speakers on a few hip-height pieces of furniture. (This is not really a criticism, by the way, as wired surround speakers require running speaker wire to them and there is no way I want to have to worry about replacing batteries all the time in a battery-powered speaker [although, I am not even sure if they make battery-powered surround speakers].) Once completed with the calibration, the app allows for fine-tuning by changing the volume associated with each speaker (or group of speakers). There are also different sound effect presets that can be used (such as standard, cinema, clear voice pro, sports, music, game, and bass blast). Personally, I leave the system on "AI Sound Pro" to have the system determine what would be the most appropriate given what I am watching or listening to. The system can use bluetooth, optical, wi-fi, USB, or HDMI inputs for sound. Chromecast functionality is built in and the system also works with Amazon Alexa, if so desired. It is also supposed to work with Spotify and Apple AirPlay, but I have not tested either of these features as I use the soundbar predominantly with my television (and not as a audio/music system). One of the things that I found kind of annoying is that I use an Apple TV along with the ARC function on my television. When I start up the system, it takes a bit before there is any audio (and when the system is figuring it out, the picture goes in-and-out two or three times). Sometimes (and I don't know if there is any rhyme or reason), the audio never comes on and I have to grab my phone to use the Soundbar app to change the inputs from ARC to something else, and then back to ARC, which then seems to fix the problem. My television is relatively new and my Apple TV is one of the most current versions (all of them have the most recent firmware installed), so I do not know if the problem is with the soundbar system, my television, the Apple TV, or a combination of the above. I did occasionally (not often or routinely) have a somewhat similar problem with my previous soundbar, though, so I guess this may be par for the course with these systems? While this may sound dumb, another challenge I have is that the controls for the soundbar are on the top and they are pretty sensitive to touch, including cat paws. When my cat jumps up on the soundbar, she winds up pressing different buttons on the top an I have to scramble for my phone (and the app) to try and fix whatever it is she just did. At the end of the day, the last question is how the system sounds? As I am writing this review, my TV (and the soundbar) is to my left and my surround speakers are to the right. The commentators of the basketball game I have on are talking from the television and I can hear the crowd noise through the surround speakers. Watching TV and movies is a joy with this system as well. The bass is rich (and can be adjusted through the subwoofer's volume setting in the app) and the surround sound is much better than anything that comes from a standalone soundbar (without surround speakers). Ultimately, I am very happy with this system, but could not bring myself to give five stars given the physical damage to the unit (which may have been an anomaly) and the "startup" issues that I mentioned when I turn everything on. Actually, I would probably give 4.5 stars if I could, but given those issues, it was enough for me to round down to four rather than up to five. Ultimately, though, the system has good, rich sound and the separate surround speakers really makes a difference.

The LG S95TR Dolby Atmos 9.1.5 channel soundbar ticks all the boxes I expected from a top end soundbar from LG. There are some weird quirks that keep it from being a perfect product, but overall I am pretty impressed with the sound quality and features of this soundbar. #First Impressions# Upon delivery, I was a little worried to see the box had been slightly damaged on its way to me, with a big gash in the box. Once I opened the box, I found the unit inside wasn't damaged at all, and the packaging is nearly 100% cardboard so it's very recyclable. LG managed to make the package dense enough that you don't have a gigantic box considering how many pieces come with it, while still having plenty of air around each piece for protection. No styrofoam gets two big thumbs up from me. #Setup# The basic setup and connections were super easy to make. The wireless sub and surround speakers have little buttons that put them in pairing mode and they immediately synced with the soundbar. I first connected the soundbar to my LG 65" B2 OLED and had it up and running in a few minutes. I was a little disappointed to find that you have to download a separate app to control from your phone instead of it being built into LG ThinQ where my TV and Washer/Dryer are set up. Still, controlling with the LG Soundbar app was easy enough. The app has a very cool room configuration mode that uses your phone's microphone to help tune the speakers based on where they are placed and where you sit. Once connected to an LG TV, you are able to configure the basic sound settings like the mode (Standard, Cinema, AI, Music, etc) from the TV's menus. I tried several times, including resetting the soundbar, to get the WOWcast setting working where the soundbar is able to connect wirelesly to the TV. Just couldn't get it to work for me on my B2. LG's website is a little frustrating trying to find information as to whether this is even innately supported by my TV or whether I needed the WOWcast dongle. After trying it out on my LG OLED, I moved the soundbar to my bedroom where it is replacing an older midrange soundbar from another brand. The bedroom TV is an inexpensive 2024 model Fire TV from another brand, but I still found the soundbar to be super easy to use with HDMI-CEC automatically powering it on and controlling the volume. I have the bar wall mounted under the TV. I think it's a little odd that LG didn't include any wire management behind the soundbar. I tried a few different methods to keep the power cable from sagging and becoming visible dangling beneath the soundbar and eventually settled on a piece of electrical tape. Fortunately black electrical tape blends perfectly on the color so it wouldn't be noticeable even up close. #Sound# The most important aspect of any soundbar is the audio experience and here the LG S95TR really surprised me. As an Atmos/DTS:X device, this thing is amazing at providing height to cinematic audio tracks. The main soundbar itself has 3 up-firing speakers, while the surrounds have up firing speakers as well. Playing the new UHD release of Twister on this soundbar is a special experience with the height effects really blowing me away. Another big test for me is how well the soundbar handles dialogue, and here again I am pretty impressed with the separation of frontal audio where the center channel is able to keep dialogue focused in the middle of the front soundstage. Musically, the S95TR is somewhere better than OK but less than amazing. I think it sounds very good in the "Standard" audio mode, but I found the AI Sound Pro mode was too "processed" sounding, especially when not seated perfectly in the middle seating position. This is a bit frustrating since the AI Sound Pro seems to work really well with standard TV and movie watching, without the artifacts at the high midrange. Given that, I just leave the soundbar in Standard mode all the time. The bar does support Google Cast so I added it to my "Whole Home" speaker group and it integrates perfectly so I can go room to room with the same audio playing. The Google Cast capability does take quite a bit longer to start up than on my other audio systems, but it works. #Final thoughts# Setting this soundbar up and using it for the first time, I can't help but think that in my past life working A/V retail in college I would have blown the doors off selling this soundbar. For someone wanting to add a truly mind-blowing Atmos experience to their TV, especially LG's OLED TVs, this thing is truly amazing. It's a big step up from the tinny one dimensional soundbars of a few years ago. I think the first time you fire it up with a movie with lots of heigh effects (try the new UHD Twister release!) you'll be shocked. Couple that with the easy setup and complimentary features with LG TVs and it's an easy sale. Even with the non-LG TV that I ended up using it for this soundbar was easy to connect and use and is perfect for adding Atmos to my bedroom. Kudos to LG for a strong product that shows they can be players in the audio market.

LG has stepped it up a notch with the S95TR, giving you the boom you want! But for me it’s not the BOOM I need! Let’s get right into it. The S95TR is undoubtedly a really good soundbar, I can’t deny that, but I feel with the multitude of enhanced tech within this unit, it still leaves me wanting & craving more. The 9.1.5 channel soundbar provides an immersive audio experience regardless of your position within a room, providing a true sense of submersion in sound. Out of the box without any speaker adjustment, I played music through the bar via my cell phone, and boy did the 810 watts give me a smile! At low volume the sound is strong and absolutely clear, but once you turn up the volume it becomes a full concert in your room. I was confronted by full and rich sound from every direction, especially the rear speakers. Every speaker was firing at the same level, which for me seemed a bit off as I expected the rear speakers to be more of a supporting actor in this “movie of sound”, not a main character. Again, this is without any adjustments to the speakers. Now you’re probably wondering “why wouldn’t anyone want this?” Well for me, it takes too much to get the full body-soothing sound I’m looking for. Once I downloaded the LG Soundbar app I used the AI room calibration feature to get see how AI determines the best sound setup for my space. Once the calibration is complete you are provided an option to listen to the calibrated sound vs. the sound pre-calibration. There was almost no noticeable difference between the two, minus a bit more bass response from the “before” sound. So that lead me to tweaking the sound settings manually. Within the speaker settings I adjusted and tweaked my speakers for almost 20 minutes and still could not find a happy medium which gives me the solid bass response and supportive rear fill I would expect from a unit of this caliber. To achieve the sound I’m looking for, the volume on this soundbar just particular needs to be extremely high and with the rear speakers at -5. Maybe it’s my own personal gripe, but the lack of sound response that I know can be achieved is a bit underwhelming. Don’t get me wrong, this is an amazing soundbar! The footprint is slim for a soundbar, and the rear speakers easily blend into your background. The top and side firing speakers on the bar provide crispy and very clear/accurate sound, especially for media involving scenes with people whispering. The surround sound kicks in amazingly especially with action movies. The Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity are super fast and easy to setup. In fact, the setup was even faster than unboxing the unit. I also have to point out the quick and easy ability of connecting the soundbar to other smart devices; smart hub, etc. before I could finish setting up my speaker preferences my smart hub was already ready to cast music to the soundbar. After listening to and enjoying the soundbar for a few days, I noticed 2 more small hiccups. First, as with a few other soundbars I’ve owned, this too has already had instances where the connection of the subwoofer suddenly dropped. Thankfully, after a few seconds the subwoofer re-connected on its own. But this has happened a few more times since I got the unit. Second, and this is purely personal preference, but I miss having a visual display on my soundbar. I’ve always liked having either a small screen or at least scrolling LED words to show the setting I’ve selected, or the volume level. The 3 LED’s just don’t do it for me. Yes of course it’s displayed if I have the tv on, but I also like using my soundbar for music, so a quick glance at the bar to see what my levels are would be beneficial for me. *edit* while in the middle of watching a movie the entire soundbar stopped putting out any sound, though all speakers show as connected. Outside of these very small gripes, I really like this soundbar. If you’re looking for a huge step up for your tv, this is definitely the soundbar to get!

Unfortunately this open box item was not in excellent condition. It did not contain the HDMI cable, mounting brackets, and owners manual. Worst of all the remote control was not the correct one for this model so it did not work properly. As a result, I don’t know how well the soundbar performs.