LG SN11RG Soundbar Review: A Compact Cinematic Experience
"The LG SN11RG combines cinematic performance on the footprint of a soundbar."
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Easy setup
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Sleek design
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Immersive audio experience
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Handy Google Assistant
LG John Hammond from Jurassic Park drew our attention to us when building his new soundbar. That means they have spared no expense.
The new SN11RG soundbar from LG is a full 7.1.4 system with Hi-Res audio and Dolby Atmos support as well as other amenities such as the integrated Google Assistant and HDMI eARC. It's also $ 1,700. Let us find out whether the numerous functions of this bar compensate for the price.
design
The important things first. The SN11RG is long due to the lack of a more appropriate word. With a width of almost 57 inches, the Samsung HW-Q90R is nine inches larger, which is not a pipsqueak itself. In other words, you want to make sure you have a media stand that can hold this large bar. It's 2.5 inches thin and not overly heavy at 15.9 pounds, but the sheer width of the bar made it a bit of a nuisance when moving to access the rear ports.
Nick Woodard
However, big is not all bad, especially when the bar is as elegant and extravagant as the SN11RG. You don't necessarily want your soundbar to showcase your actual display. If you are someone who is on the market for such a setup, this is probably not a problem. For example, if you're a reviewer who combines the bar with a lower-end 4K TV, the difference in aesthetics is noticeable.
The control panel has a number of controls, including an on / off button, a function selection button, volume controls and playback controls, and two buttons for interacting with the soundbar's built-in Google Assistant support. They're handy for having them right at the bar if need be, but I've mainly used the associated remote or mobile app, which I'll access shortly.
The wireless rear speakers and subwoofer that round off the system are housed in solid black housings that outshine the satellites and woofers of the Vizio 5.1 system that I discussed earlier. However, compared to their more direct competitors, they are right in the stadium. You can still stow this submarine with little effort, and finding quarters for the rear speakers was no problem.
LG is relatively limited to specifications for the actual drivers in the system. Of course, the soundbar has high-powered drivers to add channels for the front height, while the rear speakers are equipped with high-firing drivers to restore the rear heights.
To install
An important selling point of most soundbar systems is the possibility of building the entire ensemble far more economically than a traditional home theater system. Since there are no A / V receivers and no long speaker cables, sound bars are generally more accessible to the ordinary listener to get them up and running.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
LG took this rule of thumb and optimized it. Commissioning your SN11RG starts with a three-step process that corresponds to the restrictions of an index card: Connect the soundbar to the power supply, download the Google Home app and set up your Wi-Fi connection. From there, you can stream music as you set up the rest of the system.
The rest of the process is just as simple. You need a connection between the soundbar and the TV. LG offers you HDMI and optical audio options. Both work, but note that optical audio connections don't support Dolby Atmos. If you go this route, you are limited to standard surround sound.
Both the subwoofer and the rear speakers are designed to automatically connect to the soundbar when connected to the power supply. However, LG has a failover in its manual if for some reason it doesn't. After taking the time to carefully unpack the individually packaged components, I connected the entire system in less than 10 minutes.
For me, the best benefit of the setup process is that the rear speakers don't have to be wired to the subwoofer, a common theme in other systems I've dealt with. This allows the subwoofer to be placed where it sounds best in your listening room, rather than being banished to the surroundings in the back of the room. You can even do classic sub-crawling, where you put the sub in your normal listening position and literally crawl around the room to see where it can perform best.
The same applies to the rear speakers, although they are somewhat limited by short power cables (5 feet). It wasn't a problem for me, but all I know is that you need a socket or two nearby.
LG also includes wall mounts for the soundbar and rear speakers, which is a cute addition. However, I have not touched them for the purposes of this review.
The "LG Wi-FI Speaker" app is an important part of the setup puzzle. It not only serves as an additional remote control if you have lost yours – or if it is sitting on your coffee table and you are too comfortable / lazy to reach for it. It is also your ticket to the operation of LG's A.I. Room calibration function that measures the room acoustics and adjusts your system accordingly. I will learn more about it later.
links
The connection will be a problem for some as the SN11RG only has a pair of HDMI HDCP 2.3 inputs. The home theater consumer nowadays has several devices to connect, including everything from 4K Blu-ray players to streaming devices like Rocus or Apple TVs to game consoles like a Nintendo Switch, which means that two HDMI inputs simply don't work seem to be sufficient for a soundbar that will surely weigh on your wallet.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
This can now be fixed easily if your TV has several available HDMI connections. However, if for some reason you have an older model (e.g. a Sony 65-inch 850E series display from 2017) that does not support Dolby Atmos playback, your only workaround is to connect your devices directly to it Connect the soundbar and run a cable from the soundbar's HDMI eARC output to your TV. In this case, the limited number of entries becomes a painful obstacle.
For reference, my personal Marantz SR5012 A / V receiver has seven HDMI inputs and was sold for $ 1,000 when it first came on the market. Admittedly, these are very different devices and it is not realistic to expect a soundbar to have seven inputs. The modern soundbar, especially one that costs $ 1,700, should be able to meet these connectivity requirements in a similar way.
There is also a USB port and an optical input on the back of the SN11RG. However, as I mentioned, you cannot get Dolby Atmos playback using optical playback. This type of connection simply cannot handle the data volume in more advanced audio formats, which means that you limit yourself to simpler surround sound formats like Dolby Digital 5.1.
Intelligent functions
Google plays a big role in the intelligent functions of the SN11RG, since both Google Assistant and Google Chromecast are integrated.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
Since I'm the Smart Assistant junkie, I've used Google Assistant most often, with some satisfactory results. Coming home and quickly immersing yourself in the music was as easy as asking Google, and changing titles while music was pumping through the soundbar was just as painless. The microphones built into the soundbar also recorded my voice well during music playback.
Even if my normal home theater setup is set up according to my wishes, I still have to do a few steps before I can order my Amazon Echo Dot to start playback on my receiver. Using the integrated assistant of the SN11RG was much faster, which is a kind of goal here.
When you're tired of repeating Google Assistant wake-up words, there's a button on both the remote and soundbar that you can use to access them. The soundbar also supports group play mode via Chromecast, although unfortunately I lacked the additional Chromecast-enabled speakers to try. After all, living from home has some shortcomings.
Sound quality
If the simple setup and sleek design were LG's raptors and omnivores, audio quality is the main attraction. It's the Tyrannosaurus Rex, if you allow me to continue referencing a 27-year-old film, and LG must have given it a lot of teeth to show off.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
It's not just Dolby Atmos and DTS: X support – or the vast amount of other supported audio formats – although they play a prominent role. This is the partnership with Meridian Technology, support for 24-bit / 192 kHz audio resolution, Bluetooth 5.0 technology or even LG's AI Sound Pro hardware. Suffice it to say that LG has left no stone unturned to make this soundbar system an absolute audio juggernaut.
After throwing all sorts of content on it for three weeks, I can say the following about the SN11RG: In the world of sound bars, it's this juggernaut.
The music playback provided the crisp, detailed sound you would hope for in such an expensive bar. However, it is the home theater realm where the SN11RG really gets its money's worth, especially when it comes to Atmos.
Auditioning a selection from a Dolby Atmos demo disc was an impressive experience that showed me that LG's drivers weren't a gimmick. There is also a hidden demo mode that was discovered by an early user. If you press "F" on the main unit for 5 seconds, the same demo tracks will be displayed. However, these short clips only made me want something more essential, so I looked through our top Dolby Atmos tips.
I started with Avengers: Infinity War and I could have called it very good here and there. Minutes after the film started, when Hulk raced to the ground and crashed into the Sanctum Sanctorum, I heard everything I needed to know. It is an impressive and entertaining experience to watch films with the SN11RG that plays the show acoustically to the point where I would have looked for a banner-sized hole in my ceiling if I hadn't known better. The subwoofer offers a significant breakthrough as a worthy buddy for the bar itself, and the rear speakers effectively envelop you in every scene.
I said earlier that I was going to A.I. Room calibration, and here we are. Together with the AI Sound Pro from LG, which according to the company uses an adaptive tone control to automatically match the audio with the content, an excellent sound is generated for the set-it-and-leave-it types. If you prefer to tinker with the sound like me, LG allows that too. There are various sound effects for content such as movies and music, with the option to adjust the levels of each part of the system.
The app also has switching options for modes such as Night Time (softens larger sounds, increases dialogue) or Neural: X, with which content is assigned to the corresponding channels. There's even an AV sync option to fix breaks in the continuity between audio and video.
Put the sound in context
However, there is one limitation that may be somewhat unpopular in circles of soundbar enthusiasts. With as much technology and functionality as companies can build into sound bars these days, there is a point at which returns are falling. And it feels like LG has achieved it.
Nick Woodard / Digital Trends
The possibility of testing this soundbar with a comparable home theater system also shows this. As pleasant as the sound of the LG SN11RG is, it will always be limited by the limitations of its design. There is no sound stage with a real separation from left and right, the abundance of floorstanding speakers or the swinging lower end of a beefy home theater submarine. As much as LG can try to virtually reproduce this sound – and believe me, it is trying – it just won't be the real deal.
Maybe you think the LG is unfair to you, and maybe you're right. LG appears to be developing this soundbar for a very specific group of consumers, and it is clear that this group will be thrilled with its performance. But get it straight to the point and you'll pay almost $ 2,000 for audio. Classified as a soundbar, it's objectively great sound. But open up the word for other options, and frankly, there are better ways to spend that kind of money. Your decision will depend on what your home theater room supports and whether you are ready to have problems installing a home theater setup with multiple surround speakers.
Our opinion
The LG SN11RG combines cinematic performance on the footprint of a soundbar, but is available at the high price of a complete home theater package.
Is there a better alternative?
The Samsung HW-Q90R, valued at $ 1,700, is likely to be as close in performance to the LG as in price. If you're looking for even more minimalism without sacrificing quality, the Sennheiser Ambeo for $ 2,500 is an option. Just not cheap.
For a Dolby Atmos soundbar that saves you a few dollars, Vizio's 5.1.4 system costs $ 1,000.
How long it will take?
The build quality of the LG SN11RG is exceptional and the hardware is not bad either. This bar should last many movie nights.
Should you buy it
Yes. It's a high price for sound, and you could build a better system with this type of coin. But for anyone looking for great performance in a sound bar and willing to pay for it, the LG SN11RG is the shortlist of premium options.
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