1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,400 For years I've been excited by the idea of haphazardly placing your speakers in 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:11,720 your oddly shaped room and then using computational audio to fill in the gaps 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:16,400 and get a great surround experience. But, the last time I tried to deploy it, 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:20,520 the proprietary protocol caused weird connectivity issues that I was never 5 00:00:18,440 --> 00:00:25,880 able to resolve and I ultimately had to abandon it. My hope is that all changes 6 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:32,080 today. LG sponsored this video sending over their Sound Suite AI family of 7 00:00:28,440 --> 00:00:34,560 products including the first soundbar 8 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:40,800 that can act as a lead device for Dolby Atmos Flex Connect, which is pretty much 9 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:42,600 exactly what I just said. Wireless 10 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:49,280 connectivity between all of your speakers, you kind of put them wherever 11 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:52,120 you want, you run a calibration and 12 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:55,040 incredible Dolby Atmos sound that blends right into your living space. Let's 13 00:00:53,840 --> 00:01:02,960 start with one of the key building blocks that'll make up a system like this, the LG Sound Suite AI M7. The big 14 00:01:00,720 --> 00:01:06,840 selling point here is the connectivity. It works with Spotify, it works over 15 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:11,560 Bluetooth, and of course works with Dolby Atmos Flex Connect. This, because 16 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:15,920 it has two full-range speakers on top of its upward-firing speaker, can support 17 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:20,120 spatial audio and Dolby Atmos with just a single unit. LG boasts that between 18 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:23,760 their various sized speakers, as well as their lead devices, you can have up to 19 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:28,720 50 different configurations. This is a really important thing, by the way. Both 20 00:01:25,640 --> 00:01:30,640 the M5 and the M7 have a hardware mic 21 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:35,240 switch, so you can turn those off if you want. Also down here is a USB-C input if 22 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:41,240 you want to like connect your phone and just play music over it. Simple power 23 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:42,720 button, bass port, and there you go. 24 00:01:41,240 --> 00:01:47,320 Nice stealthy power down here. They're designed to really just fit into your 25 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:50,120 room rather than stand out like traditional hi-fi. They've got a 26 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:54,800 touch-sensitive interface at the front, so you can adjust your volume, play, pause, change your input, and then the 27 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:58,600 little heart is called my button, so you can just set it to do whatever your 28 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:01,920 favorite thing is. Now that we've pretty much covered this, it's time to move on 29 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:06,000 to the big guy. Oh, that's really heavy. >> [laughter] 30 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:10,280 >> One moment, please. As you would expect from any modern year sound bar, this 31 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:13,920 thing is absolutely jam-packed full of speakers. They're on the front, they're 32 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:17,320 on the sides, they're firing upward. Like the smaller sound suite speakers, 33 00:02:15,640 --> 00:02:21,680 it supports pretty much any connectivity you want, so you know, Bluetooth, 34 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:27,880 AirPlay, Wi-Fi, but it adds of course HDMI via eARC as well as Dolby Atmos 35 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:31,920 Flex Connect acting as a main [music] device. 36 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:37,840 That is in no small part thanks to its inclusion of LG's Alpha 11 AI Gen 3 37 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:42,440 processor, which as far as we can tell is actually the same processing chip 38 00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:46,640 that's going to be in the new LG G6. We've only got a G5 here today, which 39 00:02:44,440 --> 00:02:51,520 also supports Flex Connect, but [music] you can do more speakers with the sound 40 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:56,400 bar. So, you would have to have the TV, a sub, and three speakers, so a total of 41 00:02:53,920 --> 00:03:00,160 four devices, whereas with this bad boy, we can have four speakers around the 42 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:02,760 room and a subwoofer, and our sound bar. This is a 43 00:03:01,440 --> 00:03:06,880 disappointing trend. There's only a single HDMI port on this sound bar. 44 00:03:05,160 --> 00:03:12,120 I do understand why they've made this choice. It can simplify things for more 45 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:16,400 normie TV owners. You just [music] plug this into your eARC and then use your TV 46 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:19,400 inputs. You don't have to worry about, you know, oh, well, hold on, which 47 00:03:17,959 --> 00:03:23,519 inputs do I have as a pass-through on my sound bar and which ones am I doing through my TV? But the [music] geek in 48 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:28,800 me is just like, more HDMI ins, I want it. Uh I love 49 00:03:26,239 --> 00:03:34,000 this, though. Another mic switch. We've also got a USB port, power in, and look 50 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:37,280 at these delightful clicky buttons. Power, volume, input, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 51 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:42,320 and another one of those customizable buttons. You know what I'd like to see 52 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:44,200 sound bars include? Just a couple little like 53 00:03:44,012 --> 00:03:52,080 >> [music] >> rubber feet, just in case you have a stand in this style, and you don't want 54 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:54,160 to put it uh right in the front. 55 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:58,160 LG also does support wall mounting, of course, with an optional accessory, if 56 00:03:56,080 --> 00:04:03,120 you're more into that sort of thing, but we're going to go this route today. [music] Speaking of accessory ideas, 57 00:04:00,880 --> 00:04:07,360 let's have a look at what is included. You get a remote, [music] 58 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:11,160 power cable, and oh, aforementioned wall bracket, but that's it. Power, [music] 59 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:15,040 HDMI, and love sound bars or hate them, you got to 60 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:19,519 admire the simplicity. Look at that. They use the same mold for the remote 61 00:04:17,519 --> 00:04:23,600 for both the TV and the sound bar, but the buttons are slightly different. The 62 00:04:21,079 --> 00:04:26,240 good news is, if I have this remote, I don't need this one. Obviously, we're 63 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:31,720 going to have to hook up some more devices and play around with their sound follow feature, especially cuz I'm not 64 00:04:30,240 --> 00:04:35,320 sitting directly in front of it. We'll get to that later, but first, just 65 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:39,688 initial impressions of the sound bar. Actually, I'm going to go centered for that. 66 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:44,273 We'll do sound follow later. >> [music] >> Did you guys leave the rears on? No, I 67 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,293 unplugged them, didn't I? >> [music] 68 00:04:47,720 --> 00:04:54,360 >> That's uh You know, LG, >> [music] 69 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:57,160 >> it's not much of a sales pitch for your um 70 00:04:54,919 --> 00:05:01,303 supplementary surround speakers when the surround is that good with just the 71 00:04:59,440 --> 00:05:03,323 sound bar. >> [laughter] 72 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,600 >> Huh. >> [laughter] >> Okay. 73 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:24,200 Really good, but 74 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:27,360 there is no substitute for actually putting surround speakers behind you, so 75 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:31,640 why don't we hook up a few more. Not going to lie, we kind of cheated and 76 00:05:28,919 --> 00:05:37,240 hooked up these M7s on LG's uh little stands beforehand, but the cool thing is 77 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:41,840 you don't have to. As we saw when we were in their demo booth back at CES, 78 00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:46,240 you can put these on stands, you know, you can put them right behind the 79 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:48,000 seating position, or you can just 80 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:50,720 not. One thing I noticed is we weren't using the cable management channel in 81 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:55,640 the stands though, so we're going to go ahead and do that. Theoretically, this should be as simple as just kind of 82 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:59,600 Okay, a little uncomfortable, but this is a normal thing to do. Okay, there we 83 00:05:57,320 --> 00:06:03,680 go. That's more like it. And then if you're really smart, then 84 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:07,080 you would also screw it in. There's a little screw hole on the bottom here, 85 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:10,520 and there's a little corresponding spot here. But, I think we're just going to yolo 86 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:13,400 it. Okay. Now we will never drop it off the stand 87 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:17,840 again. We never did. Yeah, we never dropped it. Glenn wasn't rolling, right? Nope, I 88 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,960 don't think Nice. Now that we've got two of our surround speakers connected, you can see 89 00:06:19,904 --> 00:06:25,880 >> [music] >> our test configuration here with the four surrounds and the sub, and you can 90 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:29,360 see these ones are green. We're probably going to want to run a recalibration 91 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:37,800 real quick here. Now we [music] set our distance from the sound bar. Actually, yeah, 2 m sounds about right. 92 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:37,800 Optimization is beginning. 93 00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:47,919 Oh, and this is a perfect time to point out that sound follow allows you to move 94 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:53,680 and then set your position. So, I could be over here, you know, maybe I don't have 95 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:56,480 an optimal living room configuration. I 96 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,480 can go like this. 97 00:06:57,894 --> 00:07:03,880 >> [music] >> And it moves me. Cool, huh? Let's see how that flyover 98 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:03,880 sounds now. 99 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:13,680 It's better. It's not as much better as I might have expected. I mean, the sound 100 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:15,360 bar does such a good job on its own, but 101 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:19,760 I mean, that's the thing about height channels and rear channels is that most 102 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:22,840 of the movie is up here. >> [snorts] 103 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:32,320 >> I love that this guy just makes movies so he can do cool at this point. 104 00:07:30,645 --> 00:07:35,480 >> [laughter] >> Let's do the whole shebang. 105 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:40,120 Let's put in more speakers on the sides. Let's put in the sub. I think the W7 sub 106 00:07:37,680 --> 00:07:43,560 is probably the most self-explanatory part of this entire setup. It's a 107 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:47,160 subwoofer. It does subwoofer things. One cool thing 108 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:52,560 though is [music] you can either stand it up like this or 109 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:55,080 it includes optional feet so that you can 110 00:07:55,640 --> 00:08:03,640 put it like this. You know, whatever works better for your aesthetic. It's got a single 8-in driver 111 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:05,760 and makes wubs. I'm going to use these just cuz I can. 112 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:10,760 >> [music] >> They're cute. I'm expecting utterly better bass. 113 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:16,800 All right, we got all our speakers set up. Boom, just like that. 114 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:26,975 Based on my experience kind of going through the various stages of setup that 115 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:30,880 you can build with this, >> [music] >> I'm going to say something that might 116 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:32,440 not make LG feel that comfortable in a sponsored video. 117 00:08:32,215 --> 00:08:42,280 >> [music] >> And that's that the best thing you can do to enjoy your sound suite AI setup is 118 00:08:39,599 --> 00:08:46,080 to never try the next level up. Because at every stage I kind of went, 119 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:48,400 "Oh man, yeah. Like this is totally good enough." 120 00:08:47,936 --> 00:08:53,120 >> [music] >> And then once I went up another level, I was like, "Okay, yeah. Okay. Okay, yeah, 121 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:59,720 it's better. Yeah. [music] Yeah, of course it's better." But that doesn't mean that just the soundbar or just a 122 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:03,760 couple of the speakers wouldn't also be pretty outstanding. It's amazing how 123 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:07,120 much audio they can pack in such a small package these days. [music] 124 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:11,839 How is it for something more musical though? That's always a big question for 125 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:11,839 me. I love musicals. 126 00:09:12,826 --> 00:09:18,680 >> [singing and music] >> Dialogue's a little overcooked right now. We might be in the AI upgraded 127 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:26,760 audio. >> Yeah, I'm going to turn off the AI enhanced audio. It actually did not 128 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:30,080 bother me at all just watching a movie, 129 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:31,440 but music, it goes a little hard at the 130 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:35,400 dialogue enhancement, which is going to be great for a lot of people. 131 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:40,400 Not my preference. So, So, me play around with this a little bit. I can 132 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,400 already tell that's better. 133 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:48,400 I don't like to get too far into subjective impressions of sound in a 134 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:50,400 sponsored video, but what I can say 135 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:53,800 objectively is that playing around with the sound profiles a little bit, turning 136 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:58,360 off sort of, you know, AI voice and dialogue enhancement, I would be happy 137 00:09:56,400 --> 00:10:01,880 with the musical performance of this, factoring in the convenience of the 138 00:09:59,960 --> 00:10:04,440 whole thing running wirelessly. So, you're not running speaker wire, and 139 00:10:03,916 --> 00:10:10,720 [music] considering you can put the speakers anywhere you want. It's [laughter] 140 00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:15,000 pretty cool. And I'm legitimately excited to see the Dolby Atmos Flex 141 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:20,080 Connect ecosystem continue to grow. For now, though, it looks like LG has both 142 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:26,160 the primo solution for it, and if you just want to go with a pair of M5s or a 143 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:27,800 pair of M7s, also more accessible 144 00:10:26,160 --> 00:10:29,760 solutions, and you can pair those directly to a supported TV. 145 00:10:29,462 --> 00:10:34,360 >> [music] >> If you guys want to check them out, we'll have them linked down below. Thanks for watching. Thanks LG for 146 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:37,120 sponsoring this video. Subscribe [music] to ShortCircuit.