LG SN11RG Soundbar Review & Comments

Brilliant review Steve, and I'm relieved you like it.

Just one thing, did you notice a lack of LFE coming from the rears? I've experienced it very noticably when gaming on the Xbox/Playstation, it's also something mentioned in other reviews too.

I'm hoping LG take a proper look at it.
 
Good review and very informative for any perspective buyers but if you already own one you already know if it's for you or not.
 
At that price it should at least 3 HDMI inputs. That's why i love my Yamaha YSP-4300, 4 HDMI inputs and 2 Optical inputs. Soundbar makes need to stop skimping on inputs.
 
At that price it should at least 3 HDMI inputs. That's why i love my Yamaha YSP-4300, 4 HDMI inputs and 2 Optical inputs. Soundbar makes need to stop skimping on inputs.

My Arc only has 1 lol
 
At that price it should at least 3 HDMI inputs. That's why i love my Yamaha YSP-4300, 4 HDMI inputs and 2 Optical inputs. Soundbar makes need to stop skimping on inputs.

Don't worry. They are making a soundbar just for you with 8 8K/120p VRR/ALLM HDMI 2.1 inputs and dedicated 7.1ch analog outs. :)
 
wou this be a upgrade from my Sony ST5000
 
Brilliant review Steve, and I'm relieved you like it.

Just one thing, did you notice a lack of LFE coming from the rears? I've experienced it very noticably when gaming on the Xbox/Playstation, it's also something mentioned in other reviews too.

I'm hoping LG take a proper look at it.
The LFE channel goes to the subwoofer, so I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. I wouldn't expect much bass from the small rear speakers, but there certainly weren't any issues with the system as a whole delivering an excellent low-end presence.
 
In my opinion it's definitely an upgrade on the Sony.
Steve, great review and I love the atmos bubble as I own this already. Just one question, myself and others have noticed a muffling of sound on occasion during action scenes. For example, I watched the car chase from Apple TV 4K in atmos in Terminator Dark Fate. It sounded a little underwhelming. Can’t quite explain what I mean other than like late night mode was enabled (it wasn’t) but when I watched Top Gun 4K from a UHD disc, it sounded incredible with no “muffling”. Did you experience any such incidents when you watched movies? It could have been the “mix” on Dark Fate and not the bar. However, others have mentioned the same with the Tunnel Scene in John Wick 3. Do you have any of these titles to compare, or have you returned the bar now? I’d be interested in your opinion. Thanks.
 
Steve; In terms of pure sound quality for immersive audio where does the LG stand in terms of preference Vs the Samsung q90?
 
Steve, great review and I love the atmos bubble as I own this already. Just one question, myself and others have noticed a muffling of sound on occasion during action scenes. For example, I watched the car chase from Apple TV 4K in atmos in Terminator Dark Fate. It sounded a little underwhelming. Can’t quite explain what I mean other than like late night mode was enabled (it wasn’t) but when I watched Top Gun 4K from a UHD disc, it sounded incredible with no “muffling”. Did you experience any such incidents when you watched movies? It could have been the “mix” on Dark Fate and not the bar. However, others have mentioned the same with the Tunnel Scene in John Wick 3. Do you have any of these titles to compare, or have you returned the bar now? I’d be interested in your opinion. Thanks.
The soundbar is long gone, but I certainly didn't experience any muffling or a limited soundstage. It could be that a streamed Atmos soundtrack just lacks the fidelity (especially at the low-end) of a lossless soundtrack on disc. I can say that I watched Terminator: Dark Fate on my full system, and there is nothing 'underwhelming' about that mix on 4K disc.
 
Should I go for this Soundbar or the Samsung q950? 🤷🏻‍♂️
The SN11RG is an excellent soundbar, but I'd go for the Q950T which delivers an awesome 9.1.4-channel soundstage.
Steve; In terms of pure sound quality for immersive audio where does the LG stand in terms of preference Vs the Samsung q90?
From memory I don't think there's much in it. The SN11RG is basically a copy of the Q90R, with the same 7.1.4-channel speaker layout. Which explains why Samsung has gone 9.1.4 with the Q950T.
 
The LFE channel goes to the subwoofer, so I'm not sure I understand what you're asking. I wouldn't expect much bass from the small rear speakers, but there certainly weren't any issues with the system as a whole delivering an excellent low-end presence.
Sorry for not making myself clear, when there is only audio coming from the rears, for example a waterfall behind the player during a video game, the sub doesn’t fire, but as soon as the camera pans around so the waterfall is in front, the sub kicks in and you can feel the rumble of the water.

I was advised the LFE wasn’t being sent to the sub where it should be via the rears.

Hope this makes sense.
 
Steve, how do you think soundbars with side-firing speakers like these would perform in a corner room location where the end speakers wouldn't be very far from the walls? Possibly less than a foot with something as wide as the LG. Would that be a significant negative impact to their surround sound effects for the LG and two most recent Samsungs? Something that AI room correction features may not be helpful for?
 
Sorry for not making myself clear, when there is only audio coming from the rears, for example a waterfall behind the player during a video game, the sub doesn’t fire, but as soon as the camera pans around so the waterfall is in front, the sub kicks in and you can feel the rumble of the water.

I was advised the LFE wasn’t being sent to the sub where it should be via the rears.

Hope this makes sense.
OK, that makes more sense. I hadn't noticed that when I tested it, but I'm not a big gamer. I certainly hadn't noticed anything like that with movies, but it's probably an issue that's more specific to games. I don't know enough about how sound is rendered in real-time for games to make an informed decision about the LG's decoding and steering of gaming effects.
 
Steve, how do you think soundbars with side-firing speakers like these would perform in a corner room location where the end speakers wouldn't be very far from the walls? Possibly less than a foot with something as wide as the LG. Would that be a significant negative impact to their surround sound effects for the LG and two most recent Samsungs? Something that AI room correction features may not be helpful for?
A corner isn't ideal, but the speakers you mention will still produce proper surround effects because they use actual rear speakers. You might lose some width to the front soundstage but the basic 5.1.4 channels will all be unaffected.
 
OK, that makes more sense. I hadn't noticed that when I tested it, but I'm not a big gamer. I certainly hadn't noticed anything like that with movies, but it's probably an issue that's more specific to games. I don't know enough about how sound is rendered in real-time for games to make an informed decision about the LG's decoding and steering of gaming effects.
Thanks Steve, I’m awaiting an update from LG as it’s very noticeable while gaming, not so much during films, as there’s normally always something else happening.

I came from the Q90R and there was plenty of bass with those rears, so it certainly seems like an oversight or issue with how this subwoofer is reacting to the rear audio.
 
A corner isn't ideal, but the speakers you mention will still produce proper surround effects because they use actual rear speakers. You might lose some width to the front soundstage but the basic 5.1.4 channels will all be unaffected.

Hm, okay, the width of the front soundstage probably isn't a big deal as this is a small room, and I'm the only viewer. Will be less than 7-8 feet from tv and soundbar as well. I just wondered if the speakers in the ends of these bars that bounce sound of walls would start to sound very muddy if the walls are so close to them in a corner location. Paying more money for 7.1.4 or 9.1.4 instead of 5.1.4 only to get worse sound because of the room would be my concern. Thanks for your reply!
 
The SN11RG is an excellent soundbar, but I'd go for the Q950T which delivers an awesome 9.1.4-channel soundstage.

From memory I don't think there's much in it. The SN11RG is basically a copy of the Q90R, with the same 7.1.4-channel speaker layout. Which explains why Samsung has gone 9.1.4 with the Q950T.

Thanks for the answer 😊
 

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