Got a new TV and thinking of buying an entertainment system to enhance the cinematic viewing experience at home? Well, there are only few brands with one being specific South Korean LG that has always remained in the list of top performers that can satiate your audio needs without breaking your wallet.
Where the high-end portable speakers’ strengths come to an end, the Rs 29,990 LG’s SJ5 starts that takes both -- music and entertainment to the next level. In my experience LG's new SJ5 tops the list of most attractive soundbar and subwoofer combos I have seen during past few years. So let’s dig in to find out more.
Design and Features
With its cuboid-shaped woofer and straight arrow designed soundbar, the LG-SJ5 looks great and neat. Measuring just 55mm in height, the soundbar can be easily placed underneath most TVs, and its length of 950mm clearly states that the SJ5 is best suited to screens that are 42-inches or larger. The subwoofer is equally compact, measuring 171 x 320 x 252mm, it won’t pose problems placing next to your cabinet.
Both the woofer and soundbar might look heavy but can be moved easily around the house. There is no doubt, that the soundbar takes some space so you might be needing a long table, but it will quickly become the centre of attraction no matter where you put it in the house.
Almost all controls are housed in the soundbar and comes with good selection of ports -- a pair of HDMI (one of which supports ARC (audio return channel), an optical S/PDIF output, a 3.5mm stereo input and a USB port.
The ARC support allows you to send audio from TV as well as from external devices to the SJ5, with only one wire connecting the soundbar to TV. There is HDMI 1.4 in the HDMI 2.0 world which means the soundbar won't be able to handle 4K from an Ultra HD Blu-ray player.
Superb Performance
The soundbar has a well-balanced sound profile and sounds extremely well even at high volume levels. The 320 watts of output power from the SJ5 is loud with booming bass -- enough for a scintillating cinema sound or to rock your house parties.
The LG “Auto Sound Engine” optimises sound and maintains precise frequencies at all times, providing the balanced sound signature irrespective of the volume levels.
On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like DJ Magic Mike’s “Feel The Bass,” the speaker pumped out flawless bass. The mids and treble ranges did not feel restrained and the vocals sounded crisp and clear, even at low volume levels.
On tracks like Titanium by David Guetta which features dance club style beats, the speaker produced high fidelity sound -- making this melody truly pleasurable from starting to end. Australian pop singer Sia’s vocals were clearly audible in between the bass of this electric pop song.
The soundbar can play WAV, FLAC and ALAC formats, as well as files of up to 24-bit and 96 KHz. These types of files provide higher fidelity and can sound more lifelike than CDs.
The sound bar remains in sleep mode but turns on and begins playing when the audio is sent via Bluetooth, a useful feature saving you on electricity bills.
Conclusion
A performer, unlike any other, the LG SJ5 audio system packs a punch with its wide range of features and performance. With great design aesthetics, the SJ5 makes a statement for itself and will be a hit among those who love to have a musical extravaganza.
