LG Sound Suite Review - A Seriously Immersive Multi-Channel Home Theater Setup (Tried Sonos Arc and Samsung Q990F)
LG sent me five Dolby Atmos FlexConnect (DAFC) devices from their Sound Suite series as part of a promotional event, including one H7 soundbar and four M7 speakers. Although the products were provided to me for free, the thoughts and impressions shared in this review are entirely my own. The H7 is powered by LG’s α11 Processor, while the system as a whole leverages Peerless drivers.
I tested the LG Immersive Quad Suite 7 with my 77-inch LG G5, using the H7 soundbar connected through HDMI eARC set to passthrough, along with the four M7 speakers as front left/right and rear left/right channels. I also initially tested just the four M7 speakers without the H7, using the G5 as the hub and the G5 internal speakers as the dedicated center channel.
Overall, the LG Sound Suite is the most immersive home theater speaker setup I have used. I previously owned a Sonos Arc with One SL rears and most recently a Samsung Q990F. The Q990F is still a strong system, but the LG setup feels more like what I hoped the Q990F would be. The biggest difference for me is having discrete front left and right speakers, which creates a wider soundstage and a truly convincing surround sound experience. Better yet, each M7 is a 2.1.1 system, with a 4” woofer unit whereas the Q990F rears do not have this. Having four 2.1.1 systems working together in unison with the 9.1.6 H7 soundbar as its brains via DAFC is very impressive and makes the Q990F feel watery in comparison.
Notably, despite having no W7, which is the subwoofer that can be added to the system, the bass performance really surprised me. Although the built-in woofers in the H7 and M7s cannot fully replace a true LFE channel dedicated subwoofer, they produce enough bass that I am not missing a subwoofer as much as I expected. I live in a condo, so in reality, the Sound Suite without the dedicated W7 is probably flying close enough to the sun as it is in terms of bass. I sold my Q990F after listening to this system and was planning on buying a W7. However, due to adopting a senior cat with medical needs coming up, the W7 will have to wait, but I do not feel like the system is anemic due to the absence of a dedicated larger subwoofer.
Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, or DAFC, is a great feature that requires no effort and lends flexibility in terms of where the speakers can be placed. With DAFC, you can run speaker optimization instead of working toward perfect placement, which is not always feasible in irregularly shaped rooms. This really helped in my space because I have glass on one side, an open area on the other, high ceilings, and a brick facade. Room Calibration Pro helps further tune the system to the space, which seemed to give a bit of polish to the audio. The great thing is you can have a system with four discrete speakers, without needing to place them in the traditional four corner positions.
For my testing, I watched Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Apex on Netflix, Elysium, 6 Underground on Netflix, and The Pitt on Crave/HBO as a dialogue test. The Pitt was actually great because it showcased how well the dialogue stayed clear while the ambient ER noise felt impressively layered around the room. Dialogue is big for me as I often use subtitles, but I do not feel like I really need them with this system. Perhaps the discrete left and right speakers allow the dedicated center channels to focus more on clear dialogue.
For movies and PS5 gaming overall, the system felt more enveloping than my Q990F, especially with ambient effects and room noise. I am really excited for my Blu-ray copies of Blade Runner 2049 and Alien: Romulus to be delivered, as I expect these will really shine with the immersive bubble the LG Sound Suite provides.
Taste is of course variable nevertheless I find that the design is another massive win. The speakers look much sleeker than the Q990F and frankly rivals Sonos in terms of fitting into a modern living space. I also like the subtle cozy LED status lights. I certainly will not miss the lack of aesthetic appeal of the Q990F, power to you if you do like the Q990F looks though!
A have found that the LG ThinQ app is useful for controlling the system, full EQ and tone adjustments, as well as checking audio formats are coming through correctly e.g. content playing in Atmos. The setup was pretty smooth, if you are technically savvy then you will be totally fine. As with any tech it is helpful if you are familiar with 2.4 ghz / 5 ghz wifi router settings/capabilities. Notably, having a dedicated 2.4ghz / 5ghz SSID(s) is needed. Given some variance of wifi routers I can foresee some people that are more plug and play oriented running into some difficulties and blaming the system.
A few downsides: the H7 soundbar’s is dimensionally deep, which is not bad, bigger drives etc. but the size may complicate some mounting setups, it took some creative tinkering to get the H7 attached to my Mantel Mount 815 (mounting to a wall would be easy with the included brackets). Additionally, there are currently no official wall mounts for the M7s or M5s; Sound Follow was subtle enough that I could not clearly tell the difference; and using only M7s with the TV as the hub gives you less manual control than using the H7.
I also would not recommend starting with only four M7s and using the TV as the center channel if you care about the best audio experience. The four M7s and G5 speakers utilizing DAFC worked quite well, but ultimately the M7s are dragged down by the TV speakers limitations. I would instead start with the H7, where LG’s Alpha 11 AI Processor acts as the brain to pull the M7s and H7 together. From there add rears, then add discrete front left/right speakers along with the W7 as budget allows. Notably, LG did let me know that they will be releasing an update in the near future to allow for more customizability of the EQ, tonality and sound mode settings when driving the M5s/M7s with a compatible LG TV (without the H7). From LG directly “For 2025 DAFC-supported TV models, support for Sound Effect selection through the TV settings menu is currently expected in July.”
My final verdict to all those considering the LG Sound Suite is that it is definitely worth your purchase. The Sound Suite does indeed fall into the premium pricing bracket, which may be too much for many people. I personally would have struggled to buy the whole package in one go, which makes the modularity of the system a big perk. That being said, when looking at unit-to-unit pricing, it is on par with brands such as Sonos and Samsung.
The LG Sound Suite has very strong multi-channel performance with stellar immersion. A particularly great pick whether you are looking for flexible placement of discrete speakers or simply looking for a very immersive audio experience. The only people I do not think this would be for are those with large physical media collections that require DTS support. Or somebody that has the space and technical abilities to do a full AVR setup with the whole theatre setup e.g. dedicated ceiling speakers. Short of that, this is the closest you are going to get while keeping things streamlined and comparatively easy.
TLDR:
I highly recommend the LG Sound Suite system to anyone looking for a premium, highly immersive surround sound with the ability to have flexible speaker placement.
Pros:
• Extremely immersive surround sound with a much wider soundstage thanks to discrete front left/right speakers.
• Each M7 speaker has its own woofer, giving fuller sound and stronger bass than Samsung’s Q990F’s rear speakers.
• Bass performance is surprisingly strong even without the optional W7 subwoofer.
• Dolby Atmos FlexConnect makes speaker placement flexible and works well in oddly shaped rooms.
• Dialogue clarity is excellent, even during noisy scenes.
• Gaming and movies feel more enveloping and cinematic than competing systems.
• The design is sleek and modern, closer to Sonos aesthetics than Samsung.
• The modular system lets users build gradually over time.
• LG ThinQ app provides solid EQ/control features.
Cons:
• No DTS support, which could be a deal breaker for people with large DTS Blu-ray collections.
• The H7 soundbar is physically deep and can be difficult to mount on Mantel Mounts (NOT a problem for typical wall mounting)
• No official wall mounts yet for the M7/M5 speakers.
• Setup may frustrate less tech-savvy users because proper Wi-Fi configurations/specs matter. This goes for any Wi-Fi hub based audio systems though.
• Using only M7 speakers with the TV (without the H7 soundbar) gives lustlacker audio results and fewer controls due to limitations of TV speakers.