LG SP7R  Soundbar Review

The bar has a simple look. It's mostly made of black plastic. The fabric covering is made from recycled plastic bottles, according to the manufacturer, and it's black with gray tones.

The sub is simple, too. The fabric covering the front matches the fabric found on the bar. The port is in the back.

The satellites are made of plastic with a grille on three sides. They're wired to a receiver, which then connects wirelessly to the bar.

The bar is fairly wide and doesn't fit between the legs of most 65" TV stands. Still, since it isn't that tall, it won't block your screen unless your TV sits flat on your table.

It's roughly the same size as the sub that comes with the LG S75QR. It connects wirelessly to the bar.

The satellites are the same size as those that come with the LG S75QR. You have to wire them to the receiver, which limits where you can put them in your space.

You can mount the bar and the satellites to the wall. The bar comes with mounting brackets for the bar.

The LG SP7R has a good build quality. The bar itself is mostly made of plastic, and tight fabric covers the speakers. The manufacturer says the fabric is made of recycled plastic bottles; it feels well-knit and decent to touch. The same fabric covers the front of the sub. The rest of the sub and the satellites are made of plastic, which feels solid. However, the plastic for the receiver feels a little on the cheaper side.

• Manual
• Mounting cutout
• Remote + AA batteries
• Power adapter (4.9 ft / 1.5 m)
• Power cable for bar (3.2 ft / 1m)
• Power cable for sub (4.9 ft / 1.5 m)
• Optical cable (4.9 ft / 1.5 m)
• Rear speaker receiver cables (16.1 ft / 4.9 m)
• Wire holder/fastener
• Mounting brackets + screws

The LG SP7R has a decent stereo frequency response. Vocals and lead instruments sound clear, although a dip in the treble veils their detail a bit. The bar doesn't bring as much rumble in the low-bass as more premium models, but you still get decent punch in the mix.

If you want a more neutral sound with stereo content, set the bass to -4 and the treble to 2. The resulting sound follows our target curve more closely, and vocals and instruments sound brighter with a little extra emphasis in the treble.

The LG SP7R has a decent stereo soundstage. The width of the soundstage seems to stretch a little past the edges of the bar itself, but it doesn't go much further than that. Focus is decent, but some effects aren't as accurately placed to a pinpoint location in the soundstage.

The bar gets loud enough to fill an average-sized living room with sound. That said, compared to other models like the LG S75QR, it isn't quite as suitable for larger and more open rooms. Still, compression is minimal as you push it to max volume.

Distortion falls within good limits when you listen at an average volume. Cranking the bar to max volume causes a jump in distortion, especially in the bass range, though this is hard to hear with real-life content.

This 7.1 setup has a discrete center channel to improve vocal clarity in the mix. However, its frequency response is a little uneven, especially in the high-bass to low-mids. This dip thins out voices and makes them lack depth and body, so they sound a little flat but also bright due to the peak in the treble. Still, voices are clear and detailed, so they're easy to follow.

Thanks to its rear speakers, this soundbar offers a good surround performance. You get a more clear and real feel with your audio, as sound effects stretch into the space around your living room. That said, the frequency response on these channels is a bit uneven, resulting in a dark sound that makes some effects, like the coins in the Ready Player One (2018) race scene, less than clear. The lack of low-bass is evident in action-packed scenes, too, as you don't get a deep rumble in the bass.

The LG SP7R 7.1 has a pretty standard selection of sound enhancement features. You won't find a room correction tool like with more premium bars, but you can make up for differences in the sound a bit with its bass and treble adjustments. There are lots of EQ presets on hand, too, including 'AI Sound Pro', 'Standard', 'Bass Blast', 'Music', 'Clear Voice', 'Game', 'Cinema', 'DTS Virtual:X', and 'Sports'. 'Clear Voice' enhances dialogue in movies and TV shows.

You can connect the bar to your TV over Optical or HDMI. Since it has a Full HDMI In port, you can use the bar as a hub between devices like a TV and a PC. There's also a USB port for audio playback.

The LG SP7R 7.1 supports some common surround sound formats like Dolby Digital and DTS. However, it plays sound meant for the left and right surround channels through the rear speakers instead. As a result, sound effects aren't quite as accurately localized in the space around you, so you don't get as life-like of a listening experience. Unfortunately, the bar doesn't support lossless and object-based formats like Dolby Atmos.

The bar performs similarly over HDMI In. It can playback Dolby Digital and DTS content, but audio intended for the right and left surrounds plays from the right and left rear speakers instead. It can't playback PCM content clearly, either. In our tests, we found that some channels played static noise while others were muffled.

The same implementation issue is present over Optical. The bar can playback Dolby Digital and DTS content, though audio meant for the left and right surround channels plays from the rear speakers instead. As a result, sound effects aren't as accurately localized in the room around you, so you don't get as life-like of a feel.

The LG SP7R 7.1 has middling latency. While it falls within good limits over Full HDMI In, latency is on the higher end over ARC and Optical connections. As a result, you notice some delay between the audio you hear and the visuals on your screen. Fortunately, the AV Sync feature in the LG Sound Bar app lets you adjust for any delay manually. Some apps and TVs compensate for latency differently, too.

This soundbar can only passthrough some common resolutions and refresh rates. According to the Murideo device, the bar is capable of 1080p passthrough at 60Hz. However, when we connected the bar to a PC and a Blu-ray player, it could only passthrough 480p at 60Hz, so your real-world experience may be a little worse than what our results show if you can't enjoy the clearer 1080p resolution. Let us know in the forums if you experience similar issues with this bar.

You can wirelessly stream audio to the bar via Bluetooth.

A simple display in the front of the bar shows the input you're on. Also, it lets you keep track of the volume and the EQ settings as you adjust them.

Buttons on top of the bar let you power on/off, change the input, adjust the volume, and connect to Bluetooth.

The bar comes with a remote, or you can download the LG Sound Bar app to control its features from your smartphone.