LG's SJ9 is the cheapest Atmos sound bar, doesn't suck
Speakers
Out of a growing trend in home cinema, the LG SJ9 has a Dolby app sound bar.
It's capable of generating overhead effects in the newest movies.
It has two dedicated drivers on top which bounce sound off the ceiling at you.
At $750, the LG is now the cheapest sound bar we've seen with the technology and it adds some features the Samsung rival doesn't have.
First up is Chromecast built in which lets you stream music from your phone or laptop to one or multiple speakers as well as from a Google home speaker.
Secondly, the LG can stream audio from your old LG TV over bluetoo- The sound bar can also pass a 4K HDR signal and decode Dolby TrueHD and Hi-Res music.
But sadly, DTS support is limited to DTS surround.
Given that the main speakers are located in this thin, two and a quarter inch high front panel, the sound relies heavily on support from the 12-inch square Why the sub.
This makes the sub very directional.
And so you need to place it as close to the sound bar as you can.
Otherwise it can sound boomy, and make music sound very disjointed.
FX movies though, they sound great.
The illusion of height is rather good, and the sub woofer is capable of excellent slam.
If you want dedicated surround effects, you can also buy a separate surround package for a reasonable 130 bucks.
As good as the sound bar is, though, at it's price, you're probably better off with thew more refined sounding Samsung HWK 850.
