LG HLX55W Blu-ray Sound Bar - Like an Incomplete Choir

Sound Bar-ista

Where engines are concerned, there’s a saying that goes “there’s no replacement for displacement”. Likewise, for good sound, space is necessary and unfortunately space is scarce in many heavily built up cities like our own tiny Singapore.

To address the problem, audio makers came with the idea of a single speaker unit with multiple drivers to recreate a surround effect similar to that of multi-speaker setups. Sound Bars gained prominence around 2005 and some of the earlier and more successful pioneers of sound bars included Philips, Polk Audio and Yamaha.

Since then, sound bars have become increasingly popular and it is easy to see why. They are much easier to setup compared to a true multi-speaker configuration as you don't have to worry about unsightly wires or placement issues; they require less space and crucially, a good sound bar is capable of recreating a decent surround sound effect.

Setting Your Expectations Right

One thing to note is that many sound bars aren't yet at a stage to totally eclipse a true multi-channel audio setup as they can't yet achieve the same level of surround realism. To give you a better analogy, while a true multi-channel setup would allow you to get accurate positioning of the rear sound elements, say for example an arrow whizzing past from your distant rear to the front, a sound bar typically tries its best to re-create the depth and rear sound elements most by audio reflection. The effect is such that you get a feeling of surround, but you won't necessarily get accurate positioning or depth. Taking the same example, the arrow might seem to be whizzing past you but it would have felt like it started from the sides or your immediate rear rather than from your distant rear.

For audio and movie critics, this would be a compromise in experience. However for the typical home user, when a very high percentage of all your movie audio and dialog is catered by your front pair and center speakers, there's not much of a loss for these users. It's a balance of expectations, performance and convenience. You choose.

Back to the modern sound bard and in today’s high definition age, with Blu-ray and 3D slowly gaining traction, manufacturers have figured a way to make sound bars more enticing by incorporating Blu-ray players into them and billing them as 'complete' home theater solutions.

And the LG HLX55W sound bar which we have here today is one such sound bar. Featuring an integrated 3D-capable Blu-ray player, a wireless subwoofer, '4.1-channel' full surround sound, the HLX55W is the latest home theater solution from Korean electronics giant LG.

Because of the integrated Blu-ray player, the LG HLX55W is a tad bulky, but it’s a handsome and futuristic-looking piece of gadgetry. Also, we hear that the sound bar was developed with help of audio gurus Mark Levinson, so it’ll be interesting to see how it performs in the audio department. But before we do that, here’s a quick run down of the HLX55W’s physical features.

Test Setup

Readers familiar with how we test our speakers will know we usually test them over four categories - CD, MP3, Movies and Games. But since the LG HLX55W sound bar isn’t a pair of computer speakers, we are tweaking our testing material slightly to focus on CD and MP3 material testing, while adding on Blu-ray testing using the opening 30 minutes of the movie Vantage Point as our reference.

As usual, we’d like to point out that different people have different musical tastes, so your preferences with speakers may vary. The best way to find out if a pair of speakers is right for you, as it has always been, is to audition them yourselves.

The complete list of testing materials used is as follows:

CD Testing:

• Pod Race Scene from The Phantom Menance
• Tyrannosaurus Rex Sound Effects from Jurassic Park
• Theme from Jurassic Park
• Apollo 13 Lift-off Sound Effects
• Theme from Cutthroat Island
• Fanfare for Louis, performed by the Dallas Wind Symphony

MP3 Testing:

• Hotel California - Eagles
• Sail on Soothsayer - Buckethead
• Melt My Heart to Stone - Adele
• Elements of Life - Tiesto

Blu-ray Testing

• Vantage Point

Report Card

Since the LG HLX55W sound bar will be used mainly for watching Blu-ray movies, we figure it’ll be apt to begin first with our findings from playing Vantage Point.

The LG HLX55W sounded pretty spacious alright, but its sound didn’t engulf us in the same way a full-fledged multi-speaker would. Despite this shortcoming, the spaciousness of the HLX55W still makes it one of the more 'authentic' sounding pseudo-surround sound bars in the market.

We also noted that the LG HLX55W has a very clear and sharp sound, but strangely its clarity doesn’t extend to dialog, which we thought was slightly muffled in comparison. It’s not a big issue, and it is only apparent if you listen very closely.

And for those who like to turn the volume up when watching movies, you’d be happy to know that your neighbors would probably call the police on you first before the HLX55W showed any signs of distortion. Which is a good thing actually, because if there’s one thing that the HLX55W sorely lacks is that cinematic feel and much of it is due to the fact that the subwoofer doesn’t seem to be adding anything to the sound. We tried adjusting the subwoofer volume level, but it did little to alleviate the problem. The only quick fix is to increase overall audio level, but doing so makes everything too loud and makes the mids and highs slightly harsh.

To gain a better understanding of the HLX55W, we subjected it to further tests using our CD and MP3 testing material. On the Pod Race scene from The Phantom Menace, the HLX55W did commendably well thanks to its spacious sound, and there was a real sense of the pods swishing past you as they raced along. However, the underperforming subwoofer prevented it from getting good scores as the rumbling of the engines didn’t sound involving and exciting enough. The HLX55W’s lack of low-end performance was also apparent when playing the T-rex and Apollo 13 sound effects tracks as well as Tiesto’s trance track, Elements of Life. 

Promising, but Flawed

Featuring an integrated 3D-capable Blu-ray and boasting '4.1-channel' sound, the appeal of the LG HLX55W is understandable, especially for movie buffs seeking theater-like sound without compromising on space and wire clutter. But unfortunately, the HLX55W has issues that needs to be ironed out before it can receive our hearty recommendation.  

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the HLX55W is its sound. It’s not terrible to be sure, but it could certainly be better. The most glaring flaw of the unit was its almost non-existent subwoofer, which caused the HLX55W to sound thin and detached, and therefore greatly diminishes the movie-watching experience.

Other niggles include the on-screen menu user interface, which, though easy and straightforward enough to use and navigate, felt slow and unresponsive. The HLX55W also has various sound modes, but their effects are minimal and not immediately apparent. And finally, the unit could also use more inputs ports so that it can be paired with a greater variety of devices such as gaming consoles like the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

In all, the LG HLX55W sound bar is promising but flawed. If its winning looks are enough to distract you from its thin sound and lack of input ports doesn't bother you, then you wouldn't mind setting aside S$1499 for this 3D-ready Blu-ray sound bar. While it's not perfect, it's already one of the better sound bars in the market when you factor all its aspects as a whole and use it more for casual audio/movie viewing with some pseudo-surround effects. As we mentioned in the opening, setting your expectations right is the most important thing when considering various groups of audio products.

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