- UK prices for LG’s new Sound Suite Dolby Atmos FlexConnect soundbar and speakers have changed
- Flagship soundbar now £900, sub is £600 and wireless speakers now £400 and £250
- This puts them in line with Sonos’ products, but the system is more flexible
LG has changed the previously announced UK prices for its Sound Suite module system of Dolby Atmos FlexConnect soundbar and speakers, and this price makes them a real threat to Sonos’ equivalents.
The H7 Soundbar is now £900 instead of £1,000; The W7 subwoofer is £600 instead of £700; and the M7 wireless speaker is down to £400 instead of £450.
However, one price has increased. The M5 wireless speaker, the cheapest in the range, has been priced again, now costing £250 instead of the previously announced £250.
In the US, you’re looking at $999 for the H7 soundbar, $599 for the W7 sub, $399 for the M7 speaker, and $249 for the M5 speaker.
I suspect the prices all around will cause some furrowed eyebrows at Sonos HQ: not only are the H7 soundbar, W7 subwoofer and M7 speaker matching or cheaper than the corresponding Sonos products (Sonos Arc Ultra, Sonos Sub 4 and Sonos Era 300), but they’re also more flexible.
That’s because Dolby Atmos FlexConnect isn’t just a brand; it’s a smart way to set up surround sound speakers, meaning you don’t have to play by the old home theater rules.
Why flexibility could be FlexConnect’s best feature
Like many AV companies, Sonos’ surround sound is great, but it expects you to have a straightforward setup: Soundbar centered in front, surround speakers on either side behind you, you’re perfectly positioned in front of the center of the screen.
And that’s one of the reasons I don’t have a Sonos setup, because like many homes, my front room is actively hostile to symmetrical layouts. It was built in the 1960s, when a 20-inch CRT was considered a large-screen TV.
There is only one place in the room for my TV to sit, and to accommodate that I have to place my surround speakers in odd and asymmetrical locations. That’s why I went with a wired setup: my AV receiver allows me to specify my speaker heights and distances, and it then runs the buzzers and sets delays and levels to compensate for the less-than-perfect placement.
If I were to buy a new system now, I would definitely consider FlexConnect instead.
FlexConnect basically does what my AV receiver does, but even more conveniently: I had to get out the tape measure, but assuming you have a suitable hub, FlexConnect automatically maps the room for you. In LG’s case, the soundbar or a new LG T can act as a hub.
This means you can have a soundbar and a rear speaker, or maybe three speakers in a weird triangle if that’s what suits you, and the system will adjust their output to sound like a traditional surround setup.
We’re still in the early days of this technology, but what we’ve seen – and more importantly, what we’ve heard – is very impressive. If it lives up to LG’s promises and is adopted by more TV and audio manufacturers, it could give the best soundbars some very serious competition.
That leaves Sonos looking like an old fuddy duddy, with its increasingly advanced speaker system still locked into static positions – and according to my colleague Matt Bolton, the LG system also sounds business…
The best soundbars for all budgets
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