Sound quality: In its ASC mode LG's SJ4Y-S delivers sound quality that falls in the good range - it reproduces music and dialog reasonably well despite the obvious shortcomings in its sound. The bass has good impact and goes fairly deep, but is somewhat boomy and prominent. The midrange is fairly even, but is somewhat hazy, a bit grainy, and is somewhat overwhelmed by the bass. The treble is somewhat subdued and generally somewhat smeared; although it's not extended the upper treble, as far as it goes, can sound a bit sizzly. This model doesn't do a good job of recovering room ambience (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), and the general sound is somewhat congested. The Bass Blast sound mode makes the sound more bassy, the Cinema sound mode makes the sound field wider and taller, but is loud, echoey, and even more bassy. There was no significant difference in sound quality between HDMI, Optical, Analog, Bluetooth, and USB inputs. The system can provide satisfying volume in a medium sized room.
TV setup and ease of use: Very good overall. Setup: HDMI CEC (LG calls it SIMPLINK) activation and deactivation is done on the connected TV and not on the SJ4Y-S. The instructions that come with this unit refer to on-line instructions. When a HDMI CEC connection is not used the soundbar can still be set to be controlled by TV remotes from LG and other major brands, and LG's Sound Sync function provides TV remote volume and mute control of the soundbar via an optical or a proprietary wireless connection when used with compatible LG TVs. Activation and deactivation of these features is quick and easy, but not intuitive so easy to follow instructions in the on-line manual have to be referred to. The system comes with an optical digital audio cable for TV connection, HDMI digital audio/video or stereo analog cables must be purchased separately if you want or need either of those to connect your TV. Ease of Use: This model has many options that allow it to work seamlessly with your TV - it can be set to respond to the volume and mute commands of HDMI CEC compatible TVs when connected via the HDMI ARC ports with and HDMI cable. It can also be set to respond to the volume and mute commands of TV remotes from many major brands including LG, and to be controlled by LG TV remotes by a proprietary optical or wireless connection. Its own physical remote seems somewhat cluttered but is not difficult to use. An app remote that operates via Bluetooth can also be downloaded onto an Android mobile device; we found the remote to be easy to use and glitch-free. The soundbar console's power and volume controls are marked with commonly used symbols but the source control uses a non-standard label; the actual control buttons are on the back of the soundbar and are hard to see and access. Although there is no mute control, if the soundbar has been muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The display is visible from arms length and shows on/standby status and has source selection indicators. The display indicates when the volume is being changed but does not show the level, and indicates that a DSP mode has been selected but does not show what the selection is, and lacks a surround/stereo status indication for optional surround sound operation.
Features setup and ease of use: Fair overall. Setup: Bluetooth pairing is very easy - if no Bluetooth device has previously been paired or the paired device does not have Bluetooth activated the unit is automatically in pairing mode once it has been switched on. An Android mobile device Bluetooth remote app is available for use with this soundbar; the app download instructions are provided on-line, and the instructions with the soundbar refer to the on-line instructions. Ease of Use: The soundbar's remote is somewhat cluttered - the source selection button label uses non-standard notation so it may be hard to identify and the volume mute button is not separated from the and DSP function buttons. An app remote that operates via Bluetooth can also be downloaded onto an Android mobile device; we found the remote to be easy to use and glitch-free. The soundbar console's power and volume controls are marked with commonly used symbols but the source control uses a non-standard label; the actual control buttons are on the back of the soundbar and are hard to see and access. Although there is no mute control, if the soundbar has been muted from the remote pressing one of the console volume buttons unmutes it. The display is visible from arms length and shows on/standby status and has source selection indicators. The display indicates when the volume is being changed but does not show the level, and indicates that a DSP mode has been selected but does not show what the selection is. The display also lacks a surround/stereo status indication for optional surround sound operation. Bluetooth connection is not automatic - previously paired Bluetooth source devices have to be manually re-connected when soundbar is turned off and back on again. The console has inputs for HDMI ARC digital video/audio and optical digital audio connections. The optical input is provided as an alternate connection for TVs that lack HDMI ARC, not as a separate connection for another device. These two inputs are covered under one source and the soundbar uses on or the other depending on what's connected; if both are connected the HDMI ARC TV connection takes priority.
