Sound quality: In its Standard sound mode LG's SJ9 delivers sound quality that falls in the very good range - although it has some noticeable sonic quirks it reproduces music and dialog very well. The bass has good impact, but is a bit prominent and boomy, and doesn't go deep. The midrange is fairly even, but is a touch hazy and a bit grainy. The treble is extended, but the lower- and mid-treble are a touch subdued while the upper treble is a bit prominent giving it a bit of a bright sound. This model is generally open sounding and does a decent job recovering room ambience of recordings (the sense of the acoustic space in which the music was recorded), but misses finer detail and complexity. When playing two channel program material the sound field has decent height but doesn't extend much beyond the width of the sound bar and there is not much sense of depth. The Standard and Music Sound Effects settings sound similar, the other Sound Effects settings have noticeable effects and all make the sound more bassy to varying degrees, the Movie mode also sounded echoey, the ASC mode also sounded nasal, and the Bass Blast was loud. When 5.1 channel program material is played back in the Standard mode the width and height of the sound stage expands, and depending on the program material can fill the entire front end of the room. When playing Dolby Atmos material the width and height of the sound stage expands and depending on the program material can fill the entire front end of the room; audio imaging can extend overhead from the front to the back of the room depending on the program material, but there was no side and rear surround effect, and sounds that should have been in the rear come from the front. There was no significant difference in sound quality between the HDMI, optical, Aux, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi inputs when playing two channel program material; Dolby Atmos program material can only be played through the HDMI input. 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 SJ9. 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 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. App remotes that operate via WiFi can also be downloaded onto Apple and Android mobile devices; we found these remotes 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 the typical listening position and can be used in conjunction with app remote screens. It shows on/standby status, has text source selection, mute, and DSP effects mode, and numeric volume level indicators, but lacks a surround/stereo status indication for optional surround sound operation.
Features setup and ease of use: Good overall. Setup: Network streaming setup using WiFi or a LAN connection requires an app download to an Apple or Android mobile device and is straight forward. For LAN connections a LAN cable is needed, but not provided. Bluetooth pairing is very easy - if no Bluetooth device has previously been paired or the paired device does not have Bluetooth activated the soundbar is automatically in pairing mode once it has been switched on. Ease of Use: The SJ9's physical remote seems somewhat cluttered but is not difficult to use. The Apple and Android apps that are downloaded for network setup also act as remotes that operate via WiFi. We found both the general sections (used to control the soundbar like a typical physical remote) and the streaming content player sections (used to play audio streamed from the Internet, the mobile device, or from a computer on your home network) of these app remotes to be easy to navigate, well marked, well organized, 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 the typical listening position and can be used in conjunction with app remote screens. It shows on/standby status, has text source selection, mute, and DSP effects mode, and numeric volume level indicators, but lacks a surround/stereo status indication for optional surround sound operation. 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.
