GX

Overview

GX is a 2020 LG sound bar designed to match the LG GX Gallery OLED TV, with a separate wireless subwoofer. The bar is 1440 mm wide, 150 mm high and 32.5 mm deep, so it is tall and flat rather than deep; it comes in black and can be wall-mounted under the TV with the included bracket or stand in front of it. LG suggests it for TVs from 55 inches and notes that the bar may partly cover the TV screen when standing.

LG lists 420 W of total power: two front channels at 80 W each, a 40 W center channel and a 220 W wireless subwoofer.

The TV connects over HDMI eARC or the optical input, and the bar has two HDMI inputs, Bluetooth 4.0 and a USB port for music files. It works with the TV remote and the included remote, and LG lists an Android app for control. Sound modes include AI Sound Pro, which adjusts the sound to the content, and Bass Blast. High-resolution audio is listed up to 24-bit/96 kHz.

What the specs mean

• 3.1 speaker setup: three main channels (left, center and right) plus a subwoofer, with no up-firing height channels.
• Dolby Atmos and DTS:X without height speakers: GX has no up-firing drivers. LG describes its 3.1 channels as delivering virtual surround sound with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and also lists Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Digital, DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS Digital Surround.
• HDMI eARC: the enhanced Audio Return Channel carries the TV's sound to the sound bar over one HDMI cable, including high-bitrate formats such as Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos and uncompressed multichannel audio. Plain ARC is limited to compressed formats.
• 4K HDR passthrough: a console, streaming box or Blu-ray player can plug into the sound bar's HDMI inputs (two of them). LG lists 4K passthrough with HDCP 2.3 and Dolby Vision and HDR10, so the video goes on to the TV while the bar decodes the sound.
• Wireless surround expansion: LG's SPK8-S rear speaker kit (sold separately) adds two rear speakers. The speakers are wired to an included wireless receiver, which connects to the sound bar without a cable; with the kit LG lists the system as 5.1 channels.