SP11RA

Overview

SP11RA is a 2021 LG Dolby Atmos system: a sound bar, a wireless subwoofer and two rear speakers, all in the box. The bar is 1443 mm wide, 63 mm high and 146 mm deep, comes in black and can stand in front of the TV or be wall-mounted with the included bracket. LG suggests it for TVs from 55 to 65 inches.

LG lists 770 W of total power: front, center and surround channels at 50 W each, rear channels at 50 W each and a 220 W wireless subwoofer, with up-firing height speakers in both the bar and the rear speakers. The sound tuning is credited to LG's partnership with Meridian Audio.

The TV connects over HDMI eARC or the optical input, and the bar has two HDMI inputs, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a USB port for music files. Over Wi-Fi it supports Chromecast built-in, Apple AirPlay 2 and Spotify Connect, and it works with the Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa. It works with the TV remote and the included remote, has touch controls, and LG lists an app for iOS and Android. With LG TVs, Sound Bar Mode Control lets the TV's Magic Remote change the bar's settings, and TV Sound Mode Share lets the bar use the TV's sound processing. High-resolution audio is listed up to 24-bit/192 kHz.

What the specs mean

• 7.1.4 speaker setup: seven main channels (left, center, right, two surrounds and two rears), a subwoofer and four height channels: up-firing speakers at the front in the bar and at the back in the rear speakers.
• Dolby Atmos and DTS:X: Dolby Atmos lets creators place each sound where they want it to go, including overhead. On SP11RA the up-firing drivers play the height channels. LG 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.
• Room correction: LG lists Custom Room Tuning, which adjusts the sound bar's settings to the room.