Recently, LG released its Sound Suite range, which it has described as the “world’s first soundbar audio system powered by Dolby Atmos Flex Connect”.
This tech enables you to experience optimized audio and Atmos effects, even if your speakers are positioned outside of the optimal ‘forward left and right, rear left and right’ placement. In order to do this, FlexConnect speakers use built-in microphones to map their position in a room, adjust their output accordingly to recreate a normal surround sound from wherever they are, and deliver the best home theater immersion possible in your particular space.
It’s a technology that could be game-changing for people with rooms that are ill-suited to the best Dolby Atmos soundbars requiring a traditional surround sound setup. And I’m intrigued to see whether LG’s rivals begin implementing it into their home theater tech too.
As I discovered when writing my LG Sound Suite Immersive Suite 7 Pro review, FlexConnect is more than a good idea in theory — it works well in practice too. However, that specific system combines a soundbar and sub with only two surround speakers. And I wanted to really push this system’s FlexConnect capabilities to the limit.
So, I tried the ultimate configuration: a soundbar, sub, and four surround speakers — and those are the most powerful LG M7 speakers. This set-up is known as the LG Immersive Quad Suite 7. It’s a 13.1.7-channel system packed with 29 speaker units and a whole lot of power. But is it actually good? And is it worth buying? Here are my thoughts after hours of testing.
Flexible Atmos that’s seriously striking
You may have already suspected this, the Quad Suite 7’s stand-out feature is its impeccable Dolby Atmos performance.
As I mentioned earlier, FlexConnect works very well, and helps to make Atmos effects feel supremely immersive. All I had to do was set the speakers up around our TV testing space, add them on the LG ThinQ app, and calibrate the system. I had to try this a couple of times to get the most accurate reading, but once the system was set up, I got access to some seriously impressive sound.
With a 4K Blu-ray of The Mask, I was blown away by the quality of Atmos — even compared to the still-powerful Immersive Suite 7 Pro. In a scene where The Mask himself hurtles through a glass door, he continues to spin around the screen in a tornado-like motion.
With the Quad suite, every part of his movement was mapped amazingly. I could hear the small discrepancies as he spun from the center into the left corner, and the sense of space of each movement was huge. It really sounded as if I could hear him spinning into the corners of our testing room, creating an almost tangible viewing experience.
Other details impressed me too. Tina’s dialogue was placed expertly when chatting to Stanley, for instance, and the sound of mobsters playing air hockey in the backdrop of another scene was replicated in a natural-sounding, authentic manner. This movie really was a great example of the phenomenal width that the Quad Suite could whip up.
But the Quad Suite is very adept when it comes to height effects too. I threw on my go-to for testing verticality, Top Gun: Maverick, and the system performed very astutely. In a scene where Tom Cruise flies his jet directly up and overhead, the system tracked the lift of his aircraft with total precision. Most soundbars or soundbar systems I’ve tested don’t completely nail that verticality — after all, Atmos in its truest form makes use of actual overhead speakers.
The Quad Suite served up a really strong showing, though, and mapped upward movements to great effect throughout the movie’s runtime. With flexibility, expansiveness, and impressive height, the Quad Suite 7 really is elite when it comes to Dolby Atmos sound.
Sound check
Atmos is great on the LG Immersive Quad Suite 7, but how does it sound more generally? Well, as you may imagine, it’s an extremely powerful system – the H7 soundbar has a maximum power output of 500W, with 220W for the W7 sub and 100W per M7 speaker. Combined, that means you’re getting a power output well in excess of 1,000W, which in turn provides listeners with seismic bass, direct-sounding dialogue, and energetic highs.
When tuning into a scene 2024’s Nosferatu, the deep, imposing voice of Count Orlok tore through me, and as tensions heightened, deep bass rumbled throughout the scene with gigantic impact, but still didn’t veil sounds elsewhere in the frequency range. Alongside that, eerie sound effects oozed from the four surround speakers, creating a real sense that I was right in the middle of a horror spectacle.
In another scene, I could hear chanting from each corner of the room, while the higher-pitched noise of scurrying rats sounded tonally convincing rather than shrill or tinny. This was followed by a gut-wrenching screech, which came through forcefully and sharply, highlighting the impressive dynamics of the system.
More generally, I found dialogue to be clear and easily discernible across various movies, and I never felt the need to dip out of the standard sound mode. See, there’s a couple of AI sound settings, but to me, these actually sounded less nuanced and balanced, so I’d advise against them.
Even if we stray from movies and tread towards the music domain, the Quad Suite 7 performs pretty well overall. When listening to a Dolby Atmos mix of Brick House by the Commodores, I could hear drums playing in the left corner of the room, guitars strumming on my right, and vocals flowing from the center. The system provided a nuanced presentation with well-placed instruments, but the overall sound was still cohesive.
Unsurprisingly, I felt that the Quad Suite setup provided a significantly more expansive and enveloping music listening experience than the Immersive Suite 7 Pro, although one small nitpick I had carried over to the larger build, which was my feeling that some sounds in the mid-range — typically vocals — sometimes lack the separation I’d expect from a more premium hi-fi setup.
Wait, how much?!
Anyway, it’s clear that the LG Immersive Quad Suite 7 is a very strong performer overall, and it really is awesome for movie-watching, in the truest sense of that word. That full-bodied, spatial sound basically demands your attention. But you may be wondering just how much this all costs, and spoiler alert: it’s a lot.
OK, so LG isn’t selling the Quad Suite 7 as a whole package — at least not yet. Instead, you’ll have to buy its constituent parts separately, and… it’s about to get pricey in here. The system’s core, the LG Sound Suite H7 soundbar, comes in at $999 / £899, but you’ll also have to splash out $599 / £599 on the LG W7 sub, and $399 / £399 per LG M7 speaker. You could go for the cheaper LG M5 speaker instead, which are $249 / £249 a pop, but I can’t speak to their quality.
So, let’s say we’re going for four M7 speakers here — in that case, you’d be looking at a spend approaching $3,200 / £3,100.
But look, as expensive as that is, the real question should be about value for money. Even if the LG Immersive Quad Suite 7 costs more than $3,000 / £3,000, is it still worth it? Well, for most people, I’d probably say no.
Sure, the FlexConnect technology is amazing, and the audio you’ll experience — especially for movies — is seriously gripping. But you can regularly scoop up a traditional surround sound system — such as the phenomenal Samsung HW-Q990F or almighty JBL Bar 1300MK2 — for essentially half the price.
OK, these systems lack FlexConnect, and they have two smaller rear speakers as opposed to four larger alternatives. But as someone who’s tested both, I can say with confidence that they still sound spectacular, and for half of the money? I think I’d have to skip on the Quad Suite 7, assuming you can place the speakers in the correct positions.
Having said that, if you’ve got the cash, you’re willing to go all out, and the ability to place speakers wherever you want is useful to you, it’s hard to look past the Quad Suite 7.
Its integration of Dolby Atmos FlexConnect tech makes it genuinely unrivaled in terms of versatility, and the power you get from four M7 speakers — alongside the sleek-looking W7 sub and expansive H7 soundbar — is palpable.
So yes, if you’re looking for an incredibly immersive home theater experience, the Quad Suite 7 is almost certain to impress – but for most people, I’ll continue to recommend more cost-efficient alternatives.
The best soundbars for all budgets
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harry.padoan@futurenet.com (Harry Padoan)
