LG SPD7Y Review: Decent mid-range sounbar that looks great!

LG SPD7Y
Tech Week Score
5.0
- Dimitri Sokolov

The LG SPD7Y is a 3.1.2 soundbar from the 2021 lineup. Despite the fact that the soundbar has high-rise speakers, you shouldn’t expect an impressive experience from listening to Dolby Atmos content.

In general, the SPD7Y soundbar is good for the soundtrack of regular TV shows and TV shows. Although soundbars are purchased for immersion in the atmosphere of the film, it is the SPD7Y films that pull without much enthusiasm. In this review of the LG SPD7Y, we will try to highlight all the advantages and disadvantages of the model.

LG SPD7Y review

Design

The LG SPD7Y soundbar has a simple and elegant design similar to the LG SP8YA . It is mostly made of plastic, with two metal grilles protecting the speakers. The plastic at the top of the panel has a matte finish, while the rest is glossy. The subwoofer is mainly made of melamine. The top and back are made of plastic, while the front is covered with a fabric cover.

The speaker panel of the LG SPD7Y is a bit wide and, most likely, will not fit between the legs of a regular mid-size TV. But it itself is not high, and due to this it should not cover the screen. Unless the TV is installed flush with the furniture surface. The subwoofer is about the size of your average desktop PC. It connects to the SPD7 Y panel wirelessly and can be placed anywhere.

LG SPD7Y - overview

At the back there is a niche for ports and a separate connector for the power cable. If you want to wall-mount the soundbar, you can use the universal holes on the bottom as well as the included wall mount kit. The back of the subwoofer is made of plastic. There is also an inlet for the power cable and a pairing button.

There are several touch buttons at the top of the panel that allow you to turn on / off the device, switch signal source, adjust volume, and activate Bluetooth pairing. There is a small screen in the center of the panel. It is located behind a metal grill and shows the adjustable settings.

Sound quality

The LG SPD7Y soundbar has a decent frequency range. In standard mode, the sound profile is slightly oversaturated with bass. At the same time, the high frequencies are slightly muted, so the sound may appear a little hazy and dark. It also has a hard time reproducing sub-bass, so you don’t feel the clatter and rumbling in action movies.

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However, the midrange is fairly well balanced, so vocals and lead instruments are reproduced clearly. It is possible to adjust low and high frequencies, improve the sound according to your preference. By setting the bass to “-5” and the treble to “3”, you will have a neutral, balanced sound profile that is suitable for listening to a wide variety of different types of audio content.

The stereo base of the SPD7Y acoustics seems to be as wide as the frequency range. Moreover, she does not have any expanders. Focus is good too, so sound objects such as voices and footsteps are easy to follow. But with so many emitters, the exact location of the object on the sound palette is achieved with difficulty, if at all.

The dynamic range of LG SPD7Y is quite high – about 93 dB. There is not much compression at maximum volume, so sound reproduction is clear. Those. The soundbar is quite suitable for listening to music at high volume to fill large rooms or crowded parties. Of course, in this case there is a jump in distortion, especially in the low and midrange.

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LG SPD7Y - design

Thanks to the dedicated central channel, the dialogue is precisely localized in a certain place in the sound image. But the altitude indicators are disappointing. The SPD7Y uses two upward-firing speakers to bounce sound off the ceiling and return to create the illusion of ambience. However, this does not seem as real as with free-standing high-rise home theater speakers.

Delay

LG SPD7Y has good audio output latency. For eARC, its value is approximately 75 ms, for optical input 54 ms, for HDMI – 86 ms. Due to the latter parameter, the soundbar may not be suitable for watching movies, as the sound and video may be out of sync. However, some applications and TVs compensate for latency differently, so the actual situation may be different.

Audio Formats

With ARC Audio Reverse Channel, LG SPD7Y supports all audio formats. This is Dolby Digital, the most common surround sound format and is often found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms. These are both more advanced lossless compression formats and object-oriented formats such as Dolby Atmos and DTS: X. The same goes for the HDMI input.

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You can wirelessly stream audio from your mobile device to the panel via Bluetooth. However, Apple and Google users may be disappointed that the soundbar doesn’t have AirPlay or Chromecast built-in, unlike the LG SP8YA. Note that the panel supports Dolby Vision video pass-through.

Smart functions

The LG Sound Bar app acts as a remote control and lets you control all of the bar’s settings. You can adjust the bass and treble, or choose from different equalizer presets. It is also possible to stream files from a USB stick. When the USB is connected to the panel, a window appears in the application where you can see the list of songs on the disc.

LG SPD7Y - commutation

LG SPD7Y turns off automatically after 15 minutes of inactivity. It also supports HDMI CEC, so you can use your TV’s remote to control some of the panel’s basic functions. The panel remote control is quite simple. Its main task is to adjust the panel volume.

Connections

LG SPD7Y has multiple inputs. There is a USB port for files, which means you can listen to audio from a flash drive. The Full HDMI In port also allows the panel to be used as a hub between various devices. There is also an optical port and HDMI output with eARC on board.

Conclusion

To conclude our review of LG’s SPD7Y, we would like to emphasize once again that the SPD7Y soundbar is a 3.1.2 mid-range set. Unlike the LG SP7Y, it comes with two active drivers for Dolby Atmos content. It lacks some additional audio enhancement features, however, such as AI Room Calibration or LG TV’s 2021 AI processor. It also has a boomy, muddy sound profile that may not be ideal for all listeners.

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