LG SP9YA  Soundbar Review

The LG SP9YA has a simple design. It's mostly plastic, with a metal grille that goes around the sides. On top, there are two round metal grilles, as well as the touch-sensitive controls.

The subwoofer is made of plastic, and there's fabric covering three sides.

This setup doesn't come with satellites, but you can purchase LG SPK8 rear speakers separately.

The LG SP9YA is a wide soundbar. It likely won't fit between the legs of a 55" TV. That said, it also isn't very tall, so it shouldn't block your TV screen unless your TV sits flush on your table.

The sub is about the size of an average desktop computer. It connects to the bar wirelessly, so you can place it anywhere in your room as long as it's connected to a power outlet.

The LG SP9YA has an impressive build quality. The bar itself is mostly made of plastic, which feels solid and durable. The metal grille around the sides helps to protect the drivers, too. While the sub is also made of plastic, unfortunately, the fabric covering seems like it could rip or get dirty easily.

• Manual with mounting template
• Optical cable (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• 2x mounting brackets
• 2x screws
• Power cable for subwoofer (4.9 ft / 1.5m)
• Remote with batteries (2xAA)

The LG SP9YA has an impressive stereo frequency response. It comes with a room correction feature called AI Room Calibration that automatically optimizes audio reproduction based on the room you're listening in. With this feature turned on, it has a neutral, balanced sound profile with a touch of extra punch and boom in the bass range. However, since room correction relies on the acoustic capacities of your room, our results may be unique to our testing room. There are also bass and treble adjustments as well as some EQ presets to help you customize its sound.

With its bass set to '-1' and its treble set to '1', this soundbar has a great stereo frequency response. Its sound profile is more neutral and balanced, making it suitable for listening to lots of different types of audio content.

The LG SP9YA has a good stereo soundstage performance. The soundstage is perceived to be a bit wider than the bar itself, but it doesn't have any tricks to make it sound wider than that. It also has very good focus, so sound objects like voices and footsteps seem to come from an accurate, pinpoint location rather than a general area.

The LG SP9YA has a very good stereo dynamics performance. It doesn't get as loud as some of the other bars we've tested, like the Samsung HW-Q850T. However, there isn't a lot of compression when you play it at max volume, so it's suitable for turning up the volume at parties.

The LG SP9YA has a decent THD performance. At normal listening volumes, the amount of distortion falls within good limits, resulting in clean and pure audio reproduction. At max volume, there's a jump in THD. This may not be noticeable with real-life content, though.

The LG SP9YA has a good center channel performance. This 5.1.2 setup comes with a discrete center channel, which helps to reproduce dialogue more clearly and accurately in movies and TV shows. Its frequency response is also quite balanced in the mid-range, so voices are clear and present, though they may also sound a bit dark.

The LG SP9YA has a poor surrounds performance. It uses side-firing speakers to create a phantom localization, so sound objects like voices and footsteps aren't as accurately localized in the soundstage. Audio can seem like it's coming from in front of you, rather than from speakers placed all around you.

The LG SP9YA uses its two up-firing speakers to bounce sound off the ceiling and back down towards you to create the illusion of height with Dolby Atmos content. However, the localization of objects can seem diffused, and it doesn't sound as real as down-firing speakers found with home theater setups. The frequency response is uneven, so sound effects aren't as clear or accurate in the mix. For a bar with a better Atmos performance, check out the Samsung HW-Q800B.

The LG SP9YA has an incredible selection of sound enhancement features. It comes with several EQ presets to help you customize its sound, including 'AI Sound Pro', 'Standard', 'Music', 'Cinema', 'Clear Voice', 'Sports', 'Game', and 'BassBlast'. The 'Cinema' preset doubles as a virtual surround feature advertised to help create a more 3D sound. You can also turn on the auto-volume and AI Room Calibration features and adjust the surround level using the app.

This soundbar is advertised to come with some sound enhancement features, which we don't test. The manufacturer says it comes with the 2021 LG TV AI Processor, which helps sync up the bar with the speakers on compatible LG TVs to help create a more immersive listening experience. It also supports Dolby Atmos Music, which enhances music on compatible services like Amazon, Tidal, and Blu-ray Music. However, you may need a subscription to access some of these services, like Tidal.

The LG SP9YA comes with several physical inputs. There's a Full HDMI In port that lets you use the bar as a hub between different devices, and you can also plug in a USB port to playback audio. However, it doesn't support WOWCAST like the LG S90QY.

The LG SP9YA has incredible audio format support over its HDMI ARC port. It supports Dolby Digital, which is commonly found on Blu-ray discs and streaming services. You can also use it to playback lossless and object-based surround formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

The LG SP9YA also has fantastic audio format support over its Full HDMI In port. It can play back all the formats we test for, including Dolby Digital, commonly found on Blu-ray discs and streaming platforms.

The LG SP9YA also supports Dolby Digital content via Optical, which is useful if you want to watch content from streaming platforms and Blu-ray discs. Unlike the onn. 42" 5.1. 2. Dolby Atmos Soundbar, it supports DTS, too.

The LG SP9YA has a good latency performance. It has fairly low latency over Optical and Full HDMI In, so your audio and video are mostly in sync when you watch movies. However, you may notice a bit of a delay when watching videos over ARC. That said, some apps and some TVs compensate for latency differently, so your experience may vary.

This soundbar has incredible wireless playback connectivity. It supports all common formats, letting you wirelessly stream audio from your mobile device to the bar over the connection you prefer.

The LG SP9YA can passthrough the highest quality bandwidth signals. You can connect the bar to your TV and another device like a PC, and text on the screen appears clear and crisp.

There's a small display screen that shows the volume level and the input you're on. It also shows you when you change a setting using the remote or the app. However, it's a small screen, so you may need to wait for it to scroll through longer messages.

There are touch-sensitive controls located on the top middle of the bar. You can use them to power the bar on/off, change the input, adjust the volume, play/pause your audio, and connect to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

The remote is simple and lets you control the bar's basic functions. You're also able to use the LG Sound Bar app as a remote via your mobile devices.

The LG SP9YA doesn't have built-in voice assistant support. It supports Google Assistant and Alexa, but only when you connect the bar to another device that supports these features, like a Google Home or an Amazon Echo. Since this requires purchasing a third-party device, we don't test for it.