The hotel room instantly turned into the inside of a fighter jet dispatched to blow up a nuclear facility. Even the static in the radio chatter exchanged by Col. Pete Mitchell (played by Tom Cruise) and his teammates sounded vivid. While flying along a narrow canyon to evade surface-to-air missiles, the "sound" made it possible to feel how close the ground was.
LG Sound Suite made key scenes from the movie Top Gun: Maverick feel even more lifelike. It delivers theater-level audio to heighten immersion in the content. It is designed so people can enjoy the "fun of listening," once available only in premium theaters, at home.
LG Electronics released LG Sound Suite in Korea on the 5th. To coincide with the launch, the company held a hands-on and briefing event for media that day in a guest room at Ambassador Seoul Pullman in Jung-gu, Seoul. The company installed the product in a space most similar to a home environment to show how it actually works.
Efforts to recreate a cinema-like environment at home have continued. Various brands sell home theater products on the market. The problem, however, is that creating spatial audio is tricky. A set number of speakers must be placed in fixed positions and connected with wires, among other installation constraints. If the speakers are even slightly misaligned, the sweet spot—where sound is heard most ideally—shifts, making it cumbersome to call in a professional for installation. Product costs range from tens of millions of won to hundreds of millions of won.
To solve these constraints, LG Electronics partnered with U.S. audio specialist Dolby to develop this product. It is the first product in Korea with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect. This technology delivers space-optimized immersive audio even when the system's speakers are placed freely. Kim Jin-gyu, head of LG Electronics' audio product planning team, said, "LG Sound Suite components link wirelessly, making installation easy, and they automatically adjust the sweet spot to fit the room," adding, "We define the product as a modular wireless network spatial audio solution that allows flexible configuration and placement in tandem with the TV."
LG Sound Suite consists of ▲ a soundbar (model H7) ▲ two types of surround speakers (models M5 and M7) ▲ and a subwoofer (model W7). Premium 2025 and 2026 LG TVs that support Dolby Atmos FlexConnect can serve as the central device that coordinates multiple speakers. If you use a non-supporting third-party brand, or an older or budget TV, the soundbar assumes that role.
LG Electronics widened consumer choice by allowing each speaker in the LG Sound Suite to be purchased separately. A total of 28 combinations are possible with the soundbar as the hub. If you build the system around an LG TV without the soundbar, there are 22 combinations. With a full setup of a soundbar, subwoofer, and four M7 surround speakers, the audio can be split three-dimensionally into "13 horizontal, 1 low, 7 height" channels (13.1.7) to create a sense of space.
LG Sound Suite not only optimizes for the speakers, but also for changes in where the user sits. The central device (TV or soundbar) includes a Sound Follow feature enabled by ultra-wideband (UWB) wireless transmission. When you open the LG ThinQ app on a smartphone, the system detects that location and adjusts the sweet spot.
◇ Strong in abundant content… AI upgrades low-channel audio to high quality
There is also a wealth of immersive audio content to enjoy with LG Sound Suite. Content produced in Dolby Atmos is optimized for spatial audio, maximizing the capabilities of LG Sound Suite. Ninety-eight of the top 100 box office films over the past five years support Dolby Atmos. As of last year, 93% of tracks on the Billboard Top 100 also used Dolby Atmos. Such content is available on more than 100 streaming and pay TV platforms worldwide. Asim Mathur, Dolby's vice president and head of marketing for Asia-Pacific, said, "Content produced in Dolby Atmos is seeing explosive growth," adding, "We support every area from global blockbusters to streaming content, music, sports and games."
There is also a feature where artificial intelligence (AI) upscales low-channel audio to suit LG Sound Suite. It is equipped with the third-generation Alpha 11, an AI chip based on a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), to deliver AI Sound Pro Plus, an audio signal processing feature. The AI distinguishes effects, music and voices to fine-tune custom sound, and expands low-channel audio into multichannel.
Lee Jung-seok, executive vice president in charge of audio at LG Electronics, said, "Through LG Sound Suite, which makes it easy to create your own sound tailored to your lifestyle, we will strengthen our position as a premium brand in the global audio market."
LG Sound Suite has launched in Korea following the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. List prices are ▲ soundbar 1.299 million won ▲ subwoofer 799,000 won ▲ surround speaker M7 549,000 won ▲ surround speaker M5 449,000 won.
Consumers can purchase from a total of 50 combinations based on preference. However, buying every component costs 4.294 million won. It is cheaper than building a full home theater, but not exactly an easy price point. Asked whether the high price might limit mass appeal, Kim, the Head of Team, said, "This product was built as high-end," but added, "We will target the market by introducing additional products positioned for mass appeal."