However, we did find the subwoofer to be quite directional and had to move it next to the speaker for better integration. When we settled back down and just listened to the SJ9 on its own - scene after scene of mass destruction with 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' - the SJ9 successfully pummeled our eardrums without sounding like it was working very hard.Īs for music, the SJ9 sounded decent enough with the acoustic tunes from Jason Isbell's new 'The Nashville Sound' album, with sound more or less on par with the HT-ST5000. That's the benefit of a bona-fide 5.1 channel system - it really did produce a more immersive soundscape with movies than the SJ9 or HT-ST5000. The sense of being in the forest, with the sounds of birds and insects coming from all around, was better on the HW-K950 than on the SJ9. When we played quieter scenes with Mei in the bamboo forest with the Samsung HW-K950, that one had the advantage of featuring a pair of wireless surround speakers that we placed behind us in the CNET listening room. The SJ9 was potent, but nowhere as precise. Frankly, we were amazed by the way the HT-ST5000 reproduced the drums' bass transients, they were clean, fast, and powerful. The $1,500 Sony HT-ST5000 system was clearer overall, and its bass definition handily trumped the SJ9's.

When blind dancer Mei (Zhang Ziyi) jumps and kicks the drums, the bass notes she produced were satisfyingly deep and powerful. We started we used one of our favorite old demo discs, 'The House of Flying Daggers' and went straight to the circle of drums scene, and put the SJ9 through its paces. While we weren't able to test with the LG's main rival, the $799 Samsung HW-K850, the main difference between this and the more expensive version is the addition of rear speakers. They're more expensive than the SJ9, but what does the extra dough buy you? We like that the SJ9 is the most affordable Dolby Atmos sound bar system we've tested, but how does it stack up against the higher priced competition? Luckily we had two of the better Atmos sound bars on hand for direct comparison, the $1,495 Sony HT-ST5000 and the $1,198 Samsung HW-K950.

Second extinction no audio