No HDMI switching here, but you can make a wireless audio connection to the LG via Bluetooth.
Frequency Response
• Soundbar: 203 Hz to 20 kHz ±3.6 dB
• Subwoofer: 51 to 151 Hz ±3 dB
Bass output, subwoofer (CEA-2010 standard)
• Ultra-low bass (20-31.5 Hz) average: NA
20 Hz NA
25 Hz NA
31.5 Hz NA
• Low bass (40-63 Hz) average: 108.7 dB
40 Hz 95.9 dB
50 Hz 109.7 dB
63 Hz 113.1 dB
Despite a broad -6 dB dip between 4 and 13 kHz, the NB3520A's frequency response is quite smooth for a soundbar at ±3.6 dB. However, the soundbar's limited bass response is likely to produce a "sonic hole" between the bar and the sub. The sub's output in the low bass (40-63 Hz) region is good at 108.7 dB average. However, it's the only sub in the bunch that produced no measurable output at 31.5 Hz, and it's comparatively weak even at 40 Hz — B.B.
Price: $299
The LG NB3520A’s glossy black plastic cabinet gives it the same visual flair as a pint of Guinness — in this case, poured into a plain rectangular box. Its exposed speaker drivers are an interesting touch, though, seeing as most inexpensive speakers go to great lengths to hide their transducers.
Each channel uses 80 watts to power a 1-inch silk dome tweeter and two 2.5-inch midrange drivers. The sub’s 7-inch woofer is powered by 140 watts.
The LG does not have HDMI switching — a big negative in my book regardless of price. The added convenience of HDMI switching is worth some extra money to me (or, in the case of the Vizio, less money). Instead, your input options are two optical connections and a USB port (to plug in thumb drives, not iPods). It also has Bluetooth for wireless streaming from a smartphone.
The LG soundbar remote looks like a small TV remote, and it has roughly the same number of buttons. An AV Sync feature — one that’s also found on the Samsung — is there to minimize lip-sync issues.
If your thing is vocals, the LG is your soundbar. Tom Waits didn’t need to call; his voice was so far forward that I could smell the beer. Aside from sounding overtly forward, with midrange taking center stage at the expense of everything else, the LG came off sounding a bit nasal as well.
When you activate the LG’s 3D sound feature, you get a better balance, with voices receding almost behind the bar. Better, but still not great. The “surround” effect in this mode is rather wide but also seems to accentuate certain frequencies. The sound of cymbals, for one, was very noticeable.
And when I listened to “You Can’t Lose a Broken Heart,” Billie Holiday sounded smaller through the LG than on the others bars, and the horns at the beginning of the track were very harsh.
The Faces didn’t sound much better: all cymbals, guitars, and mush. The LG subwoofer offered some low-end reinforcement, but that was mostly just low thuds. To be fair, though, I wouldn’t classify any of the subwoofers in this group as “good” or even “not bad.” There also wasn’t much blend between the bar and the sub.
Perhaps the most egregious aspect of the LG’s performance is that it flips the left and right channels with stereo recordings. The iconic guitar-riff opening of “Stay With Me” that’s hard-panned to the left? With the LG, you hear it on the right — at least when using the Optical 1 input without any other processing active. Guess what? If you use Optical 2 or any other input, the channels are correct.
The LG fared far better with movies. The 3D Sound processing created a reasonably large soundstage, and its sound in that mode had a better balance than Samsung’s bar. During big action scenes, the forward quality of the vocal range was a benefit, letting dialogue come through fairly clearly, and there was enough treble to create some atmosphere and make effects audible.
On the features side, the LG easily made a Bluetooth connection with my phone, and it found the files on a thumb drive plugged into the USB input and played them without a fuss.
The LG NB3520A lacks HDMI switching, plus it has mediocre overall sound quality, a rather average design, and a channel-swapping software bug. Its USB and Audio Sync features are cool, and it performed better with movies than with music (certainly what soundbars are mostly meant for), but even so, it doesn’t hold up against the others bars featured here.
Soundbar
(2) 1-in tweeters, (4) 2.5-in mid/woofers; 2 x 80 watts; 39.4 x 3.2 x 2.0 in; 5.1 lb
Subwoofer
7-in woofer; power, 140 watts; 7.7 x 15.4 x 12.5 in; 15.2 lb
Thank you for finally doing a review on some sound bars. I am moving into a house finally. I have been given the basement to do whatever with, but the living room needs to be clean. I immediately start looking into everything out there, which is daunting.
I had almost settled between the Harman or the YSP-2200 and then realized that my room acoustics were going to be pretty poor with the location of the television. That is when I decided I just wanted something that would sound decent for music and boost television listening levels. That is where the Vizio comes into play.
I am a big Vizio fan due to the bang for the buck I have gotten with their TVs. I had heard recommendations of this sound bar but nothing comparing it to several others like you have done here.
One question I have, is there any thoughts on reviewing the sound bars from Polk?
So, which one is "left standing" ??
@sofast1 — it was a close one, since they all have their strengths, but the Vizio provided the most bang for the buck, and gets our Certified+Recommended stamp (see the second page of this piece)
Thanks, I was looking for the "winner" and skimmed to the end. Sadly, most readers will miss the most important part; " As with all soundbars, the fidelity isn’t as good as what you’d get from a decent pair of bookshelf speakers". Compare any of these to something like the Energy Take 5. Convenience is now more important than performance. Bummer.
Nice article. I wish I had seen it before I bought the LG soundbar. The 3D processing sometimes sounds "thin" to me. Are the frequency response graphs included in the article measured in stereo mode or in 3D mode? Were you 1 meter away?
@nyquist: All measurements were done in stereo mode, with any surround virtualizers deactivated. Because virtualizers take advantage of head-related transfer function (HRTF), the response of the signals is designed to sum inside your head with contributions from both ears, not at the capsule of a single measurement mic. So if you measure them with a mic, you get a lot of frequency response anomalies that you don't hear.
All measurements were done at 2 meters, because the bars are long and I wanted to capture the diffraction effects of the entire bar. CEA-2010 figures were scaled up +6 dB to provide the equivalent of 1-meter measurements.
Full details on the measurements, plus full CEA-2010 numbers, have been added.
Got an email from an engineer at LG that they've fixed the stereo-swapping problem. So that shouldn't be an issue.