Soundbars are passé – the new “in” thing is a SoundPlate. LG seems to be following a trend which was set by Bose with Solo. LG’s LAP340 SoundPlate is a 4.1 channel speaker system with a total output of 120 watts, so it has lots of power. It comes with dual subwoofers that face the bottom of the plate, plus it has 4 midrange tweeters – 2 facing directly forward and 2 facing in opposite diagonal directions to create a more immersive sound.
The LAP340’s bass performance of the subwoofers is further enhanced by a pair of aero ports on the sides that deliver a room-filling bass sound. The tweeters each come equipped with dual neodymium magnets which according to LG are designed to provide up to eight times the power of ordinary speaker magnets.
The LAP340 is what its name says it is: a plate. It is a wide and flat rectangular speaker system that’s designed to slip underneath a LED TV. Aesthetically, the LAP340 SoundPlate is presented in the usual LG sleekness with the speaker grilles sporting smooth rounded corners, running to the sides.
The device comes with a high quality digital to analog converter with a Dolby Digital DTS processor to deliver a clear sound to the speakers. With a touch of a button on the remote you can easily toggle between two modes, normal and Cinema. The Cinema mode upgrades the movie experience by enhancing the surround sound emulation and increasing the bass reproduction.
The LG LAP340 also has wireless Bluetooth connectivity – so you can play music from any Bluetooth enable device. So in addition to connecting to your HDTV, you can wirelessly stream music from your smartphone, tablet, computer or any other Bluetooth enabled music source.
Connecting it to your TV is relatively straightforward. There’s just a single optical cable required and if you already own a LG compatible TV it can hook up wirelessly via Sound Sync. The LAP340 comes with a small, chrome silver remote giving you control over volume, mute, Bluetooth and Opitcal outputs, turning the speaker system on and off and controlling some of the TV functions. You can also enable LG’s 3D Sound to activate the surround sound.
We were able to get it to work with the LG 65LA9700 65-inch LED Ultra HDTV we received for review. We were quite amazed by the sound quality. The LG LAP340 is a great speaker solution if you don’t have space to mount a soundbar on the wall or room for a separate subwoofer.
It is a pleasant surprise for anyone who sees it because it just doesn’t look capable of producing the sound that comes out of it. It is amazingly thin but yet still gives great sound, and will support some pretty big HDTV’s. LG has proven that flat is beautiful, a great alternative to the sound bar.
Price: $500 Approx.
Specifications:
Audio system type: Soundbar speaker system
System configuration: 4.1-channel
Wireless technology connectivity: Bluetooth
Total output: 120 Watts
