FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

The three H's want to say hi

The three H's want to say hi

That's hi power, hi resolution and hi fidelity from an LG speaker system that begs to greet you with music when you walk through the door

SETTING UP YOUR own wireless music network at home just keeps getting easier and easier, and the new Music Flow speakers from LG – paired with its Music Flow smartphone application – are a cinch to run through your home router. Suddenly you’re ultra-portable, not only carrying your favourite tune from room to room as you go but also outdoors into the yard. (Mind the neighbours, though.)
LG Electronics (Thailand) has two new-model speakers, the H5 and H3, ready to be linked up to its battery-powered H4 Wi-Fi speaker.
As a sample setup, the H5 can go in the living room, the H3 in the bedroom and the portable H4 outside (no electrical outlet required). You use the Music Flow app to stream tunes from any audio-streaming service (such as Tunein, Sportify or Deezer) to the speakers.
In my test I wanted to use the H5 as the main speaker to which more could be added wirelessly later, so I connected it to my home router using a LAN cable. 
Then I downloaded and installed the Music Flow app on my Android phone and used it to add the H5 to my Music Flow home network. You just press the “Add speaker” button on the H5 and H3. This process was repeated for the H4 – and I was ready to rock.
Music Flow employs mesh network technology and dual-band Wi-Fi for uninterrupted, crystal-clear, high-definition music playback. A mesh network can connect to more than a single access point, which helps ensure the signal stability that’s crucial when streaming songs. It also means that, in Multi-room Mode, you can play the same song through all the connected speakers, or, in Personal Mode, a different song on each unit simultaneously.
Multi-room Mode is great for parties, obviously, or even when you’re on your own but moving from room to room (pretending to dust, I suppose). Personal Mode is ideal for when the family’s spread around the house listening to their own particular tunes.
The speakers feature LG’s own Automatic Loudness Compensation Algorithm, ensuring audio strength and clarity in all frequencies, while their advanced nano-fibre pulp-and-foam diaphragms further improve the quality of the sound.
For added control depending on your location in the house, the Music Flow app can also be installed on notebook and desktop computers. When you download and install the app on other devices, you find the speakers automatically connected without having to repeat the setup process. I also used an iPhone 5s to control the speakers with the app’s help.
On the desktop computer, the software lets you search for and play tracks stored on any Internet-enabled device that’s connected to the speaker network.
The app has a Mood Station feature offering track recommendations and automatically generating a playlist depending on your mood. Will it be polkas – or the blues?
On the speaker system, the Auto Music Play feature will kick in when you’re returning home, picking up the approach of your phone and whatever it’s playing. You actually get an alert asking if you’d like that same music playing on the speaker network when you walk through the door. 
Apart from streaming via Wi-Fi, the speakers can also use Bluetooth connections and, with the aid of a 3.5mm stereo jack, bring the tunes in that way. Use the app of the system’s central management software to select that streaming option.
The speakers do very well at reproducing music of good quality, with powerful, deep bass and plenty of detail. High-resolution audio comes through intact, nothing lost in translation.
With all three speakers in the same room, I used the app to set the H5 as the main unit and the others as the left and right channels. 
The portable H4 alone – just 194x69x70mm and 800 grams – is enough to fill a large living room with sound, the bass roaring. It’s got 20 watts of power output, two 38mm treble/mid-range drivers and an 85mm bass passive radiator, and its 2,500mAh battery will last three hours. 
The H3 is a one-channel speaker with 30 watts, a 2.5cm tweeter and an 8cm mid/bass woofer, so it can bring on the thunder too. At 125x175x115mm, it’s compact enough to fit on a bookshelf, but you do need a power socket nearby.
The H5 is a chunkier 340x207x88mm and 3.25kg, a stereo speaker of 40 watts with two 2.5cm tweeters and two 8cm mid/bass woofers. No shortage of power there.
The LG Music Flow H5 retails for Bt7,990, the H3 for Bt6,990 and the H4 for Bt5,990.
 
Key Specs
 
H5
- Total power output: 2x20 watts
- Drivers: 2x2.5cm tweeters, 2x8cm woofers
- Connectivity: Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Aux (Portable in), NFC
- Dimensions: 340x207x88mm
- Weight: 3.25kg
 
H3
- Total power output: 30 watts
- Drivers: 2.5cm tweeter, 8cm woofer
- Connectivity: Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Aux (Portable in), NFC
- Dimensions: 125x175x115mm
- Weight: 2.2kg
 
H4
- Total power output: 20 watts
- Drivers: 2x38mm tweeters, 85mm woofer
- Connectivity: Ethernet, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Aux (Portable in)
- Battery: 2,500mAh Lithium-Ion
- Dimensions: 194x69x70mm
- Weight: 800g
 
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