LG BH9431PW 1460W 3D Blu-Ray Theater System with Smart TV, Sound, Wireless Rear Speakers, Tall Fronts (Black Cones) (2014 Model)

I'm putting together a 9 x 10 sound studio in a small bedroom of my home. I experimented with a number of home theater options, including a Yamaha SP-2200 Digital Sound Projector. I realized after installing the Yamaha that its simulations of surround sound were not sufficient and that I craved true rear surround speakers. Hence, I ordered this item and am very impressed by it. My TV is a 50" LG "flat" screen and this was one factor which drove my decision to buy an LG system.The system is packed in an efficient and orderly manner, and the box even features a diagram printed on the under surface of one the flaps in order to guide re-packing if necessary. Set up is remarkably easy. The floor standing speakers assemble with 3 included screws in about 10 minutes. The speaker wires are color coded and have attached clips which permit them to snap in to the speakers and the Blu-Ray/amp. The rear speakers are driven by a small lightweight separate wireless receiver which is plugged into an outlet. The subwoofer is passive, and of course has its own color coded speaker wire attaching it to the Blu-Ray/amp. The center speaker is very compact and fits nicely on a small shelf below the TV.ONE CAVEAT: THE SYSTEM DOES NOT INCLUDE AN OPTICAL CABLE TO RUN OUT OF THE TV AND INTO THE AMP. However, as far as I can tell, the system can play audio from the TV through the HDMI ARC input.Now, I will not claim to be an "audiophile" in the sense that the word is commonly used. However, I am most definitely an audiophile in the strictest sense of the word. Music is my most vital hobby passion. That being said, I find the sound from this system to be excellent. It will not rival a full sized component home theater system, but especially for a small room like mine, it is much more than adequate, and very pleasing to the ear. I love the 3D modes which can be accessed with the press of one button on the remote. There is a 3D music and a 3D movie mode. I watch a lot of concert DVDs, and the sound produced by the 3D modes is immersive and wonderfully satisfying. Movies sound superb, with excellent reproduction of surround effects.This system is convenient, compact, easy to set up, and produces excellent audio. Enormous bang for one's buck. I strongly recommend it.

Background:We purchased the BH9431PW as a replacement for both our old analog AV receiver and our LG BD590 BluRay player (which we were giving to someone who still needed analog output options).Impressions:This device is rather quirky and temperamental. It locked up and had to be hard power-cycled several times during just the initial setup. It still intermittently gets itself into a mode that only a hard reboot will clear.As a Home Theater System, the BH9431PW has been a reasonable replacement for our previous AV Receiver. Our TV does not have a decoder that will handle 5.1 audio, and refused to pass the HDMI audio signal through to the old receiver via the optical connection. Being able to enjoy full 5.1 support from our two other devices (Roku and DVD/PVR) is wonderful, and the included speakers work reasonably well. There is a bit of a buzz that happens intermittently during playback that I haven't been able to debug, but it may simply be vibration induced from the center speaker (which is sitting on the TV base).There was also a frustrating moment when the system gave nothing but a purple screen whenever my Roku tried to actually play something. Again, a hard (this time, a full power cord pull) power-cycle reset cleared the condition (doesn't give me much faith in the robustness of the latest firmware and HDMI input handling).DLNA Support (or lack of):This is where this system has completely fallen on its face. It claims to be DLNA Certified, but is unable to play media that my previous BD590 player has no trouble with. We use the Plex Media Server for our H.264 encoded mp4 collection, and our previous BD590 was perfectly happy with our current streaming SW setup.If it weren't for my Roku, this would have been a show-stopper resulting in boxing this rather heavy package up and sending it back to Amazon. The reason I chose this LG system was due to the way our previous BD590 played multiple files in a given folder. It would automatically cycle through a large collection of music videos (we have to select each individual video with the Roku), and we were hoping that the LG software for the BH9431PW would behave in a similar manner. On the plus side, it does. On the negative side, it craps out as soon as it hits more recently encoded mp4 video files. As it is, since I use my Roku for most of my streaming, I plan on simply hooking up a USB hard drive up to the device when we want it to play the media it can't seem to handle via a DLNA connection.I certainly hope that a future firmware update corrects this problem, but I don't recommend that someone considering purchasing this device count on it if proper DLNA support is needed.

Not Durable. Blu Ray ate a disc 5 years after purchase and won't spit it out. Therefore it is no longer usable for playing discs. Now all I have is speakers for the TV. VERY disappointed. For what I paid for this it should have lasted forever. LG is going downhill in the dependability department. This from a guy who owns LG TV, sound system, Blu ray player, washer, dryer, and refrigerator.Original Review:4.5 Stars. Movie theater experienceMovie theater experience, great sound, easy to install (once you download and print out the appropriate pages of the manual), simple to use. I may like this even more once I learn different settings, etc.Why it isn't five stars: I give this 4.5 stars. It would be nice if the Wi-Fi rear speakers didn't have to be connected by wires to a third unit (or if each speaker had it's own Wi-Fi unit). That would be worth paying a little extra for. If the rear speakers go against a wall, it's not an issue, but if they go in an open area, you have to find a way to run the wires. Deduction: four tenths of a star.Also, at times, the Blue Ray unit is slow to respond to commands from the remote. Deduction: one tenth of a star.