LG AR805TS Digital AV Receiver System

LG is at the forefront of mainstream AV products that are stylish in design as well as offer a fair amount of bang for your buck. Be it their CINEMA 3D televisions or home theatre systems, the company has continuously offered products that ensure a very satisfying user experience. AV receivers are mostly associated with brands such as Yamaha or Denon. Audiophiles have mostly stuck to these brands and they have rightly done so with the quality of products these brands offer. But what about the mainstream audience who want an AV receiver that can offer similar functionalities and is priced reasonably? LG has kept these consumers in mind and launched the AR805TS digital AV receiver system. Besides an AV receiver, the system also features a 5.2 channel speaker set, full HD 1080p Up-conversion, HDMI output/ input and various other features. Read on to find out more about the LG AR805TS.

Large display occupying the front panel

Design and Build Quality
The LG AR805TS Digital AV Receiver System arrived in two large boxes. We were overwhelmed by the packaging and size of this receiver system from the get go. This system is designed for those who possess a fairly large house as out of the box, the speakers, subwoofers and amplifier take up a lot of space. The AV receiver has a black finish with a hint of silver. The most noticeable aspect of this AV receiver is the large matrix LCD display that is located at the centre of the front panel. The large volume dial has a sliver of silver in the front along with a blue LED rimming. There are other dials to the left of the display for selecting the input to be used and another for multi control. There is the bass blast switch located below the display as well as other settings. There is also a single USB port located at the front for easily connecting a flash drive or mobile phone. On the front panel are ports for portable in and mic in. Though the look of this AV receiver was solid, the dials seemed a bit shaky. This put us off a bit.

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Bulky centre channel speaker

All the rest of the player’s connectors are located at the rear. The connections for the speakers are of the pin type and are colour coded. This helps in the easy setting up of the system. Other connections found at the rear are two HDMI ports, one for input and the other for output, composite in and analog. At the back there are also ports for two optical audio in and two coaxial audio in. An FM antenna also comes bundled up with this player, which can be connected to the respective port at the back. The AV receiver is a bit large and measures in at 1.43 feet in width and has a height of a little less than 6-inches.

The front speakers are really large and it looks like it has been built to sound great. The first thing one notices when looking at either of the two speakers are the exposed drivers. This is a design which has a raw look and is definitely designed to impress. The speakers stand a little more than three feet in height and are quite heavy. The front speakers feature a horn tweeter, a metallic woofer and a mid range driver. All the speakers feature a similar design except for the size and have this massive build effect making the speaker set look very imposing. The subwoofer features a large dual metallic driver. The remote control is slightly larger than most controllers seen in the market. Due to its larger size, the buttons are well spaced out and it does not look congested. All the buttons feel firm and the overall design and build quality of this remote control is good. All in all, the design and build quality of the AR805TS theatre system is pretty impressive. If you are into the raw look in speakers this is one system that will surely interest you.

Features
The LG AT805TS AV receiver theatre system has a few interesting features. The AV receiver boasts of an HDMI input as well as output that helps in channeling content from a player to a connected display. LG has fitted two HDMI ports on the rear of this receiver which helps to channel multimedia content. The Portable In port in the front aids in multimedia content like videos, music or photos to be played on a television using a PMP or smartphone. The assembling process of this AV receiver theatre system was straight forward and very simple to setup.

The simplistic interface

The interface of this player has a very simplistic design with all the menus being easily accessible. However, the options for tweaking are very limited. But there was nothing great about the layout of the screen. The system has Dolby Pro Logic II surround sound processing technology. With DPL II technology, a high quality stereo signal source can be processed into five separate full frequency channels. This is an interesting addition that has been added into this AV receiver system.

LG claims that each of the speakers fire at 100W RMS while each subwoofer fires at 150W RMS. The sound effect seen on this AV receiver system are Bass Blast, Natural Plus (NAT PLUS), Auto EQ and MP3 Optimizer. The Bass Blast feature was the best one of the sound effects. Overall, the features were average at best.

Performance
To test this AV receiver, we paired it with a Philips Blu-ray player and an HDTV. We tested this system across all genres of music, playing multiple Blu-rays as well as audio CDs. There was a lot of boom noticed from the woofers for genres like Hip Hop or Dubstep. The bass was good and shrill tones could be easily discerned. However when we listened to other genres, there was hardly any thump noticed through the woofers. The experience while listening to other genres was very empty and left us yearning for more. The Bass Blast preset was the best equalizer mode across all genres of music; although we would prefer it if the settings straight out of the box would provide us with good performances.

The huge front firing driver on the subwoofer

While using the portable mode the volume was relatively softer as compared to the USB mode or through an audio CD. From 70 percent of the volume onwards, the sound begins to jarr. This was noticed across all genres. During video playback, the LG AR805TS digital AV receiver system fared really well. The audio and video playback was smooth and all of the subtler tones like rustling of trees, etc. were well discernible through the rear channel speakers. A majority of the volume emitted from the centre channel speaker. Watching movies on this was quite pleasant and if paired with a high definition television, one will surely enjoy this viewing experience.

The remote control performed well and there was no need to point it directly at the player. A major drawback with the LG AR805TS was the inconsistency while connecting to a flash drive. On some occasions, the USB port at the front could read various flash drives or smartphones. Shortly afterwards, we used the same drives and it could not be read. We found this to be quite strange. The LG AR805TS is designed to look like a mean and powerful AV receiver system, but unfortunately though loud, it does not deliver as expected.

Beefy looking AV receiver theatre system

Verdict
The LG AR805TS Digital AV Receiver System is priced at a maximum retail price of Rs. 39,990. The look of the player may really appeal to those who are looking for a speaker system with a raw edge. The features are average at best and the performance evoked mixed reactions from us. The speakers, though loud were not very powerful. The issues with the flash drive not being able to be read every time was something that was disappointing. However, that being said, this is a mean looking AV receiver system and paired with an HDTV looks impressive.