LG HT903TA Home Cinema System - LG HT903TA

However, while this immense power and attack is great for making a big impact, it's not always comfortable to listen to - after a while it starts to get tiring on the ears, due mainly to the hard, harsh edge to the treble and the complete uselessness of the subwoofer. Despite having The Matrix's constant supply of big explosions and rumbling effects to get its teeth into, the sub barely makes its presence felt, which leads to a very lop-sided soundstage. It's a shame as a bit more bass presence may have papered over some of the cracks elsewhere.

As for the Virtual Surround Matrix, the effect is something of an acquired taste as John found with the HT953TV - personally I liked the way it ‘filled in the gaps' around the soundstage and plunged me deeper into the action, but it certainly never felt as though there were five new audio channels around me. The virtual channels act more like diffusers, blurring the specific locations of the existing channels to achieve a fuller, more coherent soundstage.


The HT903TA's 1080p picture quality is solid, with rich, smooth colour reproduction - including excellent handling of subtle skin tones and shading - plus clean edges and sharp, focused detail. A run-through of the HQV Benchmark disc suggests that the upscaling isn't quite as powerful as some of the good standalone players we've seen of late, with some jaggies and noise visible in some of the key test patterns, but overall it's not bad at all, particularly at this price.

Verdict

It might not be the most robustly built or sonically competent one-box system we've tested, but there's no denying the HT903TA offers terrific value for money in other areas. It's packed with great features like VSM, it looks great and can generate a remarkably powerful sound. Had LG's audio boffins dialled down the harshness and paired the system with a different subwoofer it could have been a much better proposition overall.