LG PK7 £130
FOR A big, powerful sound; nice, easy listen AGAINST A coarseness to the upper midrange
An impressively industrial-looking
piece of kit, LG’S PK7 is right in the sweet spot for the wireless speaker market. With a rechargeable battery good for a claimed 22 hours’ use at 50 per cent volume, apt-x Bluetooth capabilities, and a splashproof body, it should tick the boxes as far as practicalities go for outdoors listening, be it a barbecue in the garden or a camping trip.
The first word that springs to mind when we look at the PK7 is ‘industrial’. It’s made from hard, textured plastic with the grab handle on the top mirrored by one below, upon which the unit rests. Any furniture is protected from the hard plastic by four little rubbery feet. It’s a solid unit, which seems in keeping with the intended versatility of a speaker that may spend plenty of time outside. To complement this look and build, the PK7 is water resistant to IPX5 standard, so it should be fine if splashed with water.
Stand-out features
The feature list is fairly standard for a wireless speaker – Bluetooth apt-x HD and a 3.5mm aux-in are the methods for channeling your tunes – but there are a couple of extras that, LG hopes, will make the PK7 stand out from the crowd.
The first is announced proudly on the handle. LG has teamed up with Meridian Audio (best known for its range of highend hi-fi) in an attempt to get the best sound from the PK7’S two midrange drivers, two tweeters and two sidemounted passive radiators. And the Meridian name is prominent. So, to go along with the ‘standard’ sound of the PK7, you can choose to employ one or both of Meridian’s tuning options: ‘Clear vocal’ or ‘Enhanced bass’. These are important enough in LG’S eyes to merit a button apiece in the row of eight push-pads along the top of the PK7.
The other extra is less conventional. LG has tried to inject some fun to the proceedings. Press a button, and you can access the ‘Beat Lighting’ feature. This starts the unit flashing with pulses of light in time with the beat – “just like the hottest dance club,” says LG. You can choose between ‘Water’ (blues), ‘Forest’ (yellows) and ‘Party’ (rainbow colours). Or, of course, there’s “Off”.
While the Beat Lighting is quite fun, it often feels that the flashing of the lights is a touch behind the beat, which ends up being distracting. And, talking of distractions, the lit-up drivers only go to highlight the impression we have of the PK7 as a decapitated Wall-e staring at us with baleful reproach, even as he goes through the motions of being the life and soul of the party. So, for us, “Off” it is.
Further features include the ability to pair two of the units to run your tunes in either stereo or boosted mono. And the PK7 has the ability to take and receive calls from a smartphone, communicate with your device using voice command, and use LG’S proprietary Music Flow app (on Android devices only).
The PK7 gives out a bigger sound than might be suggested from its size. And it certainly isn’t lacking in power, being quite able to flood our medium-sized listening room with music. It’s a nice easy listen, with those passive radiators able to promote some decent bass, and a fairly wide spread of sound.
The treble does lean towards a touch of coarseness, but it’s by no means a deal-breaker – and for a £130 speaker, which this now seems to be (it was originally priced at £200), the overall sound produced is good. That slight stridency in the upper midrange means the sound isn’t the most refined, but, for a machine clearly designed for going out and about, that shouldn’t be an issue.
We’re not totally sold on the two tuning options – the Enhanced Bass, in particular. Push the button to turn that on and the effect is immediate. What was a reasonably tight lower register becomes more of a smeary melange, so notes run into one another, and it becomes difficult to disentangle individual string plucks. We would leave that option well alone.
Clear Vocal, on the other hand, has its place, with the midrange pulled to the front of the mix. With the right track, this can be a useful tweak – but that area of the sonic spectrum is also where the treble stridency can kick in, so you will need to be judicious. But don’t discount it – it’s worth experimenting with different tracks to find your preference.
We’re quite impressed with the LG PK7. For a not unreasonable £130, you’d be hard pressed to better it in many areas. It’s not perfect, but its shortcomings are forgivable.