LATEST ADDITIONS

Forget laptops and phones. Forget robot vacuums, instant pots and all that other stuff. Black Friday this year is all about A/V, and to drive home that point, the subwoofer maestros at SVS are selling their 1000 and 2000 Series models at historically low prices.

Could May 1970's Let It Be possibly be The Beatles' most underrated core studio album—and is such a thing even possible? To be sure, when Let It Be initially dropped as the free-thinking 1960s gave way to the much grittier 1970s, the album was seen as an imperfect endpoint for a once-in-a-lifetime epoch in popular music—whereas September 1969's Abbey Road, which was actually completed after the Let It Be sessions but was still released eight months ahead of that album, actually serves as a better-suited final exclamation point and nod to their fans as the final, definitive statement of the fully active Beatles era.

PRICE $2,800

AT A GLANCE
Plus
High peak brightness for an OLED
Unrestricted viewing angle
Vivid color and powerful contrast
Minus
Remote control can be confusing
Cluttered smart TV home screen

THE VERDICT
Featuring an upgraded OLED panel, LG's new G1 “Gallery” model sets a new standard for OLED peak brightness while otherwise maintaining the company's traditionally impressive overall video performance.

LG's G1 "Gallery Design" TVs are the company's flagship OLED models for 2021, replacing last year's GX series. The now-discontinued WX models excepted, the G1 series comprises the slenderest Ultra HDTV line we've yet seen.

PRICE $599

AT A GLANCE
Plus
Convincing DSP-based surround
Excellent sound quality
Compact footprint
Minus
Built-in Amazon Alexa
Limited front panel feedback
Requires HEOS app for best results

THE VERDICT
Denon’s soundbar scores with convincing virtual Dolby Atmos and DTS:X sound, along with excellent performance on music playback.

I rarely have very much good to say about soundbars with DSP-based simulated surround. But the Denon Home Sound Bar 550 ($599) instantly impressed me by delivering convincing immersive sound. Add in the built-in HEOS multiroom platform, which lets you stream from music apps over Wi-Fi, and Denon's Sound Bar turns out to be a winning proposition.