rewrite this title A free Dolby Atmos FlexConnect upgrade is making recent LG OLED TVs a new kind of home theater hub — they can do immersive surround sound even if you can’t put the speakers in the ‘right’ positions

2025 LG C5, G5 and C5S models can now work as Dolby Atmos FlexConnect hubsFull compatibility with LG Sound Suite wireless speakers and subSupports configurations of up to 22 speakers and subwoofers

LG has upgraded its 2025 C5, CS5 and G5 TVs to support Dolby Atmos FlexConnect as a hub, working with LG’s new Sound Suite speakers, which enables you to put your speakers pretty much anywhere in the room and still get accurate audio positioning as if you had them in the normal surround sound positions at the front and rear.

The update brings Dolby Atmos FlexConnect to the three models, enabling them to connect directly to the Sound Suite M5 and M7 wireless speakers and the W7 subwoofer, combining the TV’s speakers with the other speakers. As FlexConnect hubs, the TVs analyze the audio from the speakers and adjusting their output so they sound good no matter where you’ve placed them – I’ll explain more about FlexConnect in a moment.

The one downside is even though Dolby Atmos FlexConnect will be available on speakers from multiple manufacturers, LG’s TVs will only work as hubs with LG’s compatible speakers.

You may like

What is FlexConnect?

Dolby Atmos FlexConnect – you need the full name as there’s an unrelated system called FlexConnect in wireless networking is essentially a kind of room calibration for more flexible home theater audio where you don’t need to worry about where you’ve placed the speakers.

Wireless speakers broadcast their location to the hub so it can adjust timings and frequencies to deliver accurate spatial audio positioning. In theory that means you can put your speakers anywhere at all and still get correct positioning of sound objects in Dolby Atmos soundtracks and music.

LG says that there are up to 22 possible configurations with one of the compatible TVs and its M5/M7 speakers and W7 subwoofer.

What does that mean in practice? It means you can have a surround sound setup that’s as big, or small, or weird as you like, so for example you might have just one rear speaker instead of two, or have multiple speakers on the left because that’s where you have shelving. FlexConnect will identify where they are and configure its output accordingly to create cohesize whole sound.

LG has gone big on Dolby Atmos FlexConnect but other firms are getting involved too: TCL was the first big name to unveil a FlexConnect product, the TCL Z100 speaker system, and since this is a Dolby technology we should see more brands getting on board – but as I mentioned above, LG told TechRadar that it only has plans to support its own speakers.

I haven’t heard FlexConnect yet but my colleague Matt Bolton has, and he tells me it sounds fantastic. This is definitely an audio tech to keep your eye (and ears) on: while there are currently only a few products to choose from their numbers should increase considerably in the coming months.

The best soundbars for all budgets

Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!

And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.