The LG MoodUP Fridge is the wildest fridge I have ever seen. I don’t know why a fridge with smart lighting and a built-in Bluetooth speaker exists, but I love that it does. Not enough companies take real risks with fridges anymore.
So, obviously, I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to test the fridge’s speaker. I’ve reviewed all kinds of speakers, including those found in TVs, phones, cars, a snowboarding helmet, and a hoodie. Not to mention $150,000 floor speakers. But I have never reviewed a fridge speaker. Until now.
Obviously, this is a fridge. It’s not designed to be the centre of your audio set-up. It won’t feature among the best Bluetooth speakers. But who can pass up such a novelty?
First impressions
My first impression is that this is a huge light-up fridge. It’s a massive fridge, and it lights up on approach, and I love that. Aside from the novelty factor, it’s a great fridge. I love the hidden cheese compartments, and it holds an impressive amount of food with clever storage options. Plus, the light-up doors make a great conversation piece.
Setting up the speaker was very easy. I held down the ‘BT Speaker’ button inside the fridge and paired my phone, then I was able to play music quickly and easily. Once the fridge was set up, the speaker pairing process was about one minute.
LG MoodUP Fridge specifications
| Size (W x H x D) | 914 x 1865 x 687 mm |
| Energy rating | Four stars |
| Capacity | Total: 617L Fridge: 384L Freezer: 233L |
| Additional Features | LED Colour Changing Panels ThinQ App Instaview Door Built-In Bluetooth Speakers Door Cooling+ Retractable Shelf Extra Space Compartments, |
| Price (RRP) | $7,999 |
| Warranty | Two years |
| Official website | LG Australia |
As a fridge, those specs are very impressive. However, already looking at those specs, it’s easy to tell that this fridge was not designed to be a tool for audiophiles to appreciate the subtle differences between different performances of Beethoven’s Fifth. Possibly because it’s a fridge.
Performance
Much like I don’t go to my little cousin’s electric toothbrush that plays Disney music as she brushes for nuance and details, one perhaps should not approach a fridge, either.
Performance on playing the built-in music playlists
Obviously, being a disco fridge, it has a bunch of built-in playlists and themes, so that when you approach the fridge in December, it will play “Jingle Bells”, causing you to jump scare at 3 AM when you just wanted some night cheese.
For the most part, the built-in music sounds pretty good on the fridge’s Bluetooth speaker. The holiday playlist has a variety of covers of Christmas songs in varying speeds. Some of the Christmas covers are quite nice piano versions that sound chill (pun intended). It’s actually really nice approaching the fridge and then being serenaded with “Silent Night”.
But then, if you try other playlists, like the children’s playlist, things get less good. Part of this is because the music is bad. It sounds like the default music built into a Casio keyboard, complete with metronome. However, I don’t know many children, so maybe that’s their vibe. But while the Christmas music sounded clear and clean, the children’s playlist just sounds a bit muddy and lacking in bass and midtones. I’m surprised LG included it, given how bad it sounds.
If it were me, and I was programming music for an $8,000 fridge with a basic Bluetooth speaker built-in, I would make sure all the music played to the speaker’s strengths. But to each their own, I guess.
But what about other music?
Here is where things get predictably bad. I put this refrigerator through the same audio playlist and tests that I do any audio device. The first song is “Paralyzed” by Conquer Divide, a fairly chaotic metal track. This light-up fridge is not designed to play metal. It sounded terrible.
“Better Now” by Odesza also didn’t really sound better.
However, what really surprised me, is that Tegan Quin’s voice sounds kinda great on the speaker. The verses of “Smoking Weed Alone” by Tegan and Sara goes off. The person who designed this speaker is a Tegan and Sara fan and has a favourite twin, clearly. The instruments disappeared, and the chorus sounded terrible, but Tegan’s (and, to a lesser extent, Sara’s) voice sounded good on this speaker.
“Georgiana” by Dario Marianelli sounded really good, too. It seems like this speaker was specifically designed for piano music and Tegan Quin, and I can get down with that. It’s oddly specific, but then again, this is a very oddly specific fridge already, so I’m into it.
Overall, this speaker is bad, but it has its moments.
Who is the LG MoodUP Fridge for?
This fridge is for people who want a really colourful, light-up fridge that will be the talking point of their kitchen. It holds a lot of food, it lights up. It’s a great fridge. It’s not a good speaker, and I really question who along the line approved a speaker this cheap and terrible being listed as a feature in an $8,000 fridge.
But as long as you have a separate speaker for your everyday music use, and just use the LG MoodUP Fridge speaker to play Christmas carols or rain sounds on approach, you’ll be fine.
