Reply to: TV Audio: "Home Cinema kit" or Amp + Speakers

[Wanderer]

I have a set of Logitech Z906 on my PC and Z5500 (older) on my TV in the lounge, both 5.1.

I'm not an audiophile so they do a perfectly good job for me.

I'm don't profess to have the golden ears of an audiophile either but another vote for the Z5500 - it's a cracking unit. Proper big sub on it which some people might find daunting but the sound rocks. Fantastic dynamic range, you can hear the speech clearly at a comfortable volume while the action scenes still shake the room. This unit has been around for years and has loads of positive reviews, you can still get them for under £300 which is a bargain.

Only problem I have is that it only has one optical, one SPDIF and one analogue input. That was fine with my old SPDIF DVD player but I got a new one and I now have two devices which offer optical outputs. I guess there is a way to connect it all to the TV through HDMI and then optical out of the TV which would solve the problem.

[Boney M]

Used to have a set of mordaunt shorts front and rear and cambridge audio seperates but sold them and got the Sonos Soundbar and 2 x Sonos PLay 5's, never looked back and best money I have ever spent

[d000hg]

Cable to hifi (well mini-HiFi but a decent-ish one) is the current set up. It certainly sounds so much better than the built-in speakers, except for being able to discern vocals unfortunately
Perhaps something designed for TV is better than a generic amp+speakers after all, since the issue of vocal clarity and volume balance is something many products mention as key features.

[Sysman]

Even before that, the best thing you could do with a new TV was to connect it to your stereo, no matter how cheap and nasty the stereo was it sounded miles better than the built in speakers.

You don't even need the amp to get an improvement. My first wide screen telly benefited greatly from adding a pair of cheap-but-not-nasty speakers.

[b0redom]

If you're having problems with the music/speech volume ratio, you'll probably find that increasing the relative volume of the central channel helps a great deal. With true 5.1, the vocals are usually from the central channel and everything else comes out of the satellite speakers.

Might need a bit of experimenting, but that's what I did with my relatively cheap Denon 1910 + Harmon Kardon HKTS 7 setup. Modern LED/LCD TVs don't have the space for anything even approaching decent speakers.

b0redom (in helpful new years mode)

[d000hg]

But on radio I thought it served a different purpose? e.g. if the DJ whispers and then shouts, the volume is fairly similar and I think that's a good thing. Whereas advertisers just use it to grab your attention.

[BigRed]

Must admit I haven't dabbled with soundbars for the TV, effectively got one for the Desktop but it was a 7.1 and I've only set up the bar and subwoofer

The TV goes through my 5.1 Amp, which has wired in speakers all around as I has sockets installed at suitable points. Even before that, the best thing you could do with a new TV was to connect it to your stereo, no matter how cheap and nasty the stereo was it sounded miles better than the built in speakers.

[d000hg]

Look at the one and two star reviews on Amazon

I like the idea of a soundbar to improve my TV sound, but can't find one which attracts enough praise

There are loads of soundbars on Amazon with average 4-4.5 stars and quite a decent number of reviews...

[northernladuk]

Sound bars work by bouncing the surround sound off the walls so gotta make sure your room is set up for them. We have a open wall on one side and a window on the other so a sound bar wasn't suitable at all.

Good point about the cables but the subwoofer is unidirectional so can go anywhere. The only issue is the wires for the rear two speakers. My other half wasn't having it on that basis but I managed to fit them under the carpet and run them up behind a cabinet we have at the back so not a cable in sight. The black box in the corner wasn't to her liking but once she got used to the sound she hasn't mentioned it since.

[hyperD]

Look at the one and two star reviews on Amazon

I like the idea of a soundbar to improve my TV sound, but can't find one which attracts enough praise

I've got a Dell soundbar on my monitor which I use to stream films from my NAS in the kitchen - it's OK but the sound isn't brilliant over the boiling saucepans, exploding things in the oven and microwave and shouting from GF#1.

Just my 2 Hertz.

[Platypus]

Yamaha YAS101 Black | Soundbar | Richer Sounds mentions ClearVoice technology, otherwise an expensive amp and/or tweak the equaliser settings on the TV.

Look at the one and two star reviews on Amazon

I like the idea of a soundbar to improve my TV sound, but can't find one which attracts enough praise

[d000hg]

Soundbars normally come with a separate subwoofer, it seems - like 5.1 systems. I'm kind of with you on the surround sound thing, apart from anything else I can't be arsed screwing speakers and cables all over the place. Maybe if I was a movie buff, otherwise stereo is just fine.

[VectraMan]

Yamaha YAS101 Black | Soundbar | Richer Sounds mentions ClearVoice technology, otherwise an expensive amp and/or tweak the equaliser settings on the TV.

Has 24KHz HRTF (Head Related Transfer Function). Wow!

Soundbars look interesting, though I'm sceptical that anything that small can produce decent sound, especially bass obviously. And I can't see surround as anything other than a gimmick that you'd get bored of after 5 minutes. I want the sound to come from where the action is, which is on the screen.

[BigRed]

Yamaha YAS101 Black | Soundbar | Richer Sounds mentions ClearVoice technology, otherwise an expensive amp and/or tweak the equaliser settings on the TV.

[d000hg]

A soundbar could be a good compromise, I'll have to investigate further. Although an initial look found the first few have HDMI & optical input only, and I thought my TV only had audio-out in the form of red/white wires (and 3.5mm).

Hmm.