Forgot How Bad TV Speakers Suck

[dmw16]

This thread is really just me complaining...

Anyway, I took a job away from home so I am renting a room in a house. I bought a new TV (Samsung LN37A550) and set it up in my room along with my xbox360.

First off, the TV is great in terms of picture quality (I have a sony 42" LCD projection at home). I like my sony but the samsung is great (especially black levels). But the sound sucks ass.

I've had Rocket RS450s and a BIC H100 sub for about a year and I guess I didn't realize how much they add to playing games and watching movies. I was playing Madden the other night and it isn't the same.

Thankfully I'll be moving her permanently in a few months and probably replacing the Sony TV with the Sammy (I know, going bigger to smaller seems sad ).

I just wanted to share with everyone that the sound makes a huge difference (not that you dont already know that).

That is the end of my whining.

 

[Slick5150]

Yeah, I have neighbors that spend a ton of money on a new TV, and just use the TV speakers because "it doesn't really make much difference" (as one neighbor put it). I bring them over and let them watch something with my setup, and they quickly ask me how much it costs to put something like that together.

I'm no audio snob by any stretch, but I agree that watching TV/gaming/whatever on TV speakers can be a painful experience.

 

[dmw16]

I am not a snob about it either and I think I used to be like your neighbor. Its one of those things that you dont realize what you are missing till you've had it and then watch/play the same thing without it.

I was going to pickup KillZone2 this weekend and I suspect it wont be nearly as fun without the sound.

 

[CRXican]

I'm dying for a nice 3.1 setup to go with my Pioneer plasma but my small bedroom leaves no space away from the walls for speakers.

Living at home, must get out lol.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: CRXican
I'm dying for a nice 3.1 setup to go with my Pioneer plasma but my small bedroom leaves no space away from the walls for speakers.

Go for it...

 

[kalrith]

Originally posted by: CRXican
my small bedroom leaves no space away from the walls for speakers.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. If you mean you'd have to have the speakers right up against the wall, then there are speakers that are made for that. Some speakers are even made to be wall-mounted. They would sound better with some space between them and the wall, but their sound quality won't suffer as much as some speakers that basically require ample room from the wall. I have my Polk R15* surrounds hanging on the wall. They were made for that and have a keyhole slot in the back and the port on the front. Eventually you could wall-mount the TV and speakers like this (although you'd want more space between the left and right speakers).

*Please note that I don't recommend these speakers for your 3.1 setup, but they function adequately as my not-used-that-much surround speakers. Even though my Polk R50 mains aren't the greatest, they blow away the R15, so that should give you an idea of the less-than-stellar sound quality.

Edit: I'll add that my in-laws have a nice 50" SXRD TV and sit 15 feet from it and use the TV speakers. It's so amazing the difference that the excessive viewing distance and crappy TV speakers make. It was in that setting that I viewed my first BD and thought it was little-to-no improvement over DVD. It's how they want it though. A funny sidebar to this is that they were helping us figure out how to arrange the furniture in our livingroom, and my mother-in-law recommended putting the couch up against one wall and the 50" TV up against the opposite wall (the room is 17 feet long). I said the couch has to be no farther than 9 feet from the entertainment center. And she said, "Why? That's how we have the furniture arranged at our house? What's wrong with that?" I decided to say nothing in response to that to prevent my foot from making it's way to my mouth.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Completely agree. I have less in my whole setup than a bunch of these cats have in their fronts; but it still makes for a huge improvement over TV speakers. I'm about to pick up the Z-2300 for the LCD HDTV in the MBR, because the TV audio just makes games or movies in there completely meh.

 

[quikah]

I have the Samsung LN46A540 I am going to guess the speakers are pretty much the same. They suck, really I think they have the absolute worst speakers of any TV I have ever heard. Really annoying if I just want to watch the news or daily show or something on it, but thankfully I was able to get fairly usable sound out of them by tweaking the equalizer.

 

[thomsbrain]

I actually think it's almost more important to have decent sound before a decent TV.

 

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: quikah
I have the Samsung LN46A540 I am going to guess the speakers are pretty much the same. They suck, really I think they have the absolute worst speakers of any TV I have ever heard. Really annoying if I just want to watch the news or daily show or something on it, but thankfully I was able to get fairly usable sound out of them by tweaking the equalizer.

Try shopping for a 19"-22" LCD TV that doesn't have speakers that sound like a couple iPod earbuds slapped on the front of them.

I took back 3 different TV's in that class before I finally settled on a Sony Bravia 19" with decent sound that actually fills the kitchen halfway decent.

It's pathetic really. I know you can't expect miracles when you are only working with about 2" of bezel thickness...but still.

 

[Koing]

You dont know what your missing until you have heard better. I thought my tv speakers were good until I hot a 5.1 setup and receiver. Massive difference!

Koing

 

[CallMeJoe]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
I actually think it's almost more important to have decent sound before a decent TV.

I would delete the word "almost". (says the guy who owns only CRT TVs, none larger than 27", but has 2 surround receivers, 3 stereo receivers, one integrated amp, one power amp, 16 speakers, 5 subwoofers (3 powered), 2 turntables [and is shopping for another] and 2 CD players...)

edit: one of the 2 Technics DD turntables I now own is intended as the base of a DIY wet-vacuum LP cleaner. The table I'm looking for needs to be aesthetically worthy of sitting next to the rosewood cabinet of my Luxman L-309 amplifier.

 

[boomhower]

I don't have the room or the money for a proper set-up but I bought one of the Sony 3.1 sound bars and have been pretty happy with. The sound isn't the best in the world but much better than the standard speakers that are on my plasma.(50" Vizio). It has plenty of HDMI inputs so I don't have to screw with an HDMI switcher. Even the wife likes it so thats a big bonus. All in all well worth the $200 I paid for it.

 

[blued888]

I can stand watching normal TV programming on CRT TVs because I find their speakers to be fairly capable.

But with flat panel TVs, it's a totally different story.

Even having some sort of satellite-based speaker system would be better than the thin, tiny-sounding speakers in flat panels.