- Mar 6, 2006
- 6,490
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Looking at soundbars and surround sound setups (currently under $200).
Sound quality doesn't matter as much as adjust ability/volume.
This is for my dad who has irreparable hearing damage.
On a budget I'm trying to decide if a soundbar is going to work better than a similar priced home theater in a box for him. But I don't know what output the TV has (probably only optical if any), and if the soundbar can be adjusted the way that would suit him best. Even if the HTIB speakers are lower quality, having some in the back where he is at, and a receiver with extra connectors and likely more adjust ability may be a better choice.
--------------Background Info--------------
He's been living with the stock TV speakers for years, fortunately he's got a giant old LCD set with some of the biggest TV speakers. Unfortunately he's always got it set to 75% or more and constantly flailing his arms and screaming at you to be quiet. Hearing aids wont help, he has nerve damage (he's a veteran).
The biggest issue seems to be voices, any and all voices. He can't hear them well at all. I have tried my best to tweak the TV sound to help, but it's far to limited. I think the reason he turns it up so much is to try to hear what people are saying...but everything else gets turned up too. If we could isolate voices more he may not need it quite so loud. The system will still need to be able to run at abnormal levels (uncomfortable loud to normal people) without damage/distortion though.
I've been pestering him about some kind of sound system for a long time, and now that he's moved into his "last house" he's finally decided to consider it. Problem is he thinks $100-200 will get him a super fancy setup that will fix all his issues. Originally he was looking at $100 soundbars but when I mention some possible benefits of a receiver setup he sent me these to "look at"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=82-117-438
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=82-676-351
I think my primary goal should be to find something that makes voices stand out much more than normal. The only way I know to do this is to find something with a large equalizer band so he can adjust the sound to his needs. I've not seen any modern receiver with a decent equalizer (barely more than mid, low, high).
He likes his new tech stuff and I could maybe convince him to spend more if it allowed him to hook up all his tech (I know he would STRONGLY prefer wireless hookups). Got him a kindle fire HD (and now HDX for wife), then I set him up with a fancy Logitech remote, and some new smart phones (S4 active). Originally the plan was to use the kindle HDMI to play movies on the TV, but it only worked right once or twice...I think the TV HDMI is flaking out.
------------------Summary?-----------------------------
Unique situation and all...but I guess the question is, at $200 is there a sound product that would work well for a partially def person, with a large equalizer or boost vocal noise significantly so it's easy to hear what people are saying? Is it possible to get a good $150 receiver? Could probably start with a $50 pair of bookshelfs then.
What if we could up the budget to say $400 and include (possibly wireless?) connections for his tablets/phones? What would be a good split for receiver and speaker with these conditions (remember "sound quality" alone is not an issue)? $300 on the receiver?
Sound quality doesn't matter as much as adjust ability/volume.
This is for my dad who has irreparable hearing damage.
On a budget I'm trying to decide if a soundbar is going to work better than a similar priced home theater in a box for him. But I don't know what output the TV has (probably only optical if any), and if the soundbar can be adjusted the way that would suit him best. Even if the HTIB speakers are lower quality, having some in the back where he is at, and a receiver with extra connectors and likely more adjust ability may be a better choice.
--------------Background Info--------------
He's been living with the stock TV speakers for years, fortunately he's got a giant old LCD set with some of the biggest TV speakers. Unfortunately he's always got it set to 75% or more and constantly flailing his arms and screaming at you to be quiet. Hearing aids wont help, he has nerve damage (he's a veteran).
The biggest issue seems to be voices, any and all voices. He can't hear them well at all. I have tried my best to tweak the TV sound to help, but it's far to limited. I think the reason he turns it up so much is to try to hear what people are saying...but everything else gets turned up too. If we could isolate voices more he may not need it quite so loud. The system will still need to be able to run at abnormal levels (uncomfortable loud to normal people) without damage/distortion though.
I've been pestering him about some kind of sound system for a long time, and now that he's moved into his "last house" he's finally decided to consider it. Problem is he thinks $100-200 will get him a super fancy setup that will fix all his issues. Originally he was looking at $100 soundbars but when I mention some possible benefits of a receiver setup he sent me these to "look at"
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=82-117-438
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...tem=82-676-351
I think my primary goal should be to find something that makes voices stand out much more than normal. The only way I know to do this is to find something with a large equalizer band so he can adjust the sound to his needs. I've not seen any modern receiver with a decent equalizer (barely more than mid, low, high).
He likes his new tech stuff and I could maybe convince him to spend more if it allowed him to hook up all his tech (I know he would STRONGLY prefer wireless hookups). Got him a kindle fire HD (and now HDX for wife), then I set him up with a fancy Logitech remote, and some new smart phones (S4 active). Originally the plan was to use the kindle HDMI to play movies on the TV, but it only worked right once or twice...I think the TV HDMI is flaking out.
------------------Summary?-----------------------------
Unique situation and all...but I guess the question is, at $200 is there a sound product that would work well for a partially def person, with a large equalizer or boost vocal noise significantly so it's easy to hear what people are saying? Is it possible to get a good $150 receiver? Could probably start with a $50 pair of bookshelfs then.
What if we could up the budget to say $400 and include (possibly wireless?) connections for his tablets/phones? What would be a good split for receiver and speaker with these conditions (remember "sound quality" alone is not an issue)? $300 on the receiver?
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