I’ve always enjoyed great sound quality when it comes to listening to music, whether it’s from one of our top record players, acoustic headphones or streamed wirelessly through one of our top Bluetooth speakers, for example. My passion for all things audio also translates to watching movies, and I naturally embraced the surround sound action with at least five speakers and a subwoofer spread across the room when home theater first took off more than 20 years ago.
In fact, I was so interested in multi-channel audio and the immersive experience at the time that I made a room in my house for sound and movie surrounds, and outfitted it with a flat-screen TV and home subwoofer. At the time, this kind of home theater setup with the first generation of plasma flat screens — TV technology before LCD, OLED, and QLED — seemed like pure science fiction, and to me and many friends at the time, staying home became the new go-out.
Several homes were later moved and the shift in priorities my audio setup became streamlined, shrunk to match the family’s aesthetic as well as agreeing with the approval of fellow housemates. Plus, I no longer have room for multiple speaker arrangements taking up valuable living space, and surround speakers sound clumsy and completely unsuitable in my old possessions.
Although my TV sound system has shrunk in size, the screen itself is now almost twice as large as when I started. When I bought my latest TV, I hoped that its audio performance would at least approach the eye-catching, eye-catching visuals produced by the screen, and deliver powerful sound that matches the screen’s dynamic visuals.
Sadly, that wasn’t the case, and for me at least, there’s a huge disconnect between the big, bold images of the TV screen and the slim sound that comes from the speakers. I’ve tried manipulating the EQ controls to optimize them for the best audio output of course, but whatever I do, there’s no improvement in the anemic and soulless audio delivery.
I’m sure many will be able to appreciate that as TVs become thinner, the built-in speakers may have to be scaled down to fit into the smallest of spaces. In such a tight space, this restricts the amount and amount of travel available to the speaker driver to push air out to generate sound waves of sufficient power across the full range of frequencies.
I don’t underestimate the efforts of TV sound designers as there’s often plenty of sophisticated digital signal processing (DSP) technology on board to help get the best possible TV sound output, but even the best TV screens are no exception to looking thin and grassy.
Soundbars are pretty good at overcoming the poor sound quality performance that often results from even the best TV screens, but to me, they’re not always the answer if sound quality with movie soundtracks and high-octane music is your ultimate goal.
Don’t get me wrong: The majority of the best soundbars are a massive improvement in sound delivery from your TV’s built-in speakers, and many models like those we reviewed from Sonos, Bose, and Bowers & Wilkins also have Dolby Atmos to help bring an extra dimension of sound to the experience. the movies. But in terms of pure sound quality, I’ve found a Hi-Res compact solution that sounds better than any speakers I’ve heard so far.
Great TV sound without speakers
I’ve listened to several speakers at home lately across a wide range of different prices. Ostensibly, both are a remarkably elegant solution for upgrading TV sound compared to the slightly cumbersome arrangement of the workaround I’m about to propose, which includes three separate components to take care of specific audio tasks: a pair of passive bookshelf speakers, a powered subwoofer, and a Sonos Amp.
The Sonos Amp is a major hit at $699, where you can simply add a set of passive subwoofers. Not only does it integrate with other Sonos products on your home network for multi-room broadcasting, but the Control app enables geeky audio enthusiasts like myself to adjust the sound so it’s perfectly in sync with the image on the screen — a neat and handy facility.
While not as powerful as some of the separate amplifiers I’ve heard or as quality as the best AV receivers, the Sonos Amp is compact and comes with an HDMI eARC/ARC port useful for handling audio from your TV, as well as a host of other useful data ports and connectivity options. Wireless.
Music sounds better with you
I didn’t select a specific pair of speakers to partner with Sonos Amp, where any good pair of speakers from a reputable audio brand would fit – think along the lines of hi-fi names like Q Acoustics, Klipsch, Bowers & Wilkins etc.. in my book, if The subwoofer can handle vocals and deliver music so well, it should sound great with TV sound too.
I didn’t select the subwoofer either, as this depends on your speakers. If your speakers are up to the job in terms of connecting the bass output with the music, you are unlikely to need a subwoofer. Unless, like me, you like your movie and TV drama soundtracks to come with a lot of high-octane energy and oomph, good sub-options can be found at SVS and RELE. Both companies offer plenty of great models at a range of price points.
It’s not an all-in-one solution and the combined price is around $999, but from what I’ve heard so far, the Sonos Amp setup and tweeter outperform any speakers in terms of dialogue clarity with dramas and movies. Even without plugging in a subwoofer, a mid-size bookshelf speaker should produce enough sound to wow you away on the couch with explosive effects, and the music in any movie soundtrack sounds more realistic and ultimately more engaging in that arrangement.
You won’t get Dolby Atmos or any kind of fake surround effect to tickle your ears, of course, but with good sound quality, you won’t miss out on those extra tricks because you’ll be immersed in a lot of what’s going on in a high-quality screen and sound that treats your ears.
[ad_2]
