Ok so I’ve got a bit of extra money in an otherwise tight year and I want to do something nice for my parents who have been really there for me lately. I know they’re always complaining about not being able to hear the sound off of their flat screen tv, often turning it up to the max when watching movies and unable to hear the dialogue while the background sound blares. So I thought I’d get them some speakers for the tv but…I have no clue what to look for! Hell, I don’t even know if I should search for ‘speakers’ or ‘home theater system’ I’m hoping I can get some help here
Firstly, it’s gotta be under $200. Preferably from Walmart or Bestbuy if possible. Here’s a linkto their tv. I really appreciate any help! I’m clueless with this stuff!
What you need is an amplifier, speakers, and an optical or TOSLINK cable (Fiber optic)…
Note people are upgrading their amplifiers to HDMI connection and 4K compatible HDMI stereo systems, so there are TONS of used amplifiers and speakers out there!
You should be able to get a used surround system which has an optical connection and may come with 6 speakers and have DTS capability. All for maybe $75 or $100!
These older systems have “RCA” and digital optical connections on the back as well as connections for 6 speakers plus a sub woofer. Using all 6 speakers is called 5.1 EX surround.
This^. A sound bar and separate sub-woofer will make an amazing difference in clarity and volume. It’s all that’s really needed for someone as described in the OP.
Any easy choices for older receivers? Right now I’m using a ten year old pair of kit-built bookshelf speakers, which are powered by a twenty year old analog stereo amplifier.
Now I’m shopping for a new TV, and most of the new models only have digital audio outputs. I could get a standalone box to convert the digital signal to analog, but those cost $20-$40. For that price I might as well get a used 5.1 receiver, which lets me upgrade from stereo to surround just by adding speakers.
Before you do this, and I know you want to buy them something, check the settings on the TV. More often than not, when you hear all the background settings, but not the people talking, it means the Surround Sound settings are messed up. It very well could be that the TV thinks that there are multiple speakers and it’s trying to direct the dialogue through a (currently) non-existent center channel.
[WEB-XTATSCE-1015-0907.pdf"]Here’s the manual for that TV](http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/UM/201209/20120910094456985/[ENG_US). Starting around page 90 are the sound settings, including one for adjusting how loud the dialogue is over the background noise, however, you might just go in and hit the “reset sound” button and see if that fixes anything.
No one likes rear facing speakers, but unless the back wall is carpeted, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just a wonky setting. It’s a Samsung TV, it shouldn’t have a problem like this.
I’ll second a sound bar for this application. Vizio makes a few that are outstanding for that price point. My parents have one and it is worlds better than the stock speakers, plus it does a credible job with surround effects.
Yamaha makes a nice soundbar for less than $200 and it has ClearSound, a technology that markedly improves dialogue. I’ve not owned one, but I’ve listened to one at a local dealer for quite some time.
On the other hand, I could not use this for my (fairly) elderly parents, as they would be totally confused by the idea of having to turn on and adjust two different devices in order to watch TV. I am not exaggerating. Even though the soundbar can stay on while the TV is off, I would be fielding calls about sound problems at least every couple days. My mother would see the power indicator and turn off the soundbar. She already does that with the cable TV box. Getting both the TV and the cable box turned on at the same time is like trying to split the atom.
So…I vote for checking the sound settings on the existing TV to see if the dialogue can be enhanced a bit. My LG TVs both have a setting specifically for this.
There’s a feature called HDMI-CEC which may newer devices have. My Samsung TV calls it Anynet+. When connected via an HDMI cable, different devices can control each other. So when I turn on my TV, it turns on my Sony AV receiver, and when I turn my TV off, it turns the AV receiver off. They have to be connected via HDMI for this to work, though.
A word on HDMI-CEC: you may want to alter some settings if, like me, you have a family that tends to leave stuff paused for long periods of time. I have a Sony soundbar that turns itself off if it doesn’t receive a signal for a while. Pausing the TV, of course, means that the soundbar doesn’t receive a signal, so it turns itself off after 15 minutes or so, and when they restart the show, there’s a lot of “Daddy, the volume’s broken again” and whatnot. So, go into the soundbar settings and see if you can increase that power-save interval.
Yeah, I got a Vizio soundbar with 2 rear speakers and a subwoofer. The subwoofer connects to the soundbar via bluetooth and the rear speakers plug into it, so no wires going back to the TV. Plus I can play music from my Ipod through it. Much better than the TV’s speakers.
As noted, it depends on the equipment plus how they are hooked up. For example, my new cable box didn’t like my older plasma tv (HDCP 2.2 is a real PITA) with my AVR in the chain so the workaround was to run HDMI to the tv (which worked fine?? HDCP sucks.), and optical cable from the cable box to the AVR. With CEC enabled the AVR would shut off when I turned the TV off. Note that if you are using component or RCA this will not work AFAIK.
Check what type of connections the TV offers first, some only have optical out, others only a audio out/earphone jack.
A sound bar goes a long way to make a amazing difference and takes the smallest space, subwoffer if they life alone, if others are in the structure (appartment, kids at home, etc), get one without the subwoffer. Base carries and can be annoying to others.
Yeah, this could be me. My parents aren’t terribly elderly (dad is 83, mom is 76), but neither of them are terribly good with electronics. They bought a sound bar 2 years ago for their main TV (my dad has bad hearing, thanks to 3 years of driving a tank in the Army), and once I got it hooked up, it was a steep learning curve to teach them how to use it. Once I was able to get it up and running, it did make a difference in my dad’s ability to hear the TV, at least.
Every time I go home to visit, I have to spend an hour troubleshooting the darned thing, since someone’s hit a different (wrong) button on one of the three or four remote controls, and things aren’t working properly anymore.
