# Why does my TV Do This?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-tv-do-this/270559>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 22, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-tv-do-this/270559 "2004-10-22T04:44:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-tv-do-this/270559/1 "2004-10-22T04:44:09Z")

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My TV-- a Toshiba CF205IA-- is used and has a few years on it. Spoken dialogue is not very loud, but the music track of any show is about half again as loud as the dialogue. Is this common? Is it repairable? Is there a simple adjustment I can make? Am I going selectively deaf? Help!

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-tv-do-this/270559/2 "2004-10-22T04:48:10Z")

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It almost sounds like the TV got configured to act as the center channel speaker for a surround setup, and route the left/right and rear channels to external speakers.

I don’t know this particular TV, but check in the instructions / menus for surround sound options and ensure that the TV is set for “normal” or “all” sound, no surround, etc.

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**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-tv-do-this/270559/3 "2004-10-22T08:46:51Z")

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It might also help to boost the treble on the sound, if your TV has such an adjustment, since that’s the range that tends to go first as your hearing ages.

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2004, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-does-my-tv-do-this/270559/4 "2004-10-22T14:44:18Z")

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> [@gotpasswords](#):
>
> It almost sounds like the TV got configured to act as the center channel speaker for a surround setup, and route the left/right and rear channels to external speakers.
> 
> I don’t know this particular TV, but check in the instructions / menus for surround sound options and ensure that the TV is set for “normal” or “all” sound, no surround, etc.

If this were a good, old fashioned “hi-fi” stereo, I’d say your speakers were out of phase.

Is there a way to select mono audio on your TV to see if there’s an improvement? Shut off one channel of the audio?