Lazy boy sound improvements

[simonali]

I've recently bought a 2013 Panasonic ET60 TV for the lounge and the sound is dreadful. It requires external speakers in my opinion, but what I want to know is whether this is possible without resorting to a second remote for adjusting the volume? If I were to connect a compatible soundbar to the HDMI (ARC) input does the TV then know it has external speakers and not to use the weedy internal jobbies??

:?

 

[bigboss]

Yes it is possible. You won't need a 2nd remote.

 

[simonali]

Cheers for that, bigboss. I'd been reading up on ARC/CEC, but it was all rather confusing because the manufacturers are free to implement it in different ways, rather than it being a defined standard. I'm guessing my best bet is to stick with Panasonic gear just to make sure?

 

[simonali]

Well I went in a local TV store today just to audition a few different soundbars. Listened to a couple of the Panasonic ones and was left unimpressed. Ended up walking out with a Sonos one that I couldn't afford!

Don't tell the missus how much they cost... :shhh:

 

[bigboss]

What's your budget for the speakers? You can always get a cheap universal remote to control everything.

Yamaha makes the best soundbars.

Also check this:

http://www.qacoustics.co.uk/qacoustics-qtvx-speakers.htm

 

[simonali]

As stated I already bought a Sonos Playbar. Budget was about half what it cost!

 

[bigboss]

Oh, you meant the Playbar. It is very good! Have you got anymore Sonos gear?

 

[bigboss]

I hope you're going to use the Playbar for multiroom music as well. If for pure TV speakers, it is a waste of money.

 

[simonali]

No, I haven't. Made the set up a bit of a pain, as I had to rob some networking bits off the home cinema to get it going! Still sounds a bit weedy with the TV sound, but that must be how they broadcast it. Movies are a diffent story, though, the sound is excellent and it plays music really well, too.

 

[bigboss]

Remember it can directly play music from your PC / iPad / NAS drive wirelessly. You'll need to connect the Playbar via ethernet cable to your router, or connect Sonos Bridge to your router, & the Playbar will wirelessly connect to it.

http://www.sonos.com/shop/products/bridge?lang=en-us®ion=uk

 

[bigboss]

Playbar review here:

http://www.whathifi.com/review/playbar

 

[simonali]

It is networked now, as the only way to get it to work is with the app, there's no remote for it in the box. It goes through a set up procedure and then learns the volume control signals from your TV remote near the end. You then disable the TV speakers using the hotel menu. I just need to do the PC now so I can play music from there on it...

 

[bigboss]

Enjoy your Playbar! :cheers:

 

[simonali]

Will do. I am gonna get a Bridge once the bank cards stop smoking so I can get rid of some of the wiring behind the TV. It doesn't work wirelessly until you have another bit of Sonos kit in the network which seems to be a clever way of getting some more dosh out of you...

 

[bigboss]

Basically, the requirement of Sonos is that at least 1 unit should be hard wired to the router. It then creates its own mesh network.

 

[simonali]

Indeed. As that is the case I shall spend as little as poss buying the Bridge and connect that to the router. Then I can reconnect my AV amp using the bits I've borrowed.

 

[bigboss]

There are a few on eBay. Even a used one should do the job equally well.