LED v LCD Soundwise.

[DIB]

I'm in the market for a new TV, and had sort of decided that I would go for a LED, around the 40" and £500/£600 range. Not really got any particular make in mind either. I only want a TV, nothing else. No AV receiver, speaker systems etc. So just a TV with a good HD picture and decent sound.

Whilst in Comet today having a look around with my wife, I overheard a shop asistant talking to a prospective customer about the respective merits of Plasma/LCD/LED. He said something that got me thinking. Basically he said that unless you were going to be wall mounting a LED TV then he wouldn't consider LED over LCD because the sound from LED TV's is so poor as they are so thin and the inbuilt speakers are no good. Is there an element of truth in this? I would not be wall mounting any TV, just sitting it on a cabinet.

I'm a bit concerned now that if I buy an LED then I'm going to be disappointed in the audio aspect. Anyone got any thoughts on this?

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[The_Lhc]

The sound from most flat screen TVs is poor, compared to old CRTs, for precisely the reason mentioned, the cabinets are so thin there's simply no room for decent speakers.

I think it's fair to say you are likely to be disappointed with the sound from any flat TV, the phrase "decent sound" is rarely heard in any review of a modern TV.

 

[sonycentre]

with the Ihc on that one,Think you would need to invest in a sound bar or 2.1 sound system as well.It does seem strange as we now have tv's to produce some stunning pictures but joe blogg's wont invest in a half decent sound system.with better sounding blu-ray discs and sky hd with dolby digital + sound.....we seem to be moving backwards and not forwards in some ways.

 

[DIB]

Cheers, thought as much.

I've had a large Toshiba CRT for the last 10 years or so and we thought now would be good time to get a bit more up to date. I was looking at one LED TV on the Richer Sounds website and they actually stated that the sound was basically rubbish, though the picture quality was excellent. The LCD TV's seemed to have better reviews when it came to sound so may have to go down that route.

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[chebby]

DIB:I'm in the market for a new TV, and had sort of decided that I would go for a LED, around the 40" and £500/£600 range. Not really got any particular make in mind either. I only want a TV, nothing else. No AV receiver, speaker systems etc. So just a TV with a good HD picture and decent sound.

Just get the TV with the best picture and a pair of something like these...

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/StudiophileAV30.html

They are small, magnetically shielded, have MDF cabinets (not plastic), and have gloss black trim to match the telly. They have a set of RCA phono inputs (all modern televisions have RCA phono L & R audio outputs). I have seen them on sale for about £90.

 

[simonlewis]

Why don't you run the sound of your tv through your hifi, surely that would make sense.

 

[chebby]

Personally - if I had no hifi or AV system to plug a telly into - I would get a Pure Evoke Flow DAB/FM/Internet radio and it's matching (optional) Flow S-1 Speaker (for stereo) and the Pure remote control (for selecting between sources, volume etc.)

All gloss black (with ported wooden cabinets), compact, remote contollable.

That way you could have your telly and radio all together (the finish matches any gloss black telly) with the television plugged in as an alternate source and remotely selectable.

Radio on one side and matching S-1 speaker the other side of the telly.

All you would need is a 3.5mm - RCA phono lead to connect to the television.

Quite a respectable sound, small footprint and much more useful than just speakers.

 

[DIB]

slewis:Why don't you run the sound of your tv through your hifi, surely that would make sense.

Seperate rooms I'm afraid, and thats how it's going to stay.

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[Liam19]

DIB:
Cheers, thought as much.

I've had a large Toshiba CRT for the last 10 years or so and we thought now would be good time to get a bit more up to date. I was looking at one LED TV on the Richer Sounds website and they actually stated that the sound was basically rubbish, though the picture quality was excellent. The LCD TV's seemed to have better reviews when it came to sound so may have to go down that route.

It all really depends on how you define 'decent' - I'd imagine that, if you buy a new flatscreen with low expectations of its sound quality, you may just be surprised. My Samsung LED TV (which is extremely thin!) sounds very clear and goes very loud, and only sounds harsh when you push it beyond the volume levels of your average living room.

There's no sense in thinking that an LCD set is going to be better than an LED one - both are essentially the same technology but with different backlighting, which either way has no bearing on sound quality.

Best to find a set you like the look of and then demo it with a few sources, if you can, to determine if it sounds 'decent' enough to you.

 

[Anonymous]

I recently bought a Panasonic TX-L32D25 and the sound is much better than I expected. I have it standing on a cabinet and the sound comes out of the back and bounces off the wall. Watched Gladiator on Blu ray and it sounded brilliant. I think the review in What Hi-fi stated the sound was good for a flat panel.

 

[aliEnRIK]

DIB:

Whilst in Comet today having a look around with my wife, I overheard a shop asistant talking to a prospective customer about the respective merits of Plasma/LCD/LED. He said something that got me thinking. Basically he said that unless you were going to be wall mounting a LED TV then he wouldn't consider LED over LCD because the sound from LED TV's is so poor as they are so thin and the inbuilt speakers are no good. Is there an element of truth in this?

I dont think ive ever said this about a Comet salesperson before, but I would say there is a degree of truth to it

Reviews certainly point to it. LED screens tend to have more backlighting issues these days than standard LCDs and the sound is 'average'

Looking at hifi, the deeper the box the more 'grunt' they tend to have. As LEDs are wafer thin, you cant expect awesome speakers being fitted to them.