Sound quality

[admin_exported]

Well, largely on your recommendations I bought the top of the range Pani 37" LCD. Wonderful picture, as promised, but the sound was truly awful. Tinny, no volume and when turrned up the back rattled. Took it back to Richer Sounds who after connecting it up, agreed. Clearly a fault. Brought a new one. I insisted on hearing it and, surprise surprise, the same dreadful sound quality.

How can manufacturers get away with this? Yes, I could have connected it to my amp and Spendor speakers but why should I? It's sold as a stand alone product and as such totally fails the requirements of the trade description act.

R.S. told me that people want the thinnest possible TV and that, of course, means there is no room for decent speakers.

I also looked at one of the new LED units; stunning picture but again, very poor sound. I'm not expecting hi-fi sound from a TV but at these prices I would at least hope for a sound as good as my old CRT which the Panis were not.

Settled for a Samsung 40" in the end. May not have quite all the bells and whistles of the Pani but it's an excellent picture and good enough sound to listen to radio 3 if I so wish.

 

[The_Lhc]

fencer:I also looked at one of the new LED units; stunning picture but again,
very poor sound. I'm not expecting hi-fi sound from a TV but at these
prices I would at least hope for a sound as good as my old CRT which
the Panis were not.

Why would you expect that? Look at the amount of room there is in a CRT for speakers, how are you ever going to acheive that in an LCD panel less than a centimetre thick (which is where a lot of them are headed), or even bigger? It just isn't going to happen unless there's a big shift in speaker technology.

I bought my 50" inch plasma without speakers because I knew it wouldn't be worth the effort, it's just something you're going to have to live with.

 

[Anonymous]

Yea it's the depth that is the problem, although you can still get decent sound from thin speakers without it sounded tinny and harsh IMO.

My old pictureframe Toshiba had proper Dolby Digital 5.1 with the 4 external speaker outs on the back of the TV plus a sub woofer in the TV too wheras you just get one digital out these days on LCD screens.

However, the Toshiba 46ZF355 I have has great sound for a flatscreen LCD, however it is not the thinnest TV around (probably 14cm thick) but this means it has decent Onkyo speakers in which actually have some depth to bass and I can happily watch a film without using external hifi to back it up. Similarly I've got an old Acoustic Solutions 19" TV which is fairly thick, it has great sound for a small TV, most are annoyingly tinny at this size (a newer Hitatchi I have is like this, very thin and the sound suffers).

I suppose not only are LCDs getting so thin speakers are almost just a backup for sound, I think manufactuers are now assuming that most people who want a big screen are getting home cinema setups for audio.

 

[The_Lhc]

c_w:However, the Toshiba 46ZF355 I have has great sound for a flatscreen LCD, however it is not the thinnest TV around (probably 14cm thick)

FOURTEEN CENTIMETRES?

How the hell am I supposed to fit the sofa in with that behemoth in the room?

 

[tvspecv]

you cant have everything unless you want to buy a loewe

then maybe u will be satisfied with the sound

 

[hammill]

tvspecv:

you cant have everything unless you want to buy a loewe

then maybe u will be satisfied with the sound
But why bother? You will never be able to beat a dedicated home cinema setup (which you could buy with the extra cost of the loewe)

 

[kev g]

I can quite understand your frustrations fencer.

My non working 28Z07 Toshiba CRT has speakers at the side & centre. The speakers inside are only 5cm in depth. The spring connections at the back of the set allowed me to use a pair of Mission rears & was very pleased with the sound quality. There was even a socket for an active woofer. Of course a dedicated cinema system would of sounded better but at a cost.

I would have no problems in buying a deeper lcd if it meant better sound quality.

 

[Anonymous]

thin and good sound? check out the philips 9 series!!