11 replies to this topic

[GLO]

Im looking at an upgrade path to replace both my Sony 60" SXRD and Samsung SP61L2H TVs.

And I am seeing a flood of miraculously thin TVs on the market.

Everyone talks about the picture quality,but I cant find much talk about the onboard sound.

Can you please share your thoughts.

Thanks

Edited by GLO, 24 March 2012 - 10:23 PM.

[MLXXX]

The 60" SXRD has speaker columns  that extend like wings on either side of the (very deep!) main body of the TV. These columns are not very deep at all.

My 50" Panasonic plasma VT-20 is deeper (thicker) than the speaker columns on my 60"SXRD, but the speakers are not positioned to direct sound through any grill on the front panel.  I've never wall mounted the VT-20, but as a free-standing display it produces a very decent sound, quite adequate for watching the news, and passable for informally watching movies off air. Subjectively, I find the sound is of a similar quality to what the 60" SXRD produces.

I also have a budget TV, a 42" Soniq LCD.  (This was acquired because of its IPS polarizer that allows use of passive 3D glasses with no timing phase difference between Left and Right, and no flicker.)  Its sound is noticeably tinny, not good enough even for watching the news. Definitely requires an AVR and external speakers.

I'd be interested in reports from people who have wall mounted a modern display.

Edited by MLXXX, 25 March 2012 - 01:27 PM.

[GLO]

Thanks MLXXX,

Im also keep to hear from others and their thoughts on their Panels sound quality!

[miata]

No idea, I haven't used the speakers in a TV since the early 90's when I got my first A/V amp, it would be like listening a symphony on a transistor radio frrom the 60's. Everything goes through the amp, if for no other reason than to "locate" people and sounds, if I see someone walking from laft to right across the screen, I want to hear them walking from left to right as well.

[hrh]

miata, on 30 March 2012 - 08:07 PM, said:

it would be like listening a symphony on a transistor radio frrom the 60's. Everything goes through the amp, if for no other reason than to "locate" people and sounds, if I see someone walking from laft to right across the screen, I want to hear them walking from left to right as well.

Exactly. The sound is about as thin as the panels.
Without a lot of electronic whizbangery you cannot get anything in the way of normal or decent audio from the speakers that are in the panels on the market since the advent of plasma and LCD screens. When it comes to sound the only way you can achieve it is by using drivers and enclosures designed to output the frequency range that is presented to them. Most, if not all of the panels I have come across just don't have adequately sized drivers to output anything in the way of decent audio and the "enclosure" is not designed for it either. I would suggest that the only reason these TVs have speakers in them is because if you don't have any other form of external amplifier or sound system you won't be able to get any sound, and a TV has always traditionally had a speaker(s) in it.
In short, if you want anything in the way of normal sound, you really need to have an external amp and set of speakers. It doesn't have to be a home theatre setup, just a normal half decent amp and pair of speakers is fine, or at least much better than what is in the panels. All I use is a kit home built modestly powered amp (Electronics Australia Playmaster 136 with 13 watts RMS) and a small pair of two way Marantz speakers of about just under 2 cubic feet capacity each sitting either side of the screen.

Edited by hrh, 30 March 2012 - 11:24 PM.

[Knox]

In the lounge I have large Vifa speakers driven by a twenty year old Denon amp and the sound is phenomenal, battle scenes in war movies are almost too real because of the realistic sound

Whereas the bedroom TV, a Sony 32BX20, relies on it's own speakers and the sound is quite reasonable quality, never felt the need to upgrade it !

[agelessgoodguy]

GLO, on 24 March 2012 - 10:15 PM, said:

Im looking at an upgrade path to replace both my Sony 60" SXRD and Samsung SP61L2H TVs.

And I am seeing a flood of miraculously thin TVs on the market.

Everyone talks about the picture quality,but I cant find much talk about the onboard sound.

Can you please share your thoughts.

Thanks

Another Feature? of these thin flat screen's speakers is that if someone turns up the volume a tad too much they will rupture and add new meaning to the term tinny... I'm going to try just extending the old speaker leads out the back of the Panel and hooking them directly to a decent set of Bookshelf speakers instead and hope the load doesn't hurt the mini amp in the TV.

[hrh]

Agelessgoodguy, on 01 April 2012 - 02:24 PM, said:

Another Feature? of these thin flat screen's speakers is that if someone turns up the volume a tad too much they will rupture and add new meaning to the term tinny... I'm going to try just extending the old speaker leads out the back of the Panel and hooking them directly to a decent set of Bookshelf speakers instead and hope the load doesn't hurt the mini amp in the TV.

I thought of doing that too, but the effort wasn't going to be worth it.
I would be extremely careful about doing it from several aspects.
First, there is the one of warranty - if it is still in the warranty period.
Second, if not aware of what lurks inside in the way of electrical "stuff" that can bite and be fatal.
As far as the load on the internal amp goes, a normal 4-8 ohm speaker would be OK I should think. They all seem to say they can output several watts - as in up to 20 or so, and therefore should be capable of driving any reasonable set of speakers.
I don't know why the manufacturers don't provide a jack to be able to do this as they used to. Presumably it is expected that if you want anything more than the mediocre sound from the internal speakers, you will get a home theatre set up.

Disclaimer - I do not advocate this procedure.

[miata]

hrh, on 01 April 2012 - 02:55 PM, said:

I thought of doing that too, but the effort wasn't going to be worth it.
I would be extremely careful about doing it from several aspects.
First, there is the one of warranty - if it is still in the warranty period.
Second, if not aware of what lurks inside in the way of electrical "stuff" that can bite and be fatal.
As far as the load on the internal amp goes, a normal 4-8 ohm speaker would be OK I should think. They all seem to say they can output several watts - as in up to 20 or so, and therefore should be capable of driving any reasonable set of speakers.
I don't know why the manufacturers don't provide a jack to be able to do this as they used to. Presumably it is expected that if you want anything more than the mediocre sound from the internal speakers, you will get a home theatre set up.

Disclaimer - I do not advocate this procedure.

Exactly, having a nice panel and NO amp/speaker setup, is like running a Lamborghini on bicycle tyres or having Carrot Cake without the fluffy frosting.

[MLXXX]

Here's what a review has to say (http://www.techradar...#articleContent) about the sound quality of a recently released Panasonic 42" passive 3D TV. It suggests that the sound of this TV is usable for watching the news, or even informally watching off-air movies:-

Sound quality

Panasonic has done a very respectable job of getting a decent audio performance out of the L42ET5 when you consider how slim and affordable it is. There's a reasonably open feeling to the midrange, which lets voices sound realistic and helps action scenes avoid sounding too harsh or thin. Detail levels are high too, and the soundstage is impressively wide.

Bass feels a touch forced and doesn't really venture very low down the frequency response scale, but this is hardly rare in the flat TV world. Overall the L42ET5's sound provides a satisfying accompaniment to its 42-inch pictures.

No one has commented on the effect of wall mounting a thin panel TV. My 50" Panasonic plasma VT-20 (a reasonably thin panel) is freestanding, almost a metre away from the wall behind it. As I've mentioned, the sound is quite adequate for watching the news. I don't bother turning on the AVR for that purpose.  And yet there is no aperture for sound to emerge from the front of the display.

Although not immediately relevant to this thread, what I notice about TV sound are compression artifacts on some streams (e.g. on GO!, from the low audio bitrate and inefficient codec), and the sound being 0.7 of a semi-tone sharp with most movies and many television series (so-called PAL speedup). I cannot undo poor audio compression, but I have played back off-air recordings at correct audio speed and pitch, despite the slight adverse impact on picture quality. The timing of the delivery of the dialogue of the comedy or the drama, and the timbre of the music and voices, is much better for me at original speed.  The other option is to obtain this material at correct speed and pitch in the first place.

Edited by MLXXX, 08 April 2012 - 11:09 PM.

[:)]

what is the sound like...in one word .....CR@P

even the cheapest of "soundbars" you could buy would do better than what you get squeezed into these TVs. their skinny proportions are designed for looks not for performance. so if wanting to get any better from them in regard sound suggest either add a cheap sound bar or get a separate system for the audio. which might be just a 2ch amp and speakers, or an av amp and surround setup...or even headphones would do better

[MLXXX]

GLO, on 24 March 2012 - 10:15 PM, said:

And I am seeing a flood of miraculously thin TVs on the market.

Everyone talks about the picture quality,but I cant find much talk about the onboard sound.

GLO, as various posters have pointed out, for serious listening you would need an AVR and speakers.  However if there are times you switch on the TV just for the news or some sports coverage, you may be happy with lesser quality sound.  I suggest you drop in at a showroom during a quiet period and ask them to turn the sound up on one or two thin panel displays so you can hear the sound quality for yourself.

For my ears there is a world of difference between my Panasonic 50" plasma (VT-20), which has quite adequate sound, in my opinion, for casual listening to the news and sports commentary, and my cheap 42" LED 3D Soniq, which has a very noticeably tinny sound.

I'd also note that the sound from a main SD digital TV stream may be low bitrate mp2.  In Brisbane, I have sometimes used my analogue TV for sound, and my digital TV for picture when the digital sound was only 256kbps stereo mp2.  [Unfortunately some of the stations now appear to be using the compressed digital sound for distribution purposes to feed a remote FM analogue sound modulator.]

So it may be desirable to choose a high definition digital station for auditioning, which is more likely to provide better sound quality, or some of the deficiencies you hear may simply be caused by the audio codec.

Edited by MLXXX, 08 April 2012 - 11:09 PM.