Improving LCD/LED TV Sound / Audio Quality
Recently my Brother In Law purchased a nice 42" Smart TV for his home. Right from day one, he was not happy with the performance of his TV's audio capabilities.
I took a look at it, and found that the speakers are pointed downwards, instead of facing the viewers. Most LCD TVs follow this setup, so that it creates a sleet look. Functional compromise, for the sake of look and feel.
Improving the LCD TV Sound quality through Equaliser
Tweaking the Equalizer settings did not help much in our case. The audio response was more or less flat, and the bass was virtualy non-existent and the vocals are flat, and hi-frequency is not satisfactory.
Improving the LCD TV sound quality through Computer speakers
We found that there was a Headphone-out plug behind the TV. Unfortunately most LCD/LED TVs doesnot provide you a simple RCA Audio out. Not sure if that was intentional, but to cut costs, we found that to be a fundamental flaw.
So we bought a 5.1 Computer speaker set (F&D D1061) which was compact enough. After the installation we found that the sound level from the headphones out was very low. We had to keep the TV volume level to the max, to get the desired result in the 5.1 speakers. So I tweaked the quality by using a unused 2.0 computer speaker which I had.
The connection thus became
TV -> 2.0 Computer Speaker -> 5.1 Speaker
The 5.1 speaker is connected to the 2.0 speaker's HEADPHONE OUT, and the 2.0 speaker is connected to the TV's HEADPHONE OUT. Thus the 2.0 speaker serves as a mini headphone amplifier and result was much much better. The Hi and lows were better.
We decided to stop there, as we found acceptable level of audio performance.
Improving LCD TV sound quality through Speaker Bars
There is a niche range of speakers called Speaker Bars, which cost you a bomb (INR 18,000 onwards) which includes a slim wide speaker, and a subwoofer. People who dont want fiddle with wires, can opt for such speakers.
Using HDMI ARC & Optical Audio Out with Home theater AV Receivers.
Most Smart TVs comes with HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) connector, to which you can connect a AV Receiver / Speaker Amplifier. Or, you can use the OPTICAL AUDIO OUT connector to connect a AV Receiver / Speaker Amplifier. If you already own a AV Receiver with Home Theater, it is good. Otherwise these two options needs an expensive home theater.
Conclusion
Using computer speakers (connected to Headphone socket of TV) seems to be the better and economical option (unless you wish to invest heavily on a new home theater). You need to invest in a proper computer speaker brand to get the maximum sound quality. Make sure the speakers you use have better RMS wattage (30 watts RMS minimum), so that you can enjoy the sound stage better.
I took a look at it, and found that the speakers are pointed downwards, instead of facing the viewers. Most LCD TVs follow this setup, so that it creates a sleet look. Functional compromise, for the sake of look and feel.
Improving the LCD TV Sound quality through Equaliser
Tweaking the Equalizer settings did not help much in our case. The audio response was more or less flat, and the bass was virtualy non-existent and the vocals are flat, and hi-frequency is not satisfactory.
Improving the LCD TV sound quality through Computer speakers
We found that there was a Headphone-out plug behind the TV. Unfortunately most LCD/LED TVs doesnot provide you a simple RCA Audio out. Not sure if that was intentional, but to cut costs, we found that to be a fundamental flaw.
The connection thus became
TV -> 2.0 Computer Speaker -> 5.1 Speaker
The 5.1 speaker is connected to the 2.0 speaker's HEADPHONE OUT, and the 2.0 speaker is connected to the TV's HEADPHONE OUT. Thus the 2.0 speaker serves as a mini headphone amplifier and result was much much better. The Hi and lows were better.
We decided to stop there, as we found acceptable level of audio performance.
Improving LCD TV sound quality through Speaker Bars
Using HDMI ARC & Optical Audio Out with Home theater AV Receivers.
Most Smart TVs comes with HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel) connector, to which you can connect a AV Receiver / Speaker Amplifier. Or, you can use the OPTICAL AUDIO OUT connector to connect a AV Receiver / Speaker Amplifier. If you already own a AV Receiver with Home Theater, it is good. Otherwise these two options needs an expensive home theater.
Conclusion
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