Flatscreen TVs can’t beat CRT TV sound – but do you care?

This all very well and a good help to the deaf or partly deaf,but as with all captions displayed on TV they are not up long enough for me to read,being part sufferer of Age Related Macular Degeneration,and in fact anyone with sight difficulties,you get half way through reading it
,adn it’s gone.

Speaking as someone uninformed as to the intricacies of such hi-tech matters, approximately 5 years ago I purchased a Panasonic Viera TV (then considered top of the range) with a faulty sound system from J Lewis who could only offer a repair, which I refused in favour of a replacement. I contacted Trading Standards who advised I speak to a small local independent trader for a second opinion who recommended I purchased from them a sound system costing £110 which I declined. I eventually finished up contacting the main UK Panasonic Distributor who admitted a consignment of this particular faulty model was inadvertently despatched to J Lewis who, armed with this information, conceded and eventually supplied me with a new model. The problem, I was informed, stemmed from ‘insufficient padding within the back of the set.’ The whole point being I could have been saddled with a faulty set had I not complained but I could have done without all the hassle at the time.

How about practicality rather than agony ?
I see no reason why flat screen TVs, no matter how flat, should not be supplied with separate speakers of an optimum size for adequate sound quality to be placed on the floor below the TV.

STACH, Absolutely the obvious way forwards. We have been putting off investing in a “flatty” for a long time because of their sound problems. It is just mad to produce a “modern” TV with poor sound. What a cheek that manufacturers have the audacity to produce such rubbish! ( It mirrors the spare tyre- free modern motor!)

GOOD FOR YOU whoever you are.Stuck to your guns! !and beat the system of fobing customers off,the way the dealers tried to con you was disgusting,including the seller,who must have know of problem from the manufacturer.I TAKE MY HAT OFF TO YOU.

Bit of a shame to read this about John Lewis, often one of the highly regarded firms…

With regard to comments about poor sound volumes, I would politely enquire if elderly complainants have checked that they would not benefit from having hearing aids, or even just need wax removing from their ears. In my experience these solve a lot of peoples’ problems with sound volume although they cannot restore the ability for people like myself to hear high notes. I accept that others may have a genuine problem with the sound level but I have not myself met a set that cannot be turned up louder than I can tolerate, and sometimes have to turn the amplification of my hearing aids down to cope with the volume levels preferred by other people.

It is not a question of volume, it is a question of sound QUALITY!!
I have a modern top of the range Panasonic flat screen TV, that cost well over £2000 !!
My partner and I frequently have to resort to subtitles, especially when dialogue involves regional accidents, including American accents. The problem is that the sound track of modern programmes contain such a massive amount of detail, that the poor speaker in the flat screen tv is unable to cope and the detail becomes lost, producing sound that is difficult to decipher, especially for the older viewer who has less than perfect hearing.
Also, I would like to point out that a hearing aid that amplifies, only makes the poor sound louder and not easier to understand!
We do have to resort to using our sound bar which greatly improves the sound but uses additional energy which is hardly good for the environment.

I have significantly improved sound quality by using a pair top end M-Audio computer speakers plugged into the back of my Sky box. This gives a much better aural experience than the TV speakers especially for music and choral presentations.
The down side is that the computer speakers can not be adjusted via the TV remote control, but the improvement in sound quality is worth the walk to the TV to control the volume.
A much more economic solution than buying a sound bar!

I’d say the benefit of using your hi-fi more than makes up for any inconvenience regarding changing room layout. a little. After all, unless you have a ‘real fire’ heating up the chimney, and would find it impossible to put your flat screen TV there (and probably too high, so would cause everyone to get neck aches, too), then central on a wall, with a suitable unit below to hold Hi-Fi Amp, CD player, TV source (whether satellite, Freeview or from Virgin Media) with an HDMI cable up to the TV and speaker cables out to speakers), should give you very good sound to go with a decent video image.

I have an Onkyo amp which has a remote control so can alter the volume (or simply mute if the phone rings). It’s also handy to use a separate amp if one just wants a radio service. I know they don’t make much mention of the various radio stations available via most digital boxes, but whether one is using Sky, FreeSat or Freeview, there are a number of great services (BBC, WRN to name a couple) to choose from.

In my area, DAB no longer carried LBC 97.3, but it is available via FreeSat and on the internet at least (my Android phone has a 3.5mm socket and I have this plugged into the Onkyo amp for music from San Francisco a lot of the day).

Soundbars do require power. They are effectively a long box fitted with several speakers and amplifiers.

Gerry, soundbars do require a mains power supply as they take just the sound signal from the TV and no power. In order to provide a rich sound they need mains power.

Often the only way to get around audio delay and lip sync issues when using an external hifi system is to use the TV’s audio output; now a days this is often only available as a digital output and most hifi systems especially older ones do not provide digital audio input facilities.

Personally I want a simple, integrated and neat setup for the TV in my lounge and dont have space in the kitchen for more boxes.

The pressure is on for thinner and thinner panels. The result is poorer sound. You just cannot get good sound from flat speakers whether you pay £10 or £1,000, a flat speaker isn’t going to sound good. (OK, so you can get Quad Electrostatics, but they are still huge and cost upwards of £6k.)

In defence of flat screens, can you imaging how large a 55″ CRT would be in your living room. It would almost be like having a grand piano hogging half the space: my wife complained about our old 32″ CRT. So just accept that when you buy a new TV, you will have to connect the sound to another device (a soundbar or a good HiFi). At least with a good HiFi it won’t be redundant when the TV is eventually scrapped!

A facility to connect external speakers ( direct not using a hifi amp) would be a big step forward

Agreed. However it would mean the majority spending extra (to cover the cost of an internal amp to drive those speakers) and not everyone will have the need.

If one has an amp designed for AV (so it has multiple HDMI inputs and just one output going to the TV), I don’t think they’d like to have wasted (say) 50 quid on another amp inside the TV when the AV Amp can drive 5 (or 7, or 9) speakers.

I wrote and asked Which? that question about a year ago and they said they would be writing something about it in a future issue. If they did then I missed it.

I thoroughly agree with your comment. Time was when Spencer Tracy could be heard above the noise of dozen typewriters in the background. Not now-The audio on most films is pretty dire (especially those featuring American actors, most of whom drawl, whisper, or mumble at the same time. I blame the Directors.

I remember the excellent diction of Dock Green on our early cathode ray tube set which had wonderful sound enhanced by the walnut veneered cabinet with tambour doors.

The small speakers in flat screen TVs handle the higher frequencies quite well, but don’t handle the low frequencies so well as larger speakers which for obvious reasons cannot be fitted into flat screen TVs. It’s the lack of sufficient bass frequencies that cause the TV sound to appear somewhat “tinny”

No pun intended, but hear hear. In my early 20’s I could hear up to 18 Kcs/ second, but the time I was 55, I had trouble hearing 10kcs/second, due to aging, unless the sound level was turned up on the signal generator. There are many speakers on TV who have poor diction and many who for so called dramatic reasons dictated by the programme or film producer appear to mutter and mumble. Most of the lady newsreaders are easily heard by my octogenarian ears. Whist not always, but sometimes to my taste, most of the period films and plays are very easy to listen to due to the standard of diction in such productions.

There is a simple(ish) program called Audio Gain that keeps perceived volume to the level set by the listener. You can download it for your Mp3s under the title of Mp3Gain, but big business is ignoring it for some reason. Maybe they just don’t trust Open Source.

Improving flat TV sound: I agree with all the complaints and the reasons why listeners moan! Also, on many sports matches, I have to turn up the sound to an uncomfortable level to hear the commentary above the background noise, usually crowd noise; there is too much emphasis on ‘getting the atmosphere’ – to the detriment of missing what’s being said. I have found a good, but cheap, set of headphones with its own volume control helps a lot. I can then watch and hear my programmes with the volume where I want it without annoying my wife with the crowd noise etc!
However, my question concerns a cheap solution to improving flat TV sound. Some suggest plugging in PC speakers to the audio output socket or headphone socket of the TV. Which socket is best and why PC speakers and not other types?

Thanks, LesF, very helpful, but why old ‘PC speakers’ rather than other speakers was my question. Wouldn’t any reasonable quality old speakers do, say from an old hi fi or stereo set?

PC speakers contain an amplifier. You would need a separate amplifier to drive other speakers, though that is likely to produce much better sound quality.

Perhaps we should assume that we will have to put up with poor diction and pronunciation for the time being. Can we compensate to some degree by improving the sound quality and controls on modern flat-screen TVs? I do hope so.

I fully endorse this comment,the ability for broadcasters to pronounce their words,and project their voice does not seem to be a requirement these days.they often look away and mumble to each other as if they are no longer speaking to an audience.Quite often when it switches to an outside broacast I can hear and understand them better than those in the studio!.
Accents can be a problem,but although I speak with a yorkshire accent,and somewhat deaf.I can always hear ( using my hearing aid) and uderstand-the Queen and most royalty,David Cameron,Ed Milliband George Osbourne,Ed Balls etc.I don’t suppose they have had special speech coaching!

I am surprised that some well known people do not take more care with how they speak. Many now benefit from subtitles on TV programmes and perhaps improved audio systems on TVs could help those who struggle to hear but do not need to use subtitles.

This conversation seems to have drifted away from the original topic of audio quality of flat screen TVs! However I agree with the last few comments on diction and would add that there is a tendency among some broadcasters to speak much more quickly, and if that also involves a regional accent it makes things quite difficult for some people to understand. What is even worse – and I’m afraid I have to pick out “The Voice”as a prime example – the use of a subject- related lingo or patois is something that few of us except the officianados of pop can hope to understand.

Hi Chris, you can get quite good explanation of patois on Wikipedia but in a nutshell it is the jargon or informal speech used by a particular social group: examples from language come from island communities. I first heard some in the Channel Islands, a sort of franglais. I won’ t pursue this but hope it helps.

THanks LesF. Very interesting; I think my grandchildren have some experience of patois! however off topic again. In my case, near the flat screen television was a simple and cheap(ish) micro hi fi with an audio-in socket. Found myself a short stereo plug-plug lead and connected headphone skt. on the telly’ to the mini hi-fi audio in. What a difference! However it cannot improve the poor diction and sound engineering. Another irritant is the constant overlaid background music. Noise with rytham would sometimes be a better description

I’m glad your speaker solution worked out for you, but to my mind that’s still sixty quid you shouldn’t have had to spend. The laissez-faire attitude adopted by Which? over the subject of TV sound should amaze me, but it doesn’t, they seem to be adopting the position that the supplier is right and the customer must lump it on a lot of hi-tec goods.