Improving TV sound quality

An appeal to the technically minded! Having just purchased a new LCD TV (Samsung LE40F86BD) for a lot of cash I want to try to improve the sound quality. I would add that my hearing is somewhat less than perfect for high frequency sound and that often I need to use subtitles (turning the sound up does not help). I seem to get conflicting advice from retailers according to what they have to sell i.e. soundbar, 5.1 surround system or just a good quality amp and stereo speakers.What I am seeking is as much clarity of speech as is possible and would be very grateful for any advice.

 

ok mate - depends really...

what do you already have in the way of existing hifi / av kit..?

budget?

what do you want more? a HIFI system (music oriented via cd for example?), or an av setup?

 

Thanks for your interest! I have nothing at the moment as I have just sold a Sony surround system with my old Sony TV. My budget is around £600 and my only aim is to improve clarity wise the sound above and beyond that inherent in the LCD itself. It may be that I can't achieve my aim of being able to watch "noisy" movies and understand the dialogue, but I won't give up without trying!

 

ok, it maybe worth getting an av amp and 2 main speakers and possibly a centre speaker...
the will give great sound from ya tv - but you may want to buy a dvd player at some point too...the dvd player will also play cds but it won't be as good as a stero amp and cd player at this price poiint...

 

Have a look at active monitors that can take an unbalanced RCA input (and are magnetically shielded). For speech legibility I would expect this type of monitor to outperform passive centre 'speakers by some margin.

Begin here

 

Andy...Thanks for PM - I will give it a try

 

Hiya,

IME, I've an Arcam AV amp pluged in to a Rega power amp running just two front speakers, I demoed the amps with a solo singing voice and chose what sounded best to me.

With a bit of tinkering, cables etc the clarity and defintion of voices has improved more

Still, on movies and normal tv we find we are moving the volume control up for the talking and down for the sound effects, a lot less now than initially. Music repro is fab.

So for films and tv, I guess, to improve voice volume and lower the effects, I need a center speaker set high to boost the voices and set the other speakers low.

I seem to remember Cyrus and Naim amps sounded very top frequency happy to me....

Maybe worth popping into a hifi shop and having a demo of maybe a stereo amp or even an av amp to see what you get on with

 

It might also be worth buying a DAC, if your TV has digital output it can make a big difference. I am not sure what your digital source is but I know the DAC in many cheap freeview boxes are woeful.

I used to use my old Cambridge DAC Magic on my Phillips freebox but I found it irritating because if you were watching the weather you could hear a lot of background noise in the studio :

 

My personal advice would be to buy the best pair of stereo speakers and amp that you can afford / get in the room. Surround sound is fun, but only if it doesn't involve compromising on speaker quality, i.e. five cheap little ones can't ever be as good as two good big 'uns. Think about using a pair of proper monitor speakers, anything from vintage BC1s or LS3/5As through to modern ATCs, Harbeths, Spendors etc are all used in broadcast recording and quality control so are ideal. A budget of 600 quid would easily get a nice second hand pair of BC1s and a decent quality amp, voice will sound wonderfully natural and intelligible.

Tony.

 

Ok so you'll be wanting a feed from either the tv line outs or a skybox. I'd go for a little Cambridge amp from richersounds and some small mini studio monitors such as Tannoy Reveals,
What I'd do different is add some equalisation, be it a graphic a second hand Parametric (even a Behringer) in order to enhance/tweak the upper mids in the intelligibilty region of 3 to -5k, this could also be used to help you filter out some hf hash/noisy clutter that doesn't help in deciphering dialogue.
All should fall within budget.
Why would anyone suggest 5.1 when the questioner clearly has problems hearing just 1.0?

 

who suggested 5.1?

 

Bear in mind your lcd tv may put a time delay on the picture so the sound will come through your speakers ahead of the display. It may be worth getting an AV amp which has delay settings to counter this.

 

I reckon a behringer DEQ 2496 to use as a DAC and parametric equalizer to a modest Cambridge amp to feed a pair of Spendor BC1 s and the sound will be truly great and it should come in under budget too.

 

Itchy trigger finger today; Sorry Mr Cat:shame:
Apart from that, I was trying to talk sense, as echoed by dreftar above.

 

Thanks for all the input - really grateful.

Let me tell you where I am: My TV is a Samsung LE40F86BD and I have SKy HD. Picture is fantastic, sound probably adequate for most people, but not for my hearing! I have been in a number of Hi-fi shops to explain my problem - have received many suggestions from Bose systems to an AV surround receiver with Kef KHT5005.2 speakers. Still puzzled, but at least I realise that my original budget was much too low. I do like the asthetics of the KEF KHT5005.2 speakers and someone suggested a Denon AVR -1908 to drive these. I see that www.creative-audio.co.uk seem to have some great deals.

Any further observations would be very welcome.

 

it depends on your long term goal I think - you could buy a stereo amp and a pair of speakers, or a pair of active speakers for example - but then what if you want to watch a dvd, listen to music etc...

 

I'd be inclined to investigate the AV amp side, and 3 studio monitors (think you buy some as single speakers) then you have the stereo for music and switch in the mid speaker with a bit of extra boost for voices on films/tv. If you don't want all the extra sound from the rears taking away from the voice repro...... just a thought.

Have you heard the kef speakers you like the look of?
I've only heard Kef paired with Arcam amps, voice repro was silky smooth but I would not say it's the clearest I've heard.

 

IMO (experience) a stereo only system won't help. Although better quality it will also make everything louder not just the dialog.

Step 1. Buy a s/h AV amp with Dolby Digital and Dolby PrologicII decoding - approx £80 - £100 for a s/h Yamaha AX630 or similar.

Step 2. Buy a good center channel speaker, and a pair of full range speakers for L&R. New or secondhand makes no difference, just get a matching brand across all three speakers.

Step 3. Hook up the Sky HD with an optical lead and set the audio menu to Dolby Digital output. Add a pair of phono leads from the Skybox to the amp on a second input.

Step 4. Run through the sound & speaker setup on the amp: L&R on large, center on small, no sub, no surrounds. Set the speaker volumes so that left & right are equal, and so that center is marginally louder. You also need to make sure that the distances are correct and that the centre, L & R point towards the main seating area.

Step 5. Use Dolby Prologic II for most normal channels. Use D Digital for the film channels or any HD channel with DD information. (tip, having the Sky connected on two separate inputs - one optical, the other on phonos - will let you swap sound modes quicker and simpler than cycling decoding modes on a single input.)

Step 6. Look at adding some room acoustic panels to the room. They'll help you to hear just the direct sound from the speakers rather than the reflections from the walls which reduce unintelligibility. Drop me a line if you need help on the sound panels. I have some that are printable to a high standard with photographic images. They work out much cheaper than a similar sized portrait and look just as good. (600x600mm approx £200 printed,larger sizes available too.)

Step 7. Tweak the sound levels for centre, L & R as required.

This will work.

Regards

Chris Frost

 

Excellent advice. The problem is your hearing and the lack of dialog due to the engineering of the program material. The center channel will make a huge difference as well as the other advice.

rollo