TV audio advice for a beginner

[Halitosis]

Decided to bite the bullet and connect speakers to our TV after visiting a relative who's sound-base blew me away.

However, we don't like the look of balancing the TV on a sound-base, or having a sound-bar sitting on the TV cabinet, so current thinking is either:

(1) a sound-bar on the carpet underneath and between the feet of the TV cabinet (but would the sound be rubbish as a result?), or

(2) a 2.1 pair of mini-speakers on a centre shelf in the TV cabinet with a sub-woofer behind the cabinet. I imagine pointing the mini-speakers apart would help, and the sub-woofer's positioning wouldn't be a problem?

We don't have volumes high and aren't audiophiles (as you can tell!) but would appreciate advice on these or alternate (inconspicuous) options. Hoping to be able to control the volume with the TV remote rather than a different/separate one too.

Thanks

[Panamax]

What make, size and model of TV are you using?

In the meantime, places to explore relevant products at sensible prices include Currys and Richer Sounds.

https://www.richersounds.com/
https://www.currys.co.uk/tv-and-audio/dvd-blu-ray-...

[belleair302]

You need sound at ear height to appreciate its qualities. Not all sound bars are ugly and will you be mounting the TV on the wall? How about speakers to the side on a TV stand or rack with an a/v receiver to help with all of your audio requirements?

[Halitosis]

I'll have to check what TV it is when I get home (away for Easter visiting relatives) - it's a mid-range 3 year old 55 inch Samsung or LG - certainly nothing special. It stands on a wooden TV cabinet in the corner of the room.
A hifi rack is not an option and we are trying to keep visuals minimal. The plan is to buy second hand and from the advice so far I guess the sound-bar on the floor idea is not a good one.

Edited by Halitosis on Monday 10th April 13:40

[OutInTheShed]

Do you want to be 'blown away' by the sound, or do you just want clear dialogue and good normal sound that doesn't irritate you?

If you just mostly watch drama on your telly, your wants and needs might be different to someone who uses it for a lot of music videos or watches a lot of 'movies' with more sound effects than plot.

Mostly our TV has adequate sound for what we watch.
Occasionally we watch a concert or something and it's worth plugging into the hi fi.

You might find some bluetooth speakers an improvement over the TV sound.

[Halitosis]

Good questions OutInTheShed - mostly just clear dialogue with the volume set at a modest 10/100, though we like a movie some evenings with the volume up to 30/100. Mrs H and I don't share the same music tastes so when I want to listen to music, its on the headphones!

[TEKNOPUG]

Really need a photo of the current set up if aesthetics are the priority.

[Halitosis]

Here we go. So thinking pair or tweeters on the shelf in the middle (pointing upwards and outwards?) with a subwoofer behind and out of sight? Or a short sound-bar under the wooden unit between the legs. Thanks for any advice

[Halitosis]

And here are the connections the TV has. As you can tell, I'm not at all savvy in this field!

[TEKNOPUG]

That's a big TV in a small space. I think your only option is a soundbar beneath the TV. Additional sub is optional.

[Lucid_AV]

The sound base you've seen (and heard) is speakers plus some amplification and electronics to handle signal input and volume control all wrapped up in a single box. It may or may not have had an external sub.

To replicate the functionality with your "tweeters and a sub" idea will also require amplification and the signal management and volume control electronics. In short, some kind of AV Receiver. This is going to add to the cost and clutter.

At this point, you might be thinking about PC speakers. That's self-contained. However, there are two issues. First, you have to get a signal from tge TV and make it compatible with the PC speakers. That's not a major hurdle if the TV has an optical output, It's a bit more expensive if you have to get sound from the HDMI ARC socket.

The bigger issue is how you control the volume.

You see, TVs rarely have a suitable output any more. Those TVs that do have a headphone out signal now bury the volume control for it down a couple of levels in the TV menus. It's not as convenient as pressing the volume buttons on the TV remote. PC speakers rarely come with a remote fore volume control either.

Have another think about a sound bar to sit in front of the TV. It's everything wrapped up in one box.

[Halitosis]

Thanks @Lucid_av - I'm leaning in the sound-bar direction as there is sufficient space between the feet of the TV console to place such on the carpet.
I rooted around the back of the TV and it doesn't have a headphone jack or sound out sockets - my choices appear to be optical out or there's one ARC HDMI (currently connecting the TV to the Virgin Media box. How best to connect a sound-bar - might there be a way directly from the Virgin box?

[ben_eunos]

- a soundbar under the unit will sound terrible and speech might not be very audible.

- little speakers inside that wooden space will probably sound crap as well they will be too close together to get stereo effects, they will probably suffer from being inside that little cabinet (acting kinda like a secondary speaker enclosure), and will also be quite low down.

simplest thing to do here is probably to buy a soundbar and an aftermarket tv stand with VESA mounts which has room to accomodate a soundbar. You would then remove the feet from the TV and attach the new mount and soundbar.

You connect the soundbar to the TV using the E-Arc HDMI port.

[OutInTheShed]

For a reference, try listening through some headphones as you have them.
A friend of mine has poor heating, and uses a pair of Sennheisser headphones, I am properly impressed by the clarity.

My Dad had a TV with terrible built in speakers. A pair of 'active PC speakers' which were kicking around made a big improvement.

You could raise the TV a few inches, have a pair of bookshelf speakers under it, a small amp fed by the headphone jack?
The remote would still do the volume then. A load-sensing plug adaptor could even turn the amp off when the TV goes to standby.
You could do all that for maybe £200 all new, or maybe borrow/repurpose stuff to try it.

Beyond that, the sky is basically the limit for spending more until you're happy.

But don't forget to RTFM to see if there's any settings you can change which might improve the sound.

[Sheepshanks]

ben_eunos said:

simplest thing to do here is probably to buy a soundbar and an aftermarket tv stand with VESA mounts which has room to accomodate a soundbar. You would then remove the feet from the TV and attach the new mount and soundbar.

You connect the soundbar to the TV using the E-Arc HDMI port.

That's exactly what I did - table-top pedestal stand and a Sonos Beam. You hardly know the soundbar is there.

This is the stand I used https://cpc.farnell.com/ttap-group/ped64f/table-to... - but I have the TV set lower so it's almost touching soundbar and the Sonos Beam is much narrower than the one shown in their example pictures.

I got the Beam as it's supposed to be good for dialogue and it seems fine.

[Lucid_AV]

Halitosis said:

I'm leaning in the sound-bar direction as there is sufficient space between the feet of the TV console to place such on the carpet.

For you, sound bar is a good direction to lean. But putting it on the floor is a bad bad bad idea.

Let's have a look at why you're thinking the floor.

First and foremost, it's the TV base. The legs protrude forward which doesn't leave much space on top of the unit. (Correct?) Second is the screen height. You might be worried that any sound bar will block part of the TV screen. Maybe it'll even get in the way of the TV's IR receiver. Those are valid concerns. Third maybe is aesthetic. You've got everything paired down to the minimum and arranged 'just so'. This means a speaker will change the way it looks right now. Did I miss anything?

Let's fix the feet and screen height issue. Here we go.

A product exists called the TV pedestal stand. It exists for two reasons. First, people wall mount TVs, then upgrade and move the old TV to another room where it won't be wall mounted, but oops! - they lost the feet. This product is an alternative to trying to source replacement feet which is a fools errand. Second, and possibly the greater volume of purchases, are the people in exactly your shoes; the TV sound isn't that great, but the current layout prohibits adding a sound bar. FM @ben_eunos was on the right lines here.

Now I've told we've both told you that there's a solution to your main issues, here's a link to what some of these look like so you can see for yourself. https://www.theplasmacentre.com/tv-stands-and-av-racks/tv-stands/?filters=_cat_302__616&lpages=1-2

There are probably three questions that just popped into your mind. Here they are and the answers:

1) "Will this fit my TV?" - As an industry professional I can promise you that these brackets all use VESA hole spacings, and further more so does your TV, and so YES, they will fit. You will need to do a little reading of the descriptions to make sure the stand is the appropriate size for your TV. They breakdown in to small, medium and large sizes. You don't have a small TV, <40". And you don't have a large TV >60". You're looking at something for mediums sized sets then. Your TV is a Samsung UE55KU6400, but you're unlikely to find brackets listed by exact model number. They'll be listed by a size range. And yes, they come with a fitting pack with a range of the most common bolt (screw) sizes and those will almost certainly include ones to fit your TV, which by the way, requires four common or garden M8 bolts and the VESA hole spacing is 400 x 400mm - all very ordinary run-of-the-mill, nothing special or difficult

2) "Are these brackets height adjustable?" - Some are. Some aren't. Some will allow you to fix the TV hole mountings to higher or lower points to achieve a similar result as a telescoping stand. Read the product descriptions

3) "Can I buy one cheaper?" - Now you know what to look for then you can go off and search around

Halitosis said:

I rooted around the back of the TV and it doesn't have a headphone jack or sound out sockets - my choices appear to be optical out or there's one ARC HDMI (currently connecting the TV to the Virgin Media box.

Your photo shows 3x HDMI sockets. HDMI 2 is currently unoccupied. I would suggest swapping the VM box connection to HDMI 2. This will free-up the ARC-enabled HDMI socket for an audio connection to a sound bar if required.

Optical can be used as an alternative. However, the sound from the Optical output is at a fixed level. Fixed means that it doesn't change when the TV remote volume button are pushed. The consequence is that any volume adjustment for the sound bar will need to be made with the sound bar's own remote control. Currently you might have your VM remote programmed to do the TV volume. You could still do that if you choose a sound bar with a HDMI ARC connection. HDMI control makes that all quite easy. Optical doesn't have this feature. It's a much earlier generation of connection.

It's worth mentioning that there are a small number of sound bars where the bar itself can be taught to respond to the IR signal from a remote which controls the TV volume. This gets around the limitation of optical volume control. It's also useful in cases where HDMI control isn't wanted.

Halitosis said:

How best to connect a sound-bar - might there be a way directly from the Virgin box?

That would not be the best idea. It doesn't offer any advantages over connecting to the TV, and there are several disadvantages. HDMI control does more than just volume control. It also manages the On/Off power. This means the sound bar switches on or off in concert with the TV. That wouldn't happen if connected to the VM box directly via its analogue 3.5mm or optical out. (I can't be 100% certain, but it looks like you have a VM V6 box).

The other considerations are sound from other sources. You may not use it that much, but it looks like you have the TV aerial socket connected and a DVD/Blu-ray player perhaps? The TV has its own smart apps as well of course. Connecting the sound bar directly to the VM box would then rule out getting audio from these other sources. Stick wit the direct TV connection. Let the TV acts as the routing switch. Any audio it receives will be playable via the sound bar.

[Halitosis]

Magic - really appreciate all the advice folks and the change of TV stand looks to be the solution. Then it'll just be back to fighting her over what to watch and listen to!

[Sporky]

You could have a soundbar above the TV on a VESA bracket. Cheap and simple.

[Digger]

I took a slightly different approach & resolved my weedy TV sound with an HDMI audio extractor & a pair of active speakers which work very well indeed for the price i paid.

Audio Extractor
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CWMRG2C/

Active Speakers
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B075QVMBT9/