Sick of muffled dialogue on my TV’s
Discussion
I watch a lot of films, and I’m quite fussy about hearing/understanding every word.
If I watch them on my iPad in bed, I can hear them mostly just fine, although I occasionally turn subtitles on for clarity.
If I wear headphones, even fairly cheap Bluetooth ones such as Sony WH-CH500, I can hear almost everything very clearly.
But… when I watch on any of our Samsung LED TV’s (they are all similar models bought from 2022-2023) I always need the volume up quite loud to hear the dialogue, and even then it often sounds muffled and hard to understand.
I have them set to the sound mode ‘amplify’ which, according to the manual, is for boosting speech/dialogue, but they are still awful.
I’m fairly sure it’s not my hearing…. I had a test a few years ago and they said it was fine. I’m 41 if that makes a difference
So what’s going on here? Are the speakers in my TV’s are just utter rubbish? I guess you can’t really squeeze decent speakers in a TV that is 30mm thick?
Are films mixed badly?
Do I need a soundbar or something?
I need to fix this as it is bloody annoying!
If I watch them on my iPad in bed, I can hear them mostly just fine, although I occasionally turn subtitles on for clarity.
If I wear headphones, even fairly cheap Bluetooth ones such as Sony WH-CH500, I can hear almost everything very clearly.
But… when I watch on any of our Samsung LED TV’s (they are all similar models bought from 2022-2023) I always need the volume up quite loud to hear the dialogue, and even then it often sounds muffled and hard to understand.
I have them set to the sound mode ‘amplify’ which, according to the manual, is for boosting speech/dialogue, but they are still awful.
I’m fairly sure it’s not my hearing…. I had a test a few years ago and they said it was fine. I’m 41 if that makes a difference
So what’s going on here? Are the speakers in my TV’s are just utter rubbish? I guess you can’t really squeeze decent speakers in a TV that is 30mm thick?
Are films mixed badly?
Do I need a soundbar or something?
I need to fix this as it is bloody annoying!
Buy a Sonos Arc and all your problems will disappear... They even have a speech enhancement button for mumbly films/TV. I had a complicated home cinema amp with lots of speakers and wires everywhere - It annoyed me visually and never sounded right... I used to be a Sonos naysayer but it sounds amazing and just works... I've heard the Beam is quite good as well but haven't heard one. You can also exapnd it with wireless rears and a sub if you wanted to so there is room for expansion too. Good sound will make your viewing experience come to life... 
+1 for Sonos. I've got the original PlayBar. With the speech promoting filter, and the night time bass limiter on, the talky-talky stuff comes across as clear as day.
That scene in Interstellar everyone complained about because they couldn't hear Michael Caine's deathbed speech... I heard it. Most of it.
That scene in Interstellar everyone complained about because they couldn't hear Michael Caine's deathbed speech... I heard it. Most of it.
I’ve got a Sonos beam, every so often the TV plays up and I have to unplug the beam and plug it back in , for a few seconds I get the original sound from the TV speakers and realise just how bad the sound is , most tv are pretty grim , the hide the speakers away and make the TV as thin as possible, get a sound bar and see how much difference it makes , add a sub and some surrounds later for a full cinematic experience!
Glad it’s not just me, thought my hearing was going!! I’ve also got a Samsung and sometimes struggle to hear voices clearly, volume can be up at 50+. Stuff on Netflix seems to be worst, almost like the audio has been recorded separately in a tiny room and applied over the film during editing. Some stuff is just inaudible and we have to put subtitles on.
I was thinking of delving in to Sonos but was put off that I wouldn’t be able to plug my turntable into it. Leaning more towards denon/marantz heos stuff. Something like the PN7000N or NR1200, I can plug my turntable and floorstanders in and create multi room via the heos speakers and app.
I was thinking of delving in to Sonos but was put off that I wouldn’t be able to plug my turntable into it. Leaning more towards denon/marantz heos stuff. Something like the PN7000N or NR1200, I can plug my turntable and floorstanders in and create multi room via the heos speakers and app.
Edited by Boom78 on Saturday 20th January 08:13
Edited by Boom78 on Saturday 20th January 08:28
When I last bought a telly, we had a stack of vouchers to use, could have got a half price telly at the nationally known out of town retail shed.
We were looking for a modest sized TV, 40-something inches.
It's very hard to get to listen to a telly in these places. Mostly they are only wanting to show the chavs which is the brightest, with the boldest, least realistic colours.
So I did a bit of research and went to Richer Sounds on a quiet morning.
At the time, they had some end of line Hitachi models which had got some good reviews for the sound, but we preferred the look of a Sony, they fired one up, we were able to watch and listen to different channels, the sound was OK ,so we bought it.
Most dialogue is fine. Some programmes are badly produced. Some films could be better, it's like they don't care about the 2-channel audio for the plebs. If you haven't got 7 speakers you can eff off?
We sometimes listen via optical out > DAC > HiFi, for stuff like the proms or Radio 3. For most programmes this isn't a worthwhile improvement, the TV sound is fine.
We have a friend who has hearing problems, she has a pair of Sennheiser wireless headphones for her TV. The clarity is amazing compared to the TV's speakers. People should try that before blaming everything on the producers and broadcasters.
If the kind of content you like to watch is demanding on the audio, films with lots of background sound challenging the dialogue for instance then you might want to buy suitable kit for it. You shouldn't need that for a BBC documentary.
We were looking for a modest sized TV, 40-something inches.
It's very hard to get to listen to a telly in these places. Mostly they are only wanting to show the chavs which is the brightest, with the boldest, least realistic colours.
So I did a bit of research and went to Richer Sounds on a quiet morning.
At the time, they had some end of line Hitachi models which had got some good reviews for the sound, but we preferred the look of a Sony, they fired one up, we were able to watch and listen to different channels, the sound was OK ,so we bought it.
Most dialogue is fine. Some programmes are badly produced. Some films could be better, it's like they don't care about the 2-channel audio for the plebs. If you haven't got 7 speakers you can eff off?
We sometimes listen via optical out > DAC > HiFi, for stuff like the proms or Radio 3. For most programmes this isn't a worthwhile improvement, the TV sound is fine.
We have a friend who has hearing problems, she has a pair of Sennheiser wireless headphones for her TV. The clarity is amazing compared to the TV's speakers. People should try that before blaming everything on the producers and broadcasters.
If the kind of content you like to watch is demanding on the audio, films with lots of background sound challenging the dialogue for instance then you might want to buy suitable kit for it. You shouldn't need that for a BBC documentary.
OutInTheShed said:
Most dialogue is fine. Some programmes are badly produced. Some films could be better, it's like they don't care about the 2-channel audio for the plebs. If you haven't got 7 speakers you can eff off?
This. Day to day I switch off my AVR so if my wife puts the TV on (then walks out of the room 
) it's not running a whole rack of AV gear. For watching the news, talk shows and the usual programs it's fine, if a little tinny. However, as soon as film comes on, or maybe a decent TV series I put the AVR on. While I do enjoy the full surround effect, it's a bit silly that in order to follow dialogue and not be blown out of the room when explosions, etc happen I have to use such a system.
We have a more basic system in our conservatory and I find that I have to tweak the settings, turn on compression, etc just to watch anything more than simple speech. That system is more like a Sonos arrangement I suppose, with no centre speaker and a pair of surrounds. As you say if you haven't got 7 speakers then eff off sort of attitude.
I've noticed that some streaming content has 'Spacial audio' if your TV or amp is stereo (it changes if I turn my AVR on and gives me other options). I find this in particular is bad for dialogue: Last year we watched some series on my laptop while on holiday and I had the laptop volume on full and still couldn't hear the dialogue, but any music or sound effects came blaring out. Ended up just using subtitles in the end, though to be fair we were watching some Spanish films/series anyway for some reason.
Boom78 said:
Glad it’s not just me, thought my hearing was going!! I’ve also got a Samsung and sometimes struggle to hear voices clearly, volume can be up at 50+. Stuff on Netflix seems to be worst, almost like the audio has been recorded separately in a tiny room and applied over the film during editing. Some stuff is just inaudible and we have to put subtitles on.
I was thinking of delving in to Sonos but was put off that I wouldn’t be able to plug my turntable into it. Leaning more towards denon/marantz heos stuff. Something like the PN7000N or NR1200, I can plug my turntable and floorstanders in and create multi room via the heos speakers and app.
You can plug your turntable into a Sonos. If it doesn't have a direct line-out, then no - you'll need an RIAA amp or pre-amp, but some turntables have line-out these days which can go directly into some of the Sonos speakers and most (maybe all - I don't know about the very latest) of the amps.I was thinking of delving in to Sonos but was put off that I wouldn’t be able to plug my turntable into it. Leaning more towards denon/marantz heos stuff. Something like the PN7000N or NR1200, I can plug my turntable and floorstanders in and create multi room via the heos speakers and app.
Edited by Boom78 on Saturday 20th January 08:13
Edited by Boom78 on Saturday 20th January 08:28
Thanks for the replies.
Looks like I may need a sound bar to ‘clear things up’, so to speak.
Bit annoying really. They make TV’s thinner and thinner, until they reach a point where they only have room for a couple of tiny 40mm speakers, which face downwards, or rearward, and consequently sound dreadful. Then we have to buy extra speakers
I have no doubt this will be labelled as progress!
Looks like I may need a sound bar to ‘clear things up’, so to speak.
Bit annoying really. They make TV’s thinner and thinner, until they reach a point where they only have room for a couple of tiny 40mm speakers, which face downwards, or rearward, and consequently sound dreadful. Then we have to buy extra speakers
I have no doubt this will be labelled as progress!
Mont Blanc said:
Alex Z said:
A sound bar or a proper home cinema setup with amp and speakers will make a world of difference.
It’s not just volume either, but clarity at even moderate levels.
And that is exactly what I am after. Clarity at lower to moderate volumes.It’s not just volume either, but clarity at even moderate levels.
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