Looking for budget 2.1 amp for TV

[iGmole]

Hi!

EDIT: apologies, I went full boomer and mixes up my tabs, so wrong forum section. I an admin would be kind enough to save me from embarassment and move this to the right place, I would be most thankful.

My TV audio setup is a bit silly - I am using one of those DVD player/amp combos that came with a 5.1 plastic satellite speakers and a bad subwoofer. At some point I just hooked a pair of actual bookshelf speakers and a DIY 10" subwoofer to it, and.. while not good, it works surprisingly well. The LG amp has rudimentary crossover adjustments (you just choose the main speaker size - large seems best) and per channel gain adjustments.

I just run the optical out from the TV to that thing and it works fine.

The power and distortion levels of the amp must be comedic, but it is enough to watch the news and have some bass rumble when the sport section music theme starts.

I would like a budget 2.1 amp with adjustable HPF and LPF for the still passive 2.1 speaker setup. I am looking at the SMSL A50 Pro, but are there new alternatives in that price range?

It really only needs to have optical in, give me a few watts of power and have the adjustments I stated before. My new TV has some eARC thing so if I can use HDMI to move sound, to control the volume from my TV remote that would be a plus, though. The A50 Pro apparently does that.

Thank you!

 

[ppataki]

I am not aware of anything else than the A50 Pro that can do that in that price range

 

[iGmole]

I am not aware of anything else than the A50 Pro that can do that in that price range

Alrighty, I decided to order it. It will be a significant upgrade over my current amplifier for not a lot of money. 89€ plus change delivered.

 

[iGmole]

It has arrived.

The sound is pretty bad, at least trough eARC you can in a very obvious way hear when the amp runs out of dynamic range. At low (but real world low, late night) volumes quiet parts sound like 8-bit recordings. It's like a bitcrusher-plugin on my DAW.

Noise is acceptable, audible at a non-practically short distance from the tweeter.

If the sound does not improve with other inputs I have to say *the integrated LG DVD-player/amp* was much better.

I will update later when I have a chance to try the various inputs. I decided to post this comment if someone is considering this to use with eARC: do not buy.

 

[ppataki]

Really sorry to hear that
One of my friends has this amp and he was indeed praising the sound quality, hence I dared to recommend it
He is using the USB input though

 

[iGmole]

Really sorry to hear that
One of my friends has this amp and he was indeed praising the sound quality, hence I dared to recommend it
He is using the USB input though

Heh, there is a happyish ending to this however.

I went to my storage and put my old Wharfedale book shelf speakers next to my TV. They are much less sensitive than the Magnats they replaced. This improved performance to an acceptable level because it requires dialing up the volume, effectively working the amplifier above the dynamic floor with a healthier margin. Now I can only hear the bitcrusher effect on unpractically low volumes close to the speaker.

It sounds the same with all inputs.

The sound on higher levels is flawless, during the day when there is traffic noise etc. the problem is completely inaudible.

Power is plenty for my needs and now my setup is okay, so it was not a complete failure. The subwoofer out works okay too and the amp is so small I hid it behind the TV.

 

[ppataki]

Heh, there is a happyish ending to this however.

I went to my storage and put my old Wharfedale book shelf speakers next to my TV. They are much less sensitive than the Magnats they replaced. This improved performance to an acceptable level because it requires dialing up the volume, effectively working the amplifier above the dynamic floor with a healthier margin. Now I can only hear the bitcrusher effect on unpractically low volumes close to the speaker.

It sounds the same with all inputs.

The sound on higher levels is flawless, during the day when there is traffic noise etc. the problem is completely inaudible.

Power is plenty for my needs and now my setup is okay, so it was not a complete failure. The subwoofer out works okay too and the amp is so small I hid it behind the TV.

Happy to hear that you managed to find an acceptable solution!
Did you play around with the low-pass/high-pass settings for the sub out too?

 

[iGmole]

Happy to hear that you managed to find an acceptable solution!
Did you play around with the low-pass/high-pass settings for the sub out too?

Yes, I found the lowest allowed crossover frequency sounds quite good. A simple phase flip option would be a nice addition though, tuning it with a sine wave generator and ear approximation and *flipping the cables back and forth* was pretty cumbersome. But the feature does work as advertised. I like the fact that the HPF and LPF are independent, this helped fine tune the crossover region.

This experience makes me respect the LG designers though: it had delay adjustments per channel (by distance, 10cm intervals), the sound was subjectively cleanish and the entire package with (bad) speakers was 300€ in a Walmart equivalent supermarket a decade ago.

It developed a cooling fan fault and the Toddler of the House sometimes cranked the volume to max, causing.. TV power-on-surprises, so it had be replaced by something hideable.

 

[truth_soldier]

Noise is acceptable, audible at a non-practically short distance from the tweeter.

Hi. What distance is "non-practically short"?
At your listening distance (which is what?) with the volume low (how low?) during quiet passages of music it's clearly audible and annoying?
I have 96db/1w speakers so I guess this would be horrible and unusable for me?

 

[iGmole]

Hi. What distance is "non-practically short"?
At your listening distance (which is what?) with the volume low (how low?) during quiet passages of music it's clearly audible and annoying?
I have 96db/1w speakers so I guess this would be horrible and unusable for me?

My listening distance is about 2,5 meters. At night, if I turn the AC off and there is zero traffic outside, I can still (just barely) hear it. I don't know how to give an estimate the listening levels - just loud enough to mostly hear TV dialogue I guess. In the daytime with more ambient noise I have to go less than a meter or so away from the speaker to hear it, so in practical terms it is usable for me.

My speakers are 86 dB/W/m (Wharfedale Diamond 220). EDIT: the problem became slightly more pronounced even with these speakers after removing the tweeter grilles which seem to mute high mids and treble a lot.

With your speaker sensitivity I think you will be in for a world of hurt, unfortunately.

For my TV purposes I have accepted this.

 

[truth_soldier]

My listening distance is about 2,5 meters. At night, if I turn the AC off and there is zero traffic outside, I can still (just barely) hear it. I don't know how to give an estimate the listening levels - just loud enough to mostly hear TV dialogue I guess. In the daytime with more ambient noise I have to go less than a meter or so away from the speaker to hear it, so in practical terms it is usable for me.

My speakers are 86 dB/W/m (Wharfedale Diamond 220). EDIT: the problem became slightly more pronounced even with these speakers after removing the tweeter grilles which seem to mute high mids and treble a lot.

With your speaker sensitivity I think you will be in for a world of hurt, unfortunately.

For my TV purposes I have accepted this.

thanks for the info.

 

[truth_soldier]

With your speaker sensitivity I think you will be in for a world of hurt, unfortunately.

Another guy with some knowledge of this problem told me since I will be using PC-USB as my source I can turn the amp volume knob up all the way and use software to control the volume and this should avoid the noise issue. Do you agree this should work ok?

 

[iGmole]

Another guy with some knowledge of this problem told me since I will be using PC-USB as my source I can turn the amp volume knob up all the way and use software to control the volume and this should avoid the noise issue. Do you agree this should work ok?

I tried it briefly like that. It does not help. The sound completely breaks up in quiet sections just the same. It literally sounds like running out of bit depth / guitar distortion pedal when you approach the bottom of the dynamic range.

I am sorry for the slow reply!

EDIT: I decided to demonstrate it. This song is Vesivehmaan Jenkka, with the USB connection from Windows to the AMP, with Windows volume at 10/100 and the amp turned up to compensate. With sensitive speakers I have to say you will likely have very audible problems though.

New video · Monday, Sep 22, 2025

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

 

[truth_soldier]

with Windows volume at 10/100 and the amp turned up to compensate.

I think this is the opposite of what you should do if you want better sound quality.
With all audio gear you want your source volume (voltage) high to maximize the quality of the signal and what it can drive.
So in this case you want your computer volume set high and your amp volume set low.
This is how I currently have my setup now using a cheap USB dongle DAC connected to my AMP's RCA input.
The amp volume is set at about 9 O'clock and the volume on my Linux laptop is turned up and there's no audible noise.
If I do the opposite of this I have horrible noise level.

 

[truth_soldier]

I just listened to the recording, thanks for that.
Yeah that sounds very similar to the noise I hear if my amp volume knob is set to near 12 o'clock or above.
set to around 9 o'clock I don't hear any noise.

I think this is because the signal level (voltage) coming out of the USB port is very low unless the volume is turned up high in the software (OS).

 

[truth_soldier]

how does yours sound if you have the PC volume up high in Windows and the amp volume know turned down?

 

[truth_soldier]

My listening distance is about 2,5 meters. At night, if I turn the AC off and there is zero traffic outside, I can still (just barely) hear it. I don't know how to give an estimate the listening levels - just loud enough to mostly hear TV dialogue I guess. In the daytime with more ambient noise I have to go less than a meter or so away from the speaker to hear it, so in practical terms it is usable for me.

My speakers are 86 dB/W/m (Wharfedale Diamond 220). EDIT: the problem became slightly more pronounced even with these speakers after removing the tweeter grilles which seem to mute high mids and treble a lot.

With your speaker sensitivity I think you will be in for a world of hurt, unfortunately.

For my TV purposes I have accepted this.

how do you usually use it hooked up? PC to amp via USB or TV to amp via HDMI or optical?

 

[iGmole]

how do you usually use it hooked up? PC to amp via USB or TV to amp via HDMI or optical?

HDMI from the TV to the amp. Oh, and BT occasionally if the toddler wants disco time.

how does yours sound if you have the PC volume up high in Windows and the amp volume know turned down?

I experimented a little with the USB connection. It's a power amp limitation I believe, it just won't output a clean quiet signal even if the PC source is maxed out.

But it's not all bad, it sounds good enough apart from the.. won't-do-quiet-bits problem.

 

[truth_soldier]

HDMI from the TV to the amp. Oh, and BT occasionally if the toddler wants disco time.



I experimented a little with the USB connection. It's a power amp limitation I believe, it just won't output a clean quiet signal even if the PC source is maxed out.

But it's not all bad, it sounds good enough apart from the.. won't-do-quiet-bits problem.

I wonder if you got a bad unit, or it's specific to your computer, because if it was an amp design issue there would be lots of other people reporting this problem... or nearly everyone.

 

[iGmole]

I wonder if you got a bad unit, or it's specific to your computer, because if it was an amp design issue there would be lots of other people reporting this problem... or nearly everyone.

It is of course possible the unit is bad. I have made the decision to stick with this until I do a more comprehensive stereo upgrade, which includes moving to a new place next year, if all goes well.

I don't think it's computer specific. It's the same with hdmi from the TV, BT from my phone and USB from the PC.

Thank you for the inspiration to do some experimenting around the issue, it was great dad-time (honey, something is wrong with the speakers, mind if I test a few things?).