New TV with ****** Sound. Help Needed.

[Wombat]

My tweeter domes are at 57.5"/1.46m.

My seated ear is at 38"/0.965m

They are toed but not tilted, and 10 feet apart.

How compromised are mine?

My tweeter domes are at 57.5"/1.46m.

My seated ear is at 38"/0.965m

They are toed but not tilted, and 10 feet apart.

How compromised are mine?

Are they horizontal( I guess not)? Polar plots and all that stuff. All I wish to achieve is 'reasonable' sound for music video discs and general TV watching. If there is not much in it the horizontal option is preferable.

Tweeters in or tweeters out?

 

[RayDunzl]

 

[Wombat]

View attachment 17154

Ray, this Dal(l)i-ence is a bit too @NorthSky.

 

[NorthSky]

 

[Old Listener]

Mid-level 55" Sony LED replacement for my much loved 42" Panasonic plasma TV( burn-in, otherwise a keeper).

The Sony sound is terrible - I expected this but it is worse than I thought. Image is inferior also. 10 years and going backward.

My TV watching does not require audio enthusiast sound quality but I wish to have clarity and LF down to around 50 Hz. The HF is not so important - old age, here.

The TV is situated across a room corner, cramping options.

Budget around $US250-$US350(MAX)



4. I am prepared to consider a pair of JBL 305p mkII. They are less than $US300 Down-under at the moment. These are bigger than I would prefer(depth particularly but not a killer). If there was a smaller version I would jump at them and add a subwoofer later if necessary.

If I use the JBLs they would be mounted above the TV(above viewing position, head height} and approx. 3ft centre to centre, either vertical or horizontal - no WAF problem.

Do the JBLs have auto turn-on and turn off? If so they tick all of the boxes except preferred size.


5. Any alternatives?

A timely post for me. I have been planning to get speakers for use with a 43" 4K TV. Much of the time I listen via headphones (wireless using a analog RF) but I's like better than TV sound when I don't need to keep the sound to myself.

I thought of JBL 30x speakers but some convenience features of speakers like the Audioengine HD6 powered speakers seem very relevant to my needs:

- auto power up/down
- remote control that can adjust volume of both speakers and mute sound.
- single switch to power down both speakers
- toslink input that allows me to bypass the DAC function in the TV.

The Audioengine speakers are $ 700 in the USA and refurbished units are $ 600 when available. Above your budget but not above mine. The Fluance powered speakers look interesting but I'm somewhat skeptical of the "virtual curve perceived by ear" frequency response curve for a 5" woofer in a sealed cabinet.

 

[Wombat]

Update.

I decided to raise the TV and mount the speakers horizontally(not optimal but better than a soundbar) on each side of the stand, below the screen.

Some pine planking and these, legs, did the trick.

Using the 3.5mm TRS line out and a 3.5mm to 2xRCA adapter I connected the JBLs with a stereo RCA to RCA interconnector.
HUMMMMM. Low but intolerable level and not volume dependant.

Tracked it down. It wasn't due to my using two different power outlets(checked this). I found a forgotten 3.5mm TRS direct to 2xRCA interconnector and swapped it in and the hum disappeared.

I think the shielding on the non-descript interconnector originally used was not up to the task of running in close proximity to the rear of the TV.

The TV has co-ax out for sound. Something to try later.

What surprised me is that the graphic equaliser function of the TV is not available on line-out. EQ would be nice.

I like the JBLs for the TV. Voice is good. There is enough bass for 'non-theatre' use. The matching sub-woofer is an option.

I connected the power to the speakers via a master-slave power board. It works well giving a turn-on delay.

This costly exercise brought home to me how good the picture, sound and options on my just replaced 10y.o. Panasonic Plasma TV are.

 

[Wombat]

After some time with this arrangement I realised the improvement in sound was not so good.

The Sony X850E( same as my X8500E) test result from ratings.com. I think the analog line-out must have a similar response:

The TV also has optical-out and HDMI options. Are they likely to give a HiFi output?

I have an old Soundblaster Extigy external soundcard that I can use for optical to analog conversion. I will give that a try.

What would be a simple way of extracting HDMI to RCA(or balanced XLR) to feed the LSR 305 lls if necessary?

The other problem is that the TV equaliser only works on the internal speakers. I thought something like these may be worth considering:

Car equaliser

Something better

I am just looking for reasonable TV sound without buying an AV receiver. Any ideas?

 

[Thomas savage]

I use the optical output from my tv , into a arcam dac that does the volume and then onto my jbl’s . 2 channel, works fine.

 

[RayDunzl]

The TV also has optical-out and HDMI options. Are they likely to give a HiFi output?

Although I've never tested it, but probably could via the HDMI from PC to TV, the optical out on my TV seems fine/normal/comparable to other digital sources, and I've used it for years. It just gives a straight stereo signal - no modifications at the TV affect it, volume control is not in the TV.

Let me try a test...

Pink noise in REW -> PC -> HDMI -> TV -> Optical -> DAC -> Preamp -> JBL 305P

That looks right.

To the main speakers same path with some DSP:

 

[Wombat]

The TV's remote volume control works on analog line-out.

Is it not usual for TV optical out to be similar?
Ah, I have found the Extigy's remote control. OK that should work if the FR is decent. I might consider a car equaliser for analog tone control if needed - set and forget. That Schiit tone control unit is pricey for what it is.

I get a feeling that HDMI with remote volume control may be a problem?

I can see why soundbars are popular - easy-peasy, but rip-offs.

 

[restorer-john]

I run the optical output from my Samsung panel directly into a Rotel D/A converter and Rotel amplifier via Toslink. Speakers are Mordaunt Short floorstanders. Sound is exceptional for the position and placement. Voices are phenomenal and I frequently threaten to steal the speakers for my main system (I bought them for my partner years ago).

If you run digital out to a 2ch D/A converter, you will need to set the new Sony TV to send (mixdown to etc) SPDIF (48KHz) out the digital output. Otherwise you will only get LPCM from channels that broadcast it and the other DTV channels will be in DD. Your 2ch D/A converter won't decode it.

I can also feed HDMI in from my HTPC and the LPCM is looped out to the optical output which means all content, be it, TV movies or internet sound is running through the Rotel D/A. We never use the built-in speakers of the TV- they are utterly putrid.

 

[restorer-john]

Is it not usual for TV optical out to be similar?

I have never seen or owned a panel where optical out is anything other than LPCM or DD with no level adjustment.

 

[Wombat]

OK. Extigy first.

An AVR with passive speakers may have been a better way to go.

 

[restorer-john]

AVRs are big ugly things. You've got the powered speakers, why not just get these two and put them in a box. about $30 all up.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/192kHz-...h=item3d782aac36:g:3ggAAOSwFYZb1CXL:rk:3:pf:0

and one of these:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/9V-Infr...h=item4b35173a26:g:-2cAAOSwRyRa-~c7:rk:2:pf:0

PS, that 'ALPS' pot is probably a fake, but they work fine.

 

[Wombat]

AVRs are big ugly things. You've got the powered speakers, why not just get these two and put them in a box. about $30 all up.

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/192kHz-...h=item3d782aac36:g:3ggAAOSwFYZb1CXL:rk:3:pf:0

View attachment 18188

and one of these:

View attachment 18187

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/9V-Infr...h=item4b35173a26:g:-2cAAOSwRyRa-~c7:rk:2:pf:0

PS, that 'ALPS' pot is probably a fake, but they work fine.

Thanks. That is worth having around, regardless.

 

[restorer-john]

Thanks. That is worth having around, regardless.

There's a heap of those cheap D/As on eBay, ranging in all prices. Some have a headphone socket and a level control too.

I put one on my parents' TV panel SPDIF out so Dad could run a normal 2ch HiFi amplifier into a pair of speakers for better sound. He just put the amplifier next to his chair and controlled the volume manually.