I’m not familiar with TV sound, but know that most flat screens come with rubbish speakers. So in this hilariously bad sketch, where would I put the speakers? If the TV was above the chimney (shown as “Chim”), it would be easy as it could go on the mantle piece. But I’m intending to attach the TV to a mobile arm bolted to the wall, so I can’t use a sound bar. May be put a shelf up behind the TV and put a box like speaker on that?
There’s a bay window to the front (shown as “Win”), if that’s helpful to know. Be nice to get a proper sized TV, as we’ve had a 24 inch for about 4 years now…my work monitors are 27 inch!
I don’t recommend buying sound bars, since they are a compromise. Buy two tower speakers and a receiver to start off. I recommend this because audio gear doesn’t go obsolete, so spend well and spend once and enjoy your purchase for decades.
I completely understand what you’re saying and with things I have knowledge about, it would be the right way to do it. But in our situation this is our first proper TV setup and if it’s done cheaply but works well enough, it will be very helpful to experience what does and doesn’t work, before going full bore with getting an ultimate setup. Sort of like a bench mark of sorts. Also we might be swapping the rooms around in the future, so I don’t want to spend too much time on the setup.
Thanks though, I really do appreciate your perspective.
Well to be clear that video is for all speakers, not just the 5.1 setup. You can get a set of tower speakers and just run two channel. A pair of tower speakers is also a good option if you are just starting out, since they would carry over into any 'upgrades. Your next upgrade could be a subwoofer and a centre channel, instead of buying a whole new set of speakers again.
I used to have giant tower speakers, a center channel, huge subwoofer, surrounds, an enormous receiver, all that jazz. I realized as I got older that I don’t give a crap about any of that stuff and I want my space to look minimal, clean, even spartan.
So now I have a small Sonos Beam soundbar with and two Sonos Ones as surrounds. No wires required, super clean, and I think it sounds great. I never need to pump the volume over 20% so it certainly gets loud enough.
That would be an ideal setup and certainly something to aim for, unfortunately though I have a young human and he tends to push things over - and I’d hate him to do that to some speakers! Certainly something I’d like one day though, thank you
Thanks for that, interesting to know about your situation and setup. Oh Sonos, just checked the price…blimey. And that’s what you have behind your TV? Is the sound pretty good without the Sonos Ones? Is it bass’ey enough for watching films? Thanks!
