In the process of making televisions thinner and flatter a sacrifice was made that everyone has grown to just deal with. Sound quality has gone down severely from the days of CRT televisions and there is no turning back. At some point there just isn’t enough room inside of a televisions chassis to have decent speakers and in an effort to cut costs TV makers aren’t bending over backwards to install the best speakers anyway.
Customers complain, but according to most manufacturers they always complain so one more thing won’t hurt them much. The secret agenda of brands such as Sony, Samsung, Sharp and Panasonic is that they are making the sound quality on their televisions poor on purpose.
Yes – just like other companies before them, TV makers have wised up and decided that they are going to force you to buy a sound bar if you want better sound quality. It makes them more money, gives you the sound you really wanted in the first place and after you watch your first movie with it you’re likely to forgot why you were so upset in the first place.
Before you run into your local Best Buy or get antsy and start typing in Amazon.com into your address bar you should know that all sound bars are not built equally. There are times when the phrase “you get what you pay for” don’t matter, but audio is one of the times when you want to make sure that you buy what you need instead of paying 25% and expecting 100% of the quality.
1) Shop in the store, then buy online. There is no way that you’ll be able to tell what sound bars are good just by looking at specs or other people’s reviews. Some people are tone deaf and they will mislead you into a bad purchase. Head down to your local electronics store. Chances are that they will actually have sound bars hooked up to an audio source so you can tell the difference between the models. Once you know what you want make sure you get the best price. Trust your ears; not your eyes.
2) Consider keeping it all in the family. With so many proprietary technologies flying around in consumer electronics it can almost be too much to keep up with. When you buy a sound bar from the same company that makes your television chances are that there are features which will improve performance. This varies from brand to brand but should be on your list when you do your shopping. An added plus is that the styling will be similar which will make sure that everyone has their eyes glued on your great picture and not the contrasting bezels of your home theater.
3) Subwoofers matter. Many of the sound bars available on the market today are self contained. This means that the speakers and subwoofer are all contained withone one package. This is great from a size standpoint but the audio quality is going to suffer. If you have the room to facilitate a stand-alone subwoofer go for it. If you like to watch sports or movies you’ll appreciate the accentuated bass.
4) Don’t expect too much. A sound bar is an audio illusion. They use small speakers to simulate surround sound. Because of their size and power they aren’t going to compared with a standalone 4.1 or 5.1 setup. This isn’t something to be upset about it’s just one of the tradeoffs you make when you decide to go compact. You have the option of getting a bunch of speakers and deal with wiring them all over your home but very few people are going to go this route. Having a clean aesthetic doesn’t come without it’s compromises.
Hopefully these tips will help. Shop safely.
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