TV surround sound stuff - noob advice

[Grandad]

Got a new tele coming any day

Panasonic TH42PX60

and need some speakers to go with it but I know nowt

mainly for use with SKY+ and very occasional DVD use ( maybe 6 films a year )

So what do I need to get ?

Looking at about 200 quid and would like wireless rear speakers

Don't need one of these sets that comes with a DVD player as I already have a DVD recorder

any ideas ?

[Matblack]

I would try to help but I don't think I'm going to be able to tell you anything you're going to want to hear :(

MB

[Grandad]

is this along the lines of "no chance for 200 quid" ?

saw the logitech z-5450 but no idea if any good

[Matblack]

Look like a reasonable set of what I would consider PC speakers, they certainly aren't hifi, but if you are only using it for TV and aren't bothered about sound quality then they'll probably fit the bill.

I have to say I am a bit of an AV snob so probably not the best person to ask, my stock answer to this question would usually be either; a) you need to spend more money and get a decent AV amp and a decent set of speakers or b) You'd be better off going for stereo or even c) stay with the TV speakers.

IMHO weak surround sound is awful for film, you might as well stick with the TV speakers because what you'll get is that quality but from 6 different positions, this can be distracting, so much so that when I got my current CRT I removed the wireless surround speakers completely and just used the 3 speakers in the TV.

Good stereo on the other hand will knock the socks off bad 5.1 and give you some level of immersion in to the film. You could get good stereo for £200 with a half decent amp and some nice speakers.

What you would find is that stereo speakers would be larger, and with good reason, from my experience little speakers don't cut it, they need the sub to fill in too much of the mid range and lose focus. You'd also get a larger amp which will give punch and speed to the sound. With those Logitechs the amp is built into the sub and its small and not very powerful which means distortion at anything over a relatively low level

My suggestion is usually that at the very least people spend 50% of what they pay for a display on the sound to go with it. The ideal starter kit is an AV amp and a set of matched 'hifi' AV speakers including a sub with a separate amp, of course this is all wired together to give the best possible audio quality, using wireless means that a lot of information will be cut out of the sound to allow it to be transmitted :(

However what I consider to be good quality and what you consider to be good quality my vary a lot and you might be delighted with what the Logitechs can produce, unfortunately if you aren't there isn't really an upgrade path associated with the stuff you will have and you'll have to bin it and start again.

MB

[Grandad]

Cheers for the in depth reply

As you say I think our needs are very different

hadn't thought of a simple stereo setup but will look into that

I mainly just watch standard tv progs and sport and the occasional film

re just using the TV speakers I was under the impression that flat screen TVs generally had poor speakers, my current CRT TV has good speakers inc a woofer and in general is perfectly acceptable

[Matblack]

Cheers for the in depth reply

As you say I think our needs are very different

hadn't thought of a simple stereo setup but will look into that

I mainly just watch standard tv progs and sport and the occasional film

re just using the TV speakers I was under the impression that flat screen TVs generally had poor speakers, my current CRT TV has good speakers inc a woofer and in general is perfectly acceptable

Well then my advice would be give the TV speakers ago and see what they are like before you do anything else, the ones in my parents Plasma are perfectly adequate :)

MB

[Grandad]

ok , will do

If I go for a 2.1 system is there anything you could recommend ?

[Matblack]

ok , will do

If I go for a 2.1 system is there anything you could recommend ?

Yeah don't :D

If you are going to go the stereo route then you shouldn't need to get a seperate sub (the .1 in 2.1 and 5.1) too reasonably sized stereo speakers with a good amp will be able to handle some pretty serious bass and be able to play music beautifully too :).

Second had there are some great deals around and if you buy new then we can look at that too but before you do see if the speakers in the unit will do the job :)

MB

[Grandad]

cheers for the help :)

[Grandad]

Well then my advice would be give the TV speakers ago and see what they are like before you do anything else, the ones in my parents Plasma are perfectly adequate :)

MB


this turned out to be the case, the built in speakers are perfectly good enough, thanks again

[Mark]

Glad to hear it. I missed this first time around so may as well post my 2p for the benefit of others. I have the semi-expensive AV setup (Denon amp and Mission speakers), and on the somewhat rare occasion I use the TV, 9 times out of 10 I'll just use the built-in speakers.

I even have the surround speakers and cabling ready to go. They're still in the box, where they've been for the well over five years since I bought them.

I do occasionally have cause to use the AV amp though, otherwise I'd be very tempted to sell the lot. In all honesty, the same goes for the TV. However, I know I wouldn't get anything like what I paid for it all, so there's not really much point.

I might get back to enjoying TV someday. I hope so given what I've spent on it.

[Grandad]

I started to realise that an expensive sound setup was not neccessary to watch football and hollyoaks ;) hardly ever watch films so it would have been money wasted TBH

[Mark]

Aye. Same deal. Back when I spent the money I did watch a lot of TV. But I'd stopped within months of buying the plasma and now have replaced the TV addiction with an internet addiction. Equally physically unhealthy, but at least the latter is in theory more mentally challenging. :)