← Back to context

Comment by throw-12-16

10 hours ago

Sounds like you are just using internal speakers.

They are notorious for bad vocal range audio.

I have a decent surround sound and had no issues at all.

As mentioned elsewhere: no problem with youtube videos (even with hard accents like scottish) but a world of pain for tv shows and movies. On the same TV.

Oh, and the youtube videos don't have the infamous mixing issues of "voices too low, explosions too high".

It's the source material, not the device. Stop accusing TV speakers, they are ok-tier.

  • You do realize that "voices too low, explosions too high" is because of the audio mixing in the movies and how it sounds on shitty integrated speakers right?

    When you have a good setup those same movies sound incredible, Nolan films are a perfect example.

    • I understand it perfectly well, yes. It is an audio mixing made for theaters with sound isolation so that it's absolutely possible to hear the dialogue. I have no trouble understanding the dialogue with the volume tuned up to what I would have in a theater.

      Yet I do live in a flat, in Paris, with neighbors on the same floor, on the floor above, and on the floor below. Thus I tune the volume to something that is acceptable in this context.

      Or I should say, I spend the whole movie with the remote in my hand, tuning the volume up and down between voices and explosions.

      Theatre mix is a bad home mix. It is valid for home cinema. Not for everyday living room.

      Yes I could buy a receiver and manually EQ all channels and yadda yadda yadda. I live in an apartment. My 65" LG C2 TV is already ginormous by parisian flat standards. Ain't nobody got space for a dedicated receiver and speakers and whatnot. I tuned the audio, and some properly mixed movies actually sound great!

      As an added bonus, I had troubles with "House of Guinness" recently both on my TV and with good headphones, where I also did the volume dance.

      IMHO there's no care spent on the stereo mixes of current movies and TV shows. And to keep your example, Nolan shows are some of the most understandable and legible on my current setup :)

      Another fact is, I have no trouble with YouTube videos in many languages and style, or with video games. You know, stuff that care about legibility in the home.

Is there any way to connect just a center speaker to the TV?

I want to get a 3.0 setup with minimal changes to the equipment.

  • Soundbars are a good option, but spend some time reading reviews as there is a huge gap between the cheaper ones and good quality that will actually make a difference.

    My brother has 2 of the apple speakers in stereo mode and they sound pretty good imo.

    Nothing beats true surround sound though.

    • I have an eye-wateringly expensive 7.1 surround system in the living room, and a pair of full size HomePods either side of the TV in my studio. I prefer the audio from the HomePods.

      2 replies →

I'm listening to a majority of video content in my stereo headphones on PC. They are good and quality of every source is good. Everything sounds fine except for some movie and some TV shows specifically. And those are atrocious in clarity.

Regarding internal speakers, I have listened to several cheap to medium TVs on internal speakers, and yes on some models the sound was bad. But it doesn't matter, because the most mangled frequencies are high and low, and that's not the voice ones. When I listen on the TV with meh internal speakers I can clearly understand without any distortion voices in the normal TV programming, in sports TV, in old TV shows and old movies. The only offenders again are some of he new content.

So no, it's not the internal speakers who are at fault, at all.

  • I'm not a speaker sales person, believe whatever you want.

    • Do you realize that phones, tablets, laptops, most PCs don't have an option of "just add speakers"? You are technically correct, yes full Dolby Duper Atmo 9.2.4.8.100500 system is better. But people without them are not using their setups incorrectly, they have valid setups they have valid use case and they don't get basic level of quality which IS possible and WAS possible just a few years ago with proper channel mixing.

      1 reply →