TV soundbars

All of which has cheered me up no end :-)

I honestly don't think I need a hearing aid or lip reading ability. Most of the time, there isn't a problem. I just sometimes struggle with the TV, child mumbling and anyone not speaking reasonably clearly, but that is not often. Perhaps I'm burying my head in the sand.

Reply to
News
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In message , tony sayer writes

Your result suggests that you may have hearing loss.

What does this mean? We recommend that you tell your GP about your result the next time you have an appointment and ask for an assessment with an NHS audiologist, or visit a private hearing aid dispenser (usually found on the high street).

Oh bugger.

Reply to
News

Hmmm. It says I do not have any hearing loss, which is in direct contradiction of what my annual BUPA medical check said.

Perhaps I can buy some Quad ELS's after all!

Reply to
Huge

I bought a Logitech PC Speaker set for my TV set. It has a subwoofer and two side speakers, and makes a very big improvement to the sound quality. Not HiFi, but certainly far better than the tinny noise coming from the set itself. It plugs into the headphone socket, and cost about £30 four or five years ago. The TV set's SCART output only sends out what the internal tuner is set to, so I can select an HDMI input and listen to the Freview channel last selected. Useless.

The PVR has a proper line-out output, thankfully, so that can go to the HiFi if required.

And as for the hearing-loss thread, I am the same as described in that. I cannot often hear low volume sounds, such as birdsong, but the main problem is one of loss of clarity, especially at the higher frequencies. And I can usually only hear people clearly if they are facing me, as that allows the higher frequencies to all get to me, without being absorbed or otherwise attenuated. Sitting in the rear of a moving car is useless for conversation. I have fairly basic hearing aids, but they are terrible for use in crowded places, and are really of use to me only either for TV listening or when talking one-on-one with somebody quiet, or when waiting at a doctor's surgery for my name to be called out. It's no fun. It's genetic in my case, not work-induced, although that probably didn't help.

Reply to
Davey

I think so.

My ex FIL had a hearing aid fitted. He said 'its terrible: I can hear my trouser legs rubbing when I walk'. I said 'so can I, and I haven't got a hearing aid. Can you hear the clock tick?'

"What clock tick?"

:-(

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

Have you checked if the latest models have too?

Couldn't find one to the spec I wanted that also had RCA outputs. Given it has a headphone output, how much extra would this have cost?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

It's probably just sensing a signal from it and switching on when it sees one.

More likely a problem with the soundbar bass unit. Severe resonance.

Odd you don't need any of those with decent speakers. ;-)

My main complaint is that in general the TV sound mute button doesn't work on the digital output. Or even an analogue line out.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

In message , The Natural Philosopher writes

Having now taken the test (see reply to Tony), I agree with you.

Reply to
News

In message , "Dave Plowman (News)" writes

No. I guess this one is 3-4 years old. There are 4 other TVs on our system. My wife retires to the *leisure complex* when I am refusing to watch Strictly in the lounge!

I'm lost in the jargon. RCA= pairs of mini jacks?

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Reply to
Tim Lamb

Yes. I took the test and apart from one right in the middle where I didn't even hear the numbers, I did OK. Its a very good test I reckon

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I had thought this loud bass I am getting on windly outside broadcasts was a testament to how good my unit is. Especially as it is praised in some reviews for the relatively seamless frequency cross over between the bass unit and two sets of ordinary soundbar speakers.

However for ?170 the sound bar not exactly hifi and maybe you're right that it is resonance. Can't do much about it except change the position of the bass cabinet and, after your comment, I will try that.

I do! I do!

I am blown away by how well the SRS psycho-acoustics in my telly work.

This includes hyper-wide stereo (useful when a soundbar's speakers are not very wide apart), frequency enhancement (I think they play harmonics to fool the ear into hearing the fundamental frequency), speech enhancement (not terribly effective), some sort of clever "loudness" processing that I don't understand but which is nice, and so on.

Ordinary decent speakers can sometimes sound rather flat by comparison.

However I do hate it when digital effects mess with phase and create weird sounds and weird spatial positioning. They just end up being effects for no purpose and whilst they might entertain teenagers they don't enhance the audio for someone watching telly.

My telly remote can mute the sound of the ARC-attached soundbar. I was including that function with control of the volume.

I know it's often a bugbear not to be able control the volume and not have a mute on some outputs on a telly.

Reply to
pamela

+1. I think I spent less than £100 for the one on my main TV and that was with a bass unit. Well worth having.

It was either a Which? or an Amazon "best buy".

Reply to
newshound

In article , News scribeth thus

I'd say f*ck it!, but it's interesting all the same. Have it checked at the hospital they have a very good audio dept here in Cambridge they have a soundproof room much like a radio studio. Don the phones then you hear a succession of tones and they get quieter and then you seem to loose them.

The only problem i have is a bit of Tinnitus which comes and goes.

This is a very interesting chap and his department told me some interesting things re that. Its not a noise as such but a pain signal that your brain interprets as a sound thats why i could never find the frequency despite a while trying the match it to an audio generator!

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Reply to
tony sayer

RCA is phono.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

You'd hope the engineer on an outside broadcast would cut the bass at his end if wind noise was obtrusive. Of course there might not be anyone looking after the sounds side these days. ;-)

Worth a try. But I'd not really expect a well performing bass unit for that sort of price. It's the most difficult part of LS design.

Hmm. I'd be very surprised if any of those actually improved the performance of decent speakers properly positioned.

Quite.

That's handy. Mine doesn't. Although the remote on the PVR controls both the audio level and mute on that even via HDMI. So the exact reverse of what I'd like.

I can mute the power amp via its remote. But just an extra one to have to hand.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

AKA Phono plugs/sockets

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

If you want a pair of 63's then just go *get them:-)

You don't have to have best in class hearing to appreciate those beauties, just make sure the rest of the audio chain can match them!

If your buying new then fine, but second hand check that they don't suffer from fecked panels and or arcing if they are old and or have been abused in anyway. Quite a few sites on them around.

Apart from the rest of the audio chain, they are very good at showing up good and bad recordings.

Reply to
tony sayer

In article , Tim Lamb scribeth thus

Usually taken to mean Phono sockets the commonest audio connectors around, found on the rear of most any amplifier.

They look like these

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Reply to
tony sayer

Short for RCA phono (sockets or plugs)

A design of audio connector that could be manufactured on the cheap, pioneered by RCA. They can be very effective if they're not made *too* cheaply.

Reply to
Johnny B Good

In the same way that you would expect them, especially on a recorded piece, to say "Your mike is inside your coat/ scarf/ whatever, and sounds really muffled".

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

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