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FireGryphon
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inexpensive home theater speakers

Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:37 pm

I'm looking for a little more oomph in my TV speakers than the ones built into the TV, but money is really tight right now. In order to get a decent value setup (could be a 2.1 setup, 5.1 is not required) what kind of price range am I looking at? Right now I have my age-old Cambridge SoundWorks PC Works 2.1 hooked up to my TV and it's pathetic...
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JohnC
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Re: inexpensive home theater speakers

Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:13 pm

FireGryphon wrote:
I'm looking for a little more oomph in my TV speakers than the ones built into the TV, but money is really tight right now. In order to get a decent value setup (could be a 2.1 setup, 5.1 is not required) what kind of price range am I looking at? Right now I have my age-old Cambridge SoundWorks PC Works 2.1 hooked up to my TV and it's pathetic...

If you don't wanna deal with whole receiver+speakers setup and a bunch of annoying cables, you might wanna look at something like http://www.zvoxaudio.com Not sure if their price range is acceptable to you, but their sound quality is pretty good and much better than built-in TV speakers, plus those systems fit perfectly under flat-screen TV's... Plus they are very easy to setup. Of course, you should try and listen to one of these first, or at least buy it from a place where you can easily return it.
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cynan
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Re: inexpensive home theater speakers

Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:30 pm

It really depends on your budget.

If you can push a bit past the $250 range, you can start to break into the not-too-terrible home theater in-a-box domain.

The Onkyo systems come with a full receiver, subwoofer, and 5 to 7 speaker surround setups and start from as little as $270 (current Amazon price)

If the budget is less than $250, I would stick with a quality 2.1 computer speaker system or set of lower end studio monitors. While the studio monitors might get you better fidelity, a 2.1 computer system will get you a bit more dynamic range due to the inclusion of a subwoofer (ie, the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 system) at $149.

At around the $600 range and up, It starts to get worthwhile to look at getting the receiver and speakers separately, but I take it that is probably beyond what you were looking to spend.
 
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Re: inexpensive home theater speakers

Tue Nov 06, 2012 2:42 am

This post needs budget.
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Chrispy_
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Re: inexpensive home theater speakers

Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:30 am

Beware the audiophiles in this thread; Flatpanel TV speakers are shockingly bad and even cheap HT-in-a-box solutions are orders of magnitude better than them. My advice would be to go for something cheap if you're not going to go all-out.

All you really need to make a big difference is a subwoofer, in most cases but I found that the HTIB packages with a Dolby certification at least guarantee a minimum sound quality. It's nothing great, but it eliminates the utter junk from your selection.

Something like this wouldn't be a bad idea - you also get HDMI-CEC and I've used a similar system to upmix stereo to pseudo-surround with satisfying effects.

No, it's not the last word in audio quality.
No, the frequency response might be lacking in a few places that muddies complex bass riffs or emphasises low-bitrate MP3's
Yes, the damn thing just works over HDMI-CEC so I don't have to juggle remotes and keep switching input devices all over the place.
Yes, the sound is several times better than the TV's speakers.

Good enough that I don't really notice anymore, and good enough that just occasionally I am surprised by the sound quality for what is a taboo topic among audiophiles: cheap HTIB packages.
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morphine
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Re: inexpensive home theater speakers

Wed Nov 07, 2012 9:40 am

Chrispy_ wrote:
Good enough that I don't really notice anymore, and good enough that just occasionally I am surprised by the sound quality for what is a taboo topic among audiophiles: cheap HTIB packages.

Actually here in TR, affordable branded HTIB sets have always been recommended.
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Arvald
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Re: inexpensive home theater speakers

Wed Nov 07, 2012 10:28 am

I've been recommending sound bars for people who want some oomph without spending a fortune.

Note prices here are Canadian since that is what I know... my US friends usually can take 10-20% off these prices.
Your options range from $69 for a decent bar to $300 to a good bar with sub woofer (wireless in some cases).

I have the $69 Vizio from WalMart for my low end setup. Some issues but does the job I bought it for.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/VIZIO-High-De ... d/16914359

I bought my Dad the $250 LG with Sub and love it.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LG-Sound-Bar- ... A/20565693

Best if you have optical output on your TV.

Edit was add links. and type.

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