Modern TVs deliver stunning visuals. They offer ultra-high-definition images with impossibly bright HDR colors. They’re also impossibly thin, perfect for hanging on a wall. But that svelte design is also responsible for your new TV’s biggest flaw — it sounds absolutely terrible.
Super-thin TVs simply don’t have the space for a great-sounding pair of stereo speakers. That’s why a lot of people offload the job of audio to something else, usually a soundbar. But having used a soundbar myself, I’ve learned that I’m never going to be happy with how one sounds. Sure, there are steps you can take to make a soundbar sound better, but it’s just not for me.
That’s why I use a pair of speakers for TV show and movie audio, and it sounds stunning.
Convenience doesn’t trump quality
The sacrifices of a single box
The key feature of a soundbar is that it’s a single box that usually sits beneath a TV and offers better-sounding audio than anything a TV can muster. And it’s true, most (good) soundbars are an upgrade over TV speakers without all the wires and complications that dedicated speakers and an A/V receiver bring to the table. Soundbars can be rather good-looking bits of kit, too.
But a soundbar’s main selling point, that it’s a single unit, is also what limits its ability to produce great sound. They simply can’t beat the laws of physics.
Modern soundbars have multiple physical speakers in that single box, all aimed at defeating those laws of physics. They do that with varying degrees of success, but they never fully achieve it.
The issue is that a soundbar squeezes the left and right audio channels close together. It’s a matter of necessity. But it also makes it difficult for our ears to pick out the spatial cues within a piece of audio. Sound effects, ambient environmental noises, and even speech from the actors can bleed together, making everything sound like it’s coming from one point in 3D space.
Tricks like digital signal processing and beamforming technology can help, but not fix, the problem. They bounce the sound off surrounding walls to try to fake a larger sound stage. But these tricks rely on your room being the perfect size and shape, and they rarely are. These technologies are the Sisyphus of audio, constantly pushing that rock up the hill only for physics to kick it straight back down again.
The power of true stereo separation
Creating a real soundstage
By contrast, separate left and right speakers have none of these issues. Replacing a single, central soundbar with one speaker to the left of your TV and one to its right immediately widens the soundstage, opening the door to real spatial audio. It allows for the proper channel separation that a soundbar can’t match.
Proper channel separation allows for an acoustic phenomenon known as the “phantom center channel.” When two stereo speakers are properly positioned, your brain is tricked into thinking that sound that should be centered within the speakers actually sounds like it’s coming from the TV itself. This happens even when no center speaker is used.
While a soundbar is limited to a physical left and right speaker separation of inches, separate speakers can be placed in just the right space — usually at least five feet.
Speaker flexibility
Choosing the optimal position
Installing a new soundbar is as easy as plugging it in and placing it beneath your TV. But a little more thought needs to be applied when choosing where to place dedicated left and right speakers. Especially if you want to make full use of their abilities to create a wider, full soundstage.
To get the most out of your speaker system, it’s best to aim for an equilateral triangle setup with the left speaker, right speaker, and your main seating position acting as the three points of the triangle. Ideally, the speakers should be positioned as close to ear height as possible.
The angle of placement is also important. Wherever possible, slightly angle the speakers inward towards the central viewing position. This, in theory at least, should aid with acoustic imaging and dialogue placement.
Moving beyond the soundbar
Audio quality to match your image quality
Soundbars can be a big improvement over using the small, sub-standard speakers built into TVs. They’re easy to set up and require almost zero configuration. But they’re inherently limited in terms of their ability to create a room-filling, directionally accurate audio experience.
Switching to a pair of stereo speakers brings the depth of sound, often with additional bass, that your favorite TV shows and movies deserve. Sure, you can upgrade to systems with additional speakers for an even better experience. But I think you’ll be surprised just how great a pair of stereo speakers can sound — especially if you’re used to those terrible speakers built into your TV.