Home Theater for an LG - 42" Class / 1080p / 120Hz / LCD HDTV??? (1 Viewer)

[smargotie]

Hi there,

I'm totally clueless about this stuff so please forgive any dumb questions. I recently purchased an LG 42" 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV and the sound is terrible, which I expected based on reviews-- bought it more for the great picture and look of it... and I got a tremendous deal. I figured "I'll just buy a sound system later!" which I thought would be simple. Well, I'm overwhelmed.

I went to Best Buy and the teenager who was helping me didn't seem to know much and was trying to push a $500 home theater system. I have a small living room (10' x 12') and I live in a condo so I can't have a booming system with 8 speakers. I also don't want to put wires in my wall or have them running all over the living room. I am thinking a sound bar is going to suffice but I don't know much about them. Do they simply connect to the TV?

Thanks!
Maggie

 

[Jason Charlton]

Hi Maggie, welcome to the forum!

For someone in your situation who simply wants to improve the sound but doesn't want (or need) to go to all the trouble of installing a surround sound system a sound bar is probably a good option.

Sony offers a pretty neat soundbar - the HTCT-100 (available from Amazon for under $300). There is also the HTCT-500 which is about $500 but adds additional video as well as audio connections (the subwoofer in the 500 actually functions much like a full-fledged A/V receiver).

Which one is best suited for you probably depends on what sources you have or plan to have in the future. Do you currently have DVD or Blu-Ray? Is your cable/satellite high-definition? What about a game system like a PS3, Xbox, or Wii?

Generally speaking, hooking these up is pretty straightforward. All the audio from your various sources are connected to the inputs on the soundbar (the subwoofer unit, actually). The video connections will differ based on which unit you choose to get - with the 500, the video from all of your sources would also go to the soundbar, with a single HDMI video out to the TV. The 100 is a bit more limited in video connections, so you would likely end up with some video connections to the soundbar and some to the TV.

Let me know what needs to be hooked up to it, and we can determine if this would be a good fit for you.

 

[CB750]

Welcome Maggie,

Don't feel bad I have yet to see a flat panel TV with decent sound. It's just not possible to produce good sound with speakers that small.

A sound bar looks like a good solution, but here is another option.

If you have other components to be used with your TV or listen to music, then you may want to put together a 3.1 system. This would require that you purchase a 5.1 or 7.1 receiver and three matched speakers for your left, right and center channels plus a sub woofer. This would allow you to have a nice sound stage for both TV and music listening with a minimum of wires. If in the future you move or want to upgrade to either a 5.1 or 7.1 system then all you have to do is purchase 2 or 4 more speakers that would complement your front speakers.

Wires are a problem but their are many solutions that don't require major changes. Many times they can be hidden in the area where your carpet and base board meet.