

There are two things you can do to improve the sound. This has the undesired effect of lowering the volume of the normal listening levels, which makes dialogue hard to understand. This is an example of high dynamic range.īecause the loud points can get so loud, sometimes home viewers turn down their TVs when sound effects become overwhelming. This is an example of limited dynamic range.įor an example of high dynamic range, think of the same person speaking in a monotone, but sometimes their voice drops to a barely audible whisper, and sometimes it raises to a piercing, loud wail. As an example, think of someone speaking in a monotone but raising or lowering their voice only occasionally, and not by very much when they change it. Older audio signals had limited dynamic range, which means the high and low volume points did not vary much. Though the signal is of higher quality, it also has properties that can make it more difficult for the average home viewer to enjoy it. You just need equipment that can reproduce it. The audio signal sent with a high-definition broadcast actually has the potential to provide better sound than the audio signal of an older analog broadcast. The small surface area, combined with less-than-ideal placement, results in weak sound.īad sound answer #2: nature of the incoming audio signal The reasonable surface area, radiating directly at the viewer, allowed them to produce sound, while not high fidelity, that was at least intelligible.įlat panel TVs have tiny speakers that are either pointed downwards, or at the wall behind the TV. Older TVs had large-ish speakers mounted in the cabinet and pointed directly at you, driven by a few watts of power. The main answer to this question of poor sound is simple physics. Why is the picture so good, and the sound so bad? What can I do to improve it?īad sound answer #1: the physics of the speakers
TT RADIO SOUND BOARD TV
Many people are surprised that their old console tube TV sounded much better than their flat panel, though the flat panel has a dramatically superior picture.

The most common complaint I receive in emails sent to my newspaper column is that modern flat-panel TVs have horrible sound quality, and it is hard to understand dialogue.
