Help regarding Audio system for tv

joe_pesci

This going to sound a very stupid question, but ive never had any sort of added audio/sound system for tv before. Im looking to buy new TV, and the audio from these LCD tv's are not great.

I want a speak system(not very expensive one) for the tv. What is it actually called
As the "home cinema speaker systems" all come with a dvd player. Can i actually just buy a speaker set system with a Subwoofer without a dvd player.

a 2.1 speaker set like i have had with pcs would be best, but can't find any. All come with a bloody dvd player and seem aimed at dvd sound instead of just tv audio.

So can someone give me the correct name and where i can buy these speaker sets from. Im confused.:o

richhol

I can recommend Logitech X-230 (about £33 from Amazon [delivered]). I have 3 sets of these (a set on each of 2 TVs and one on the PC).

The Amazon reviews say it all. The higher number X-240 are usually a few pounds cheaper, but it is worth the extra for X-230.

Most TVs output sound on phono sockets (also known as RCA), and you would need a couple of phono plug to phono plug adapters to connect X-230.

The main issue here is how your TV outputs to phono. On my Sony TV I can turn off the internal speakers in a menu, and the volume buttons on the TV remote then control the phono output level and therefore the X-230 system.

On my Sharp TV I cannot turn off the internal speakers from a menu and the phono output level is non-adjustable from the TV remote. There are two ways to deal with this:

(i) turn the internal speaker TV sound down to minimum using the TV remote and adjust sound on the X-230 itself, but of course this involves getting out of your chair since the X-230 is not remote controlled... or..

(ii) plug the X-230 into the headphone output of the TV. This cuts off the TV speakers and the TV remote still controls the volume to the headphone socket. There is a mismatch of audio levels in doing this, but in practice it works on my Sharp TV - the X-230 volume needs to be low. In this case you would not need the phone adapters. If your TV has a headphone socket on the front this can look a bit messy with a wire hanging out of it, but on the Sharp it's round the side so invisible.

Hope this helps.

Rich

joe_pesci

Thanks Rich:beer::beer:

I have had Logitech X-230 on my old PC system, is very good. Didn't know they would work on normal tv ALSO.:T

richhol

No problem.

If you take the headphone socket route then just be sure the TV volume (using TV remote) and the volume on the X-230 are at minimum when you connect up. Then put say 1/3 of the available volume on the TV and then slowly turn up the X-230 to something reasonable.

As I mentioned, connecting headphone output to a "line in" level speaker set is not really correct, but if careful works for me. :j

Rich

joe_pesci

So could i do this with any PC speaker set, if i wanted to spend alittle more, would they also work on tv. Or do i need to look for a certain type? I never knew could connect PC speaker systems to TV, as they never mention it in product description.