7 ways to improve your TV’s sound quality (without buying a soundbar)
OLED and LED TVs often offer notoriously bad audio, but these hacks are guaranteed to help you hear better
TV picture quality may have improved exponentially over the past two decades, but that isn’t the case for TV audio. With the advent of flatscreen TVs, sound took a back seat, often resulting in dismal, thin audio, particularly on lower-priced models.
Fortunately, you don’t always need to invest in additional equipment like soundbars to enhance your TV audio. A few strategic adjustments and impactful tweaks can significantly improve your listening experience.
With Bowers & Wilkins’ director of product marketing and communications, Andy Kerr, as our guide, we’ll tell you how to improve your TV audio experience without spending large on soundbars and external kit.
1. Optimise TV placement
Where you place your TV can greatly impact sound quality, particularly if your set doesn’t have forward-facing drivers. Minimalist models, with fashionably thin bezels, typically use downward-firing or even rear-facing speakers. These can sound muffled or distant if placed too close to a wall or inside an enclosed entertainment unit.
“You’d never dream of buying a shiny new pair of loudspeakers and then arranging them in your front room so that they are pointing at the wall or a tabletop rather than your ears,” cautions Andy Kerr.
“But that’s precisely what many of us do with TV sets, where speakers are commonly installed at the bottom or even the rear of the screen”, Kerr continued. “Couple the ‘less-than-optimum’ orientation of most TV speakers with their typically diminutive size and often heavily compromised engineering, and you’ve got a recipe for frustration. “It’s a small wonder that so many listeners complain about the lack of clarity, especially with dialogue,” he says.
Kerr’s advice is to avoid placing any TV with rear-firing speakers close to the wall. Try positioning the set on an open stand, away from any boundary.
“If you’re going to use a TV cabinet or media wall, avoid obstructions around any speaker apertures on your TV. That might seem obvious but you’d be surprised how often it’s ignored,” says Kerr.
Angling the TV slightly towards your seating area can also help direct the sound better.
“If your TV is mounted on a wall, be sure to enter its set-up menus and select the appropriate settings in its audio setup functions (such as ‘TV stand’ or ‘wall’),” adds Kerr.
“Many sets offer this feature. When mounted on a wall, a TV with downward-firing speakers has no adjacent surfaces to ‘bounce’ sound off, so it needs to correctly compensate for that in its audio settings. At the same time, if it has a rear-mounted subwoofer, this needs to be appropriately adjusted to compensate for the closer position of the rear of the TV to the wall.”
2. Adjust built-in audio presets
Most of us would rather watch paint dry than navigate TV menus, but you can make significant differences to the audio performance of a telly by exploring its audio presets.
These built-in sound modes are designed to enhance different types of content, such as movies, sports or music. Experimenting can help you find the most suitable setting for your viewing needs. The Movie setting will typically provide a wider, deeper soundstage, while Clear Voice presets will emphasise dialogue clarity. If you struggle to discern speech, this setting could bring instant relief.
Conversely, your TV may, for whatever reason, have found itself on an audio setting that’s simply not serving you well. Late-night listening modes, which limit dynamics, will never sound exciting. Select the Standard mode for the most natural, balanced audio performance.
Some TVs also offer dynamic correction of audio based on ambient noise, which could well be helpful if you have a noisy family home.
3. Fine-tune equaliser settings
Big TV brands often offer a manual equaliser to customise the set’s audio output. By tweaking bass, treble and mid-range frequencies, you can sculpt the set’s audio output to better suit your preferences and the acoustics of your room.
Remember: low frequencies control bass output, which adds realism to explosions and other forceful depictions, while mid frequencies are crucial for dialogue clarity and incidental music. High frequencies contribute to sharpness and detail, so increasing treble can add clarity, however too much may result in a harsh or tinny sound.
Our advice here is to play around with the various EQ settings at your disposal and don’t be afraid to tweak them during a viewing session. A minute or two spent getting the audio balance right at the start of the movie will make for a significantly more enjoyable experience over the next couple of hours.
4. Use room acoustics to your advantage
You can actually improve your TV audio experience with some deft interior decoration. Soft furnishings such as curtains, carpets and cushions will absorb echoey effects and thereby improve listening clarity. Consider adding rugs, drapes or wall hangings to reduce unwanted reflections and create a more acoustically balanced environment.
However, if your TV has downward-firing speakers, the surface that its speakers output onto will be hugely impactful to the final sound you hear. You need reflectivity here, not absorbing materials. If your TV’s speakers are firing onto soft fabric material, consider removing that to improve that reflected audio output, says Andy Kerr.
5. Take advantage of high-quality audio sources
Even if your telly doesn’t come with multiple speaker drivers, it can still take advantage of high-quality Dolby Atmos audio from the likes of Netflix and Disney+, if it has a compatible decoder.
“If you’re using streaming video services, consider investing in the best-possible subscription available on that platform, which will frequently unlock Dolby-encoded material not available in ‘lower-quality’ streams,” says Andy Kerr. “Even a more conventional stereo-only TV should be able to both handle and deliver better sound quality results when fed with the latest Dolby codecs.”
If your TV has a subwoofer output fitted, also consider investing in a subwoofer at some point. This isn’t just about sofa-shaking home cinema bass, a good quality subwoofer can ‘fill out’ the sound you experience, even with everyday content.
6. Don’t forget to update your TV’s firmware
Manufacturers often release firmware updates that can improve your TV’s overall performance, including audio processing. Regularly checking for software updates in your TV’s settings menu can ensure you’re benefiting from the latest enhancements.
7. Utilise that headphone jack or Bluetooth connection
Inspect the back of your TV and there’s a good chance you’ll find a 3.5mm headphone output. Connect wired headphones to enjoy a more personal, direct audio experience and bypass the TV’s speakers altogether.
Increasingly TVs, including models that use the Fire TV smart platform such as the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED, also support a Bluetooth headphone connection, allowing you to pair your everyday headphones directly to the TV.
