Why do TVs need external sound speakers?

Whenever we turn on the TV and start enjoying TV programs, have you ever paid attention to the sound quality of the TV? Do you feel like something is missing while watching a big-screen TV in your luxuriously furnished living room? Does the sound quality from inside the TV match the huge TV screen?

If you have paid attention to the above problems, it is not difficult for you to find a fact: Although high-end TV sets with a cost of several thousand or even tens of thousands of RMB are equipped with colorful high-end LCD panels as screens, the quality of their internal speakers But it is very “weak chicken”, completely unworthy of such a tall display effect.

Let’s start with the TV’s own structure, and talk about the “those past events” about the sound quality of the TV in detail.

Does the sound quality of your TV really pass the test?

In today’s TV consumer market, LCD TVs and OLED TVs are the mainstream products. Whether it is a TV with an LCD panel or an OLED panel, the size of the TV is relatively wide, ranging from the portable 32-inch to the current mainstream 65-inch, and even larger 75-inch TVs are favored by consumers.

However, no matter how big the size of the TV is, manufacturers have controlled the thickness of the TV body within a very thin range for the sake of an attractive appearance. This is true from entry-level TVs to high-end TVs, and the higher-end TV products are thinner and thinner. While pursuing the ultimate appearance of the TV, the TV body can no longer accommodate the most basic speaker unit.

Such pursuit of the ultimate design method creates the ultimate beauty, but it also brings another negative impact on the actual use effect of the TV. We all like to refer to the experience of watching TV programs as the “audio-visual experience”, where the word “audio-visual” as the name implies refers to “visual” and “hearing”. Therefore, a high-end TV program viewing experience should include both “watching” and “listening”. But nowadays, the design of TV sets is heavily biased towards “visual experience”, while “auditory experience” is generally “hastily”.

Such a product design trend has also seriously misled many consumers who buy TV sets. Nowadays, when people choose a TV, few people care about the “auditory experience”. But an indisputable fact is that the “auditory experience” greatly affects the viewing effect of the program, and it is completely equal to the “visual experience”.

The fatal flaw of the TV’s built-in speakers

Based on the design trend of today’s TV sets that we talked about in the above section, usually the internal speakers of the TV body will choose very small sounding units. This type of sound unit does not talk about the sense of hearing. The most fatal problem is that this small sound unit cannot produce low-frequency sounds below a certain frequency. This technical defect has caused viewers of TV programs to only hear a part of the original sound in the TV program, and this part of the audio usually belongs to the middle and high frequencies. The sound of another part of the lower frequency band is not emitted from the speakers that come with the TV at all.

After watching TV shows for so long, have your ears become numb?

The sonic “flaws” mentioned here are very noticeable when actually watching a TV show. But there is a big premise that you have heard or understood the relevant knowledge in advance, and have experienced what a “normal” voice looks like. Otherwise, you only use the same TV to watch TV programs for a long time, and there is no “reference object” for comparison. People will easily and subconsciously think that the sound from TV programs is “like this”.

The specific manifestation of this sound “defect” is that people watching TV will obviously feel that in some TV program scenes, the original sound is lost. This audio loss phenomenon is especially obvious when watching singing and dancing programs. Viewers of TV programs will obviously feel the lack of music in the low-frequency range, such as: drumming, musical instrument bass, and so on. In the magnificent scenes of some movies, the lack of sound can also be clearly felt, such as the roar of buildings collapsing in movie scenes, and the impact of huge stones falling from a high place. In some cases, these sounds don’t necessarily disappear completely, but noticeable distortion can also occur. What should have been a majestic sound effect has become a narrow, “petty” sound. This will make the effect and artistic conception that the TV program recorder originally wanted to restore for the audience completely unable to reflect on the TV.

Spending a lot of money on a high-end TV can improve the sound quality?

Some people may ask, does this lack of low-frequency sound occur in every TV? Will it be better on a high-end style TV? the answer is negative.

As we mentioned earlier, the thinner the body of the higher-end TV, the less likely it is to use a “normal” size speaker unit. Correspondingly, the sound quality of high-end TVs will not be substantially improved. Although TV manufacturers have racked their brains to take various measures to improve the sound quality in such a narrow space, these measures are only palliative after all, and cannot solve the congenital defects of the generating unit.

Many consumers may have seen a description similar to this in some high-end TV advertisements: a certain TV model uses a certain brand or a built-in speaker that has been carefully adjusted by a certain master. Here everyone must understand the essence of the matter, aside from the “name-name method” that has always been used in commercial promotion to attract consumers, and start from the perspective of actual technology, even if there is a master who really carefully debugs a certain TV. With built-in speakers, this master can’t solve the “fundamental” problem caused by the small size of the speakers. Therefore, everyone must have the concept of “putting aside the phenomenon to see the essence” in order to understand the real situation behind this kind of “advertisement”.

Can the sound field algorithm make up for the inherent defects of the speaker?

In addition, there are some TV advertisements that will mark: a certain TV model uses “a certain sound effect” and “a certain advanced sound effect algorithm”. I have to admit that these sound effect algorithms are indeed the crystallization of technological power, and they do have the effect of significantly improving the listening experience. But the premise is that the sound system using these sound effect algorithms is a set of sound equipment with good quality and good sound reproduction. Usually, the small speakers built into the TV do not have such expressive power. Therefore, even if a TV’s audio system is equipped with some advanced sound algorithm, there will be no improvement in the listening experience. Even in most cases, since the built-in small speakers of the TV have a low degree of sound reproduction, once the sound effect algorithm intervenes in the audio processing process, the audio information stream will be further altered and the sound distortion will increase. Doing so will only make the sound quality worse.

Is there an ultimate solution to improve TV sound quality?

Therefore, no matter what grade of TV you buy, if you match it with another set of TV sound speakers, it will qualitatively improve the final effect of watching TV programs. We can even say that it is very worthwhile to add a sound system to the TV even if it costs a small amount. Because doing so greatly improves the sound quality, and brings obvious changes to the sensory experience of TV viewers.