Summary
- Audio sounds different to everyone due to different hearing conditions and auditory systems.
- TVs aren’t suitable for music speakers, have limited settings, and lack depth in audio.
- Enhancing TV audio with specialized music-grade speakers or setting up a soundbar for cost-effective improvements.
Audio sounds different to every person. You may not realize it, but it’s true — what you hear when someone speaks or when a song plays is slightly to majorly different from what another person hears. This is mostly due to different hearing conditions, how our brains perceive sound, and auditory systems in general. There’s also a bit of personal connection involved.
Think about how your heart flutters when you hear a song that reminds you of a good memory. Someone else may have a bad memory of that song, changing how their body reacts to the sound. Some sounds are harder to decipher for some people and easier for others, making someone turn up the volume, distorting the audio slightly. Regardless, audio is different for everyone and you should treat it as such.
This means that you should be listening to music one way and TV audio another. They shouldn’t be sharing the same speakers. Does this sound crazy? Maybe, especially if you’re thinking about the cost of separate speaker systems. But after reading this, perhaps you’ll consider setting yourself and others up for the best audio experiences possible.
1
TV audio and music are categorically different
It’s like comparing apples to oranges
If you’re listening to your TV, you’re likely watching a movie or a TV show with dialogue and other sounds that are different from music. On the off chance that you actually only use your TV to listen to music on it, maybe from a streaming music channel, you are doing a disservice to the music. That’s because TV speakers are not made to be fine-tuned like a traditional music speaker is.
Think about the settings you can find on an expensive speaker that is used at music shows. You can adjust the bass, equalizer, treble, and get a high-fidelity sound. You likely can only get a bit of that with your TV speaker, but it’s not the TV’s fault — it’s just the way it was built. If you want the best audio for your TV, you shouldn’t even stick with only the speakers that it comes with. These are meant to be serviceable to the masses and fine enough that people who aren’t audiophiles aren’t going to be really bothered by them. But if you care about the audio experience, you should think again.
2
Music has much more depth to it
This is on an emotional level
Music can convey more than words can because of the reactions they elicit within people. You are going to want the best possible audio when it comes to music because of the emotional depth that is carried by listening to music. There are neurochemical reactions that occur in your brain when you listen to music, as each song hits each person’s brain differently.
Listening to music engages multiple brain regions, making it a more enriching experience than listening to someone speak dialogue. If you’re sitting in your living room and a song comes on through your TV speakers, you may not have the same reaction to it as if it came through a speaker specifically made to highlight its frequencies.
3
Music speakers have specialized components
They are actually made to play music
You will typically spend at least $300 on quality music-grade speakers if you want to guarantee something you’ll appreciate.
When listening to audio on a high-end Bluetooth speaker or one meant for music, you can tell the difference. The song is richer, the words are clearer, and you can make out each instrument. There isn’t distortion that causes things to blend together, as can happen with TV speakers. You may have to spend money to get this result, but it’s often worth it.
You’ll hear each element of a song with the help of these speakers, just as the artists intended. In order to elevate your listening experience, you have to have the right equipment. If you don’t care that much about the audio in the music, that’s fine. But your brain can’t be tricked when it comes to hearing bad audio. It immediately recognizes that something sounds off and a lot of the time it can come down to what medium the audio is being played through.
4
TVs should be paired up with surround sound systems
Make it an immersive experience
You can set your TV to play surround sound and, if the TV has special drivers and speakers built into it, you may receive a boost in the sound quality. But in order to provide those in the room with the actual immersive effect you’re looking for, you need separate TV speakers from the ones on the TV itself. This means finding the right places to put them to capitalize on the room’s acoustics.
Any time you go to the movies, you’re sitting in a room that has speakers all around, meaning that the audio is coming from different directions, hitting your ears in different ways. This gives you a richer experience and helps you feel like a part of the movie. Adding a few standalone speakers to your TV setup will drastically improve the audio that you’re listening to when you’re watching something. You need to consider the size of your room, how many speakers you want, and what kind of furniture is in your room that can block sound waves. Then, you’ll be able to decide what kind of speakers can enhance your audio.
5
Adding a soundbar makes way more sense for your TV
Your soundbar won’t be that great for music, anyways
If you don’t want to go the route of an entire surround sound system for your room, a soundbar could be the tool that fixes your TV’s audio. Soundbars have speakers and drivers built into them, often in a 5.1, 7.1, or Dolby Atmos design. This refers to how many speakers are in your soundbar, as a 5.1 setup has five speakers and one subwoofer in it. Soundbars can do the job of a few speakers by projecting outward into your room and providing a fuller sound.
Listening to music engages multiple brain regions, making it a more enriching experience than listening to someone speak dialogue.
But soundbars don’t have the flexibility that traditional music speakers have, as you often can’t adjust the settings as easily on them. Many soundbars are meant to help big moments on a TV land better, such as an explosion, car chase, or the spike of a horror movie score. Using a soundbar for your TV is generally the most cost-effective way to enhance your TV’s audio, giving you an option to add something to your TV that won’t break the bank and let you add more speakers for your music.
