jurassicmark
Distinguished Member
I have recently bought a Samsung UE50TU7020 4K TV on behalf of my parents and am going to visit them later next month to set it up. They may be satisfied with its sound but I've read reviews which describe it as poor and that seems to be a common issue with many modern thin TVs. Due to that, I may also get a soundbar for them.
The most important factor for my parents is that it's easy to operate. I've seen some with different sound modes like 'Film', 'TV' and 'Music' as well as the more common bass and treble settings. They are in their 80s and struggle with things like that so volume control is all they want. I would like to connect it to the TV using optical and I believe there's a setting on the TV where you can set audio out to 'Optical'. They have a Virgin TiVo so I'm hoping that entering a code to enable its remote to control the TV volume will control the soundbar volume when the TV's in 'Optical' mode.
I haven't asked them about a subwoofer yet but I doubt they'll be too bothered with that. Making speech clearer is more important and setting it reasonably loud without distorting the sound. Another important feature is that it auto turns on/off based on whether an audio signal is being received. I basically want to make it that they don't need to use the soundbar's remote or at least use it only very rarely.
I've seen soundbars as cheap as £24.99 on the Currys website and have read various reviews with the usual mixture of 1-star and 5-star reviews which make it difficult to choose. My parents would probably agree to pay for whatever I choose for them but I don't want it to cost more than necessary for their requirements. I'm looking at it costing up to £100 although I may consider something a bit more than that.
Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.
The most important factor for my parents is that it's easy to operate. I've seen some with different sound modes like 'Film', 'TV' and 'Music' as well as the more common bass and treble settings. They are in their 80s and struggle with things like that so volume control is all they want. I would like to connect it to the TV using optical and I believe there's a setting on the TV where you can set audio out to 'Optical'. They have a Virgin TiVo so I'm hoping that entering a code to enable its remote to control the TV volume will control the soundbar volume when the TV's in 'Optical' mode.
I haven't asked them about a subwoofer yet but I doubt they'll be too bothered with that. Making speech clearer is more important and setting it reasonably loud without distorting the sound. Another important feature is that it auto turns on/off based on whether an audio signal is being received. I basically want to make it that they don't need to use the soundbar's remote or at least use it only very rarely.
I've seen soundbars as cheap as £24.99 on the Currys website and have read various reviews with the usual mixture of 1-star and 5-star reviews which make it difficult to choose. My parents would probably agree to pay for whatever I choose for them but I don't want it to cost more than necessary for their requirements. I'm looking at it costing up to £100 although I may consider something a bit more than that.
Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.