Which speaker system for my plasma TV?

by nichola
(UK)

I am looking into a surround sound or speaker system for my TV. At the moment I have a plasma TV but the room is large and is a gallery style so the sound is hard to hear when watching films.

I am really confused about which system to buy, whether its a sound bar or floor standing speakers. Can someone help recommend a system - the room is 26ft length x 16ft x 25 ft high.

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Hi

There are a number of things to consider when deciding on the speaker system for your room.

Firstly, do you want stereo or surround sound?

Then, think about the type of sound you will be listening to. Just TV and movies - or do you want great quality music reproduction too?

The size of the room is important - and you have a relatively large space - but where will you be listening from? You don't need a large system to fill the whole room if your seating is 10 feet from your screen. You can get surround speakers on floor stands just behind your seating area which means you don't need to fill the whole room with sound.

If you do need to fill the whole room, then you will need to get a more powerful amplifier. As long as the specifications of the speakers match the amplifier, it doesn't matter what type of speaker they are. Satellite speakers, bookshelf, floorstanding or in-wall speakers can all do a good job. It mainly comes down to the type of material you will be listening to - and also the look of the speakers in your room and where you need to position them.

My guess would be that a soundbar wouldn't sound much better than the TV speakers in your large room.

I would therefore consider an AV receiver with a surround sound speaker package - or maybe just a pair of floorstanding speakers at the front if you are happy with stereo-only.

The links below will hopefully give some more detail on these issues.

Hope that helps.

Paul (Site Editor)

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