On today’s You Asked: How to get cinematic sound in an apartment without pissing off your neighbors, in-ceiling 7.1 surround versus 5.1.2 Atmos surround — which is better? What’s the best TV under $500 to buy this Black Friday? And why don’t more reviewers test TV tuners?
Cinematic Sound in an Apartment
Doug writes: I have a great TV and love its picture but I also think audio is just as important for the whole movie-watching experience. However, I live in an apartment, so the whole 5.1, full-sized speaker thing is not really possible. Even a soundbar seems antisocial. So what are my options?
I feel your pain. I used to pick specific apartments — sometimes a townhouse with a neighbor only on one side, and on the opposite side of my audio system — because I didn’t want to give up on having great-sounding music and movies in my space. I did upset a few neighbors over the years. And, honestly, some apartments are built with walls that are superthin or uninsulated, so even moderate sound bleeds through. It’s super hard to be an audio enthusiast in apartment and some condo situations.
I think the best answer is headphones. Granted, that’s gonna mean a party of one, so I’d recommend a stand-alone soundbar with decent bass for watching with others. And when you really wanna crank it up, you use the headphone rig. If it were me, I’d get an Apple TV 4K and either the AirPods Pro 2 or the AirPods Max. The spatial audio you get from that system is stunningly good. You could even look into adding bass transducers under the cushions of your couch, though that buzzing could potentially bother others, too.
You can use other wireless headphones, for sure. Actually, maybe you get the Sonos Ace headphones with a Sonos Arc soundbar now, or with a Sonos Beam Gen. 2 or a Sonos Ray later this year. That way you can skip the Apple TV if you want and still get spatial audio in the headphones and a soundbar for listening and watching with others. Bluetooth headphones can work, but there’s often lag, and rarely any surround support. So, either the Apple TV and AirPods bundle, or the Sonos Ace headphones with one of those Sonos soundbars. The Arc works now, and the Beam and Ray will work with the Ace later this year.
Ceiling 7.1 vs. 5.1.2 Atmos Surround
Chip Kiple wrote in explaining that he put a 7-channel in-ceiling speaker system in his home when it was built in 2013. He just got a 98-inch Sony X90L and is looking at getting a new receiver, too, which brings up the question of whether to use his speaker system in a 7.1 configuration, or in a 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos configuration. And along with that, he was wondering what the immersive effect of Atmos might be like in his situation.
You do have a slightly tricky situation going on here. Dolby Atmos effects are meant to come from above. You can accomplish this with in-ceiling speakers or, in some cases, bounce sound off the ceiling with speakers aimed upward. Those Dolby Atmos channels — the .2 or .4 at the end of a number string like 5.1.2 or 7.1.4 — refer to Dolby Atmos channels. You can have two or four of themdepending on your speaker configuration. But the important thing to understand here is that they are meant to help complete a dome of sound. So, ideally, the other speakers in a Dolby Atmos system would be at a lower elevation in the room, firing at you.
Your situation is actually pretty common. A lot of folks choose to go with all in-ceiling speakers rather than a blend of in-wall speakers and in-ceiling, or a blend of floorstanding speakers and in-ceiling.
So you can imagine that with all of your speakers in the ceiling, you’re going to rely on some acoustic trickery to make it seem like the front left, right, and center channels are coming at you from the screen level, as opposed to seeming like they come at you from the ceiling level. And the setup algorithms built into modern receivers today can help you achieve that.
As for your situation, I see two options. You can wire your speakers to your receiver as a standard 7.1 system, where you have front left, right, and center, plus “side surround” speakers and “surround back” speakers. Or you can wire and set it up as a 5.1.2 system, where you have front left right and center and your “side surround” speakers become Atmos speakers, leaving your rear surround speakers to take on the roll of the side surround speakers.
If I was installing this system, I’d try both and decide which sounds better to me. That means you’re going to have to do a little work. You’ll need to move speaker wires on the back of the receiver from one set of outputs to another, and then you’ll need to go into the receiver’s speaker setup menu and make some adjustments.
When you know which you like best, stick with that.
Best TV Under $500 for Black Friday
Brent Graves wrote in saying he’d like to get a cheap 55-inch TV for his garage. He’s got a $500 budget and plans to buy around Black Friday.
Well, Brent, you can do really well with $500 when you’re looking at a 55-inch size. I don’t have a crystal ball here, but I do know that history tends to repeat itself. I see that the 2023 TCL Q6 is selling for $434 right now, so I reckon the 2024 TCL Q6 will be down around that same price come Black Friday. Also, the 2024 Hisense U7N will probably dip down below $500 by Black Friday. I’d do some comparison between those models to make your pick, and I will review both of those before Black Friday to help you decide.
Including TV Tuners in TV reviews
Scott M writes: These days, we have a lot of “TV” reviews, but they are really “monitor” reviews, as what actually makes them TVs (tuners!) isn’t ever discussed. With Nielsen referencing that nearly 23 million U.S. homes access free TV programming using digital antennas, do you think TV reviewers will ever test TV tuners built into the sets in comparison to each other?
I once lent a buddy a TV to use until he could buy his own (I’m just that kind of friend), and when we set up the TV he bought, we noticed that the TV he got didn’t pull in stations quite as well as the TV it replaced. The TV tuner just wasn’t quite as good. I wish I could fold this into TV reviews!
Here’s the challenge I’m running into: I have not figured out a way to objectively test out a tuner’s performance. Getting the right kind of antenna for your area is going to be a far more effective way of pulling in channels than the bare strength of a TV’s tuner. And I’d rather see people prioritize stuff like picture quality and audio quality over tuner strength, and then get an antenna that will work best for their area.
Will LCD/LED ever catch OLED?
Andrew K writes: After multiple decades of LCD screens, coupled with the financial backing of some of the largest tech companies in the world, why hasn’t there been a breakthrough in the ability for the liquid crystals to fully block out the backlight? It seems that would greatly even the playing field with other newer screen technologies such as OLED and Micro LED.
That’s an interesting and valid question, Andrew. And while I lack deep understanding of the science at play in a liquid crystal display, if scientists could come up with a cost-effective way to make the foundational function of a liquid crystal better, they’d do it. I just don’t see scientists going, “Ya know what, LCD is boring. Let’s just make some other display technology up so we don’t get bored.”
Instead, I think what’s happening is that the compounds that we can use to make an LCD panel work — or perhaps it’s the very nature of a liquid crystal situation — are inherently limited when it comes to blocking light. They’ve twisted and twerked the LCD as much as they possibly can. And we are where we are today because of that innovation.
At some point, it made sense to stop trying to get more milk out of a dried-up cow and move on to a different animal.
