We all know the jam-packed home theater dream: a cozy, blackout, soundproofed audiovisual haven with an incredible 4K TV and speakers that play movie soundtracks and effects. But my time with a fairly high-end TV makes me think that sometimes amazing sound systems don't always fit the average home. Back in July, I had the pleasure of reviewing the Panasonic JZ2000, the company's flagship OLED TV for 2021. One thing that sets Panasonic TVs apart is their scalable audio output, with many displays coming with the same panel and processor. panel but gradually increasing the sound scale for more expensive models. While the Panasonic JZ980 is content with 40W speakers, the JZ1500 is rated at 80W, and the flagship JZ2000 bumps it up to 125W, just down from the 140W of last year's HZ2000. (Though Panasonic doesn't ship its TVs to the United States or Australia, this editorial should be relevant to anyone considering heavy home theater speakers.) It was hard to fault the TV, but its immense audio capabilities made me wonder what the appropriate volume was for the average TV buyer. On a volume scale of 0 to 100, I found I couldn't bear to go much higher than 50 for fear of suddenly terrifying the neighbors, living like myself in one of four city apartments. . I predict that 75 would risk dropping a flimsy picture frame from my library, while 100 would likely be detrimental to the health of my ears in the long run. This problem would only get worse in my old house, which had several times the number of apartments crammed into one building, and therefore several times the number of angry neighbors. Living in a more rural area would probably reduce this problem, but if you're surrounded by wildlife in a quiet countryside, it's probably not a good idea to disturb the local creatures either, both wild animals and pets you keep yourself. The only solution I have is to not use all of his abilities. So why would I bother buying a TV capable of producing such loud sound?
Sound of silence
One of the common criticisms of today's 4K TVs is that, even with higher-end models, the sound offering is often lacking compared to picture quality. We regularly see high-end OLED TVs, Mini LED displays, and 8K LCD TVs with amazing levels of detail, contrast, and color, but when paired with 30W of rear-facing speakers, what we're hearing just doesn't match. with what we see It's clear to us that TVs need a certain level of speaker volume and complexity to deliver a full range of audio detail, from low to high frequencies. We've sometimes complained about the muddy bass of the LG C1 and LG G1, though the immense imaging capabilities of these displays mean they're also very hard not to recommend. This is not the case with all televisions, be careful. Newer Samsung TVs tend to come with a version of their OTS (Object Tracking Sound) technology, which in its best implementations offers impressive verticality and a sufficiently wide soundstage. However, the more fragmentary versions (OTS Lite or OTS+, rather than the superior OTS+ Pro) may suffer from the unintended system-wide. In our Samsung QN90A review, we wrote that the "60W max output instead of the 70W OTS+ Pro setup that the Samsung QN800A and Samsing QN900A have" has always seen a steep drop in overall quality, leading to to "anemic bass a lack of detail in the higher frequencies. As it could only handle using half the 125W power of the JZ2000, and tended to hover more comfortably around a third (30-35 on a 100 point scale) , 60W seems like a reasonable upper limit, although the calculations are more complicated than that.