Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Watching tv with receiver/speakers...good idea?

Just wondering how many people use their home theatre to just watch tv? I have my cable plugged into my receiver via hdmi which outputs to my tv. In order to watch tv, my receiver has to be on. Obviously I'm using my speakers for sound. With my M80's coming I'm just wondering if this is a good idea. Does watching tv every day put too much of a strain on the equipment?

I know what it does to my brain sooo just wondering....

Well, it's almost a year since I've even heard my tv speakers. But then again, I don't watch much tv programming.

Well HT is for watching movies, otherwise i do not understand the fool who actually buy a HT set for tv's purpose only. And yes i listening my tv via my HT ( 2channel mostly) I call it collateral damage for my equipment

Sure, now that even over the air is in HD and digital sound, why not?

Thanks, Philippe...

We use 5.1 with the TV all the time. The surround ain't great, but what do you expect from matrixed sound. I should probably try using Dolby instead of DTS...

I wouldn't worry about strain on the equipment. I have a 7-8 yr old Harman/Kardon rated at 75 wpc. Runs hot, but it works fine.

I know it was a silly question but just wanted to make sure. I leave my tv on at times the whole day. Good to know!

I have TiVo, Xbox, Blu-ray, Wii and a digital music player connected to a receiver. My Axiom speakers get used almost around the clock.

I've not used the speakers in a TV for over 15 years now. My newest set didn't have the speakers attached in the box, so they've never been.

If I left the TV on all day long, I might have to rethink using the AVR because it uses a lot more power than the TV speakers.

tv sound is much easier than ht as tv sound is compressed, sometimes so much that it's not funny.

compression has been used on tv since prehistoric times so even if i was to write to the stations (i actually did a few times) asking to take the compressor out of line, they would play dead.

another thing, just like cars, electronics don't need to rest, they just need to not get too hot. they can work 24/7.

i haven't used the tv's speakers since the mid 80s, except maybe for a couple of evenings to see how they were doing. The main problem with the tv spkrs is, as expected, lack of dynamic range.

The quality of the source that comes from tv broadcasting is pretty poor so the benefits of using external speakers is not that great compared to well engineered/produced CD's, Blu-ray movies etc. Source/Quality of recording > Speakers > Room. I notice a lot more sibilance with voices with external speakers which bothers me. I don't have any trouble hearing voices with my tv using the built in speakers so I never have to turn it up loud. That is the problem with tv speakers is that they will compress and sound nasty when turned up. If you have to crank your tv sound up you will find benefits from external speakers.

The only time I enjoy multichannel sound for tv programming is with sports in HD and even then the mics can be mixed hot and speech doesn't sound just right.

I have 2 settings on my harmony remote: "watch TV" and "watch TV with speakers". I rarely use the second one unless I'm watching something that I really like (which is not often on cable).

The speakers in many flat panels are terrible so running external speakers for many is the only choice, myself included.

My inlaws have had their TV going only through their stereo for as long as I've known them. I always thought it was too loud and kind of pointless (volume is due to his hearing issues).

But then I got my distributed AV setup and wired it all in to the speakers instead of the TV monitor, which came with the house and didn't have speakers. And now that I have my Axioms, I'll never go back.

The sound is compressed and imperfect - on some channels more than others - but it's still nice to have crowd noise all around in sports. The occasional unexpected surround commercial is kind of neat too. That new Cadillac (I think) commercial is pretty cool.

My TV has built-in speakers? For me 6.1 all day, every day, especially with HD.

I am completely amazed that some of you on this forum do not use your Axiom speakers for watching TV EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE ALREADY HOOKED UP. Seems like a complete waste to me. The TV sound is often not that great, but when you add real speakers to TV broadcasts, it is 1000X times better than the crappy TV speakers.

I even set up a stereo set on my TV in my bedroom and it makes a HUGE difference.

I watch a lot of TV. Some is badly done, some is very well done. ALL of it is improved with my Axioms hooked up.

I truely can't believe it. Makes me wonder if people actually care about sound here, or just like to admire their equipment.

Tut, tut, tut! That's preprosterous.

We ALL care about sound here, AND we like to admire our equipment. Sometimes, we even look at our a/v gear, too.

Careful next time, or we'll send the spellcheck fairy after you.

Should I have capped 'spellcheck fairy?'

So is using TV speakers. I'm just trying to point out my complete amazement that half of the people who responded said they DON'T use their speakers for watching TV. It completely threw me for a loop.

I care about sound when there is actually sound to care about. I don't care about sound of TV commercials every 5 min which is one of the reasons I don't watch much TV to begin with, but that's just me.

I don't listen to anything without my M80's....period.

edit: including the wife... shuuuuuush

Some people might be conserving energy. As for me, I always use my Axioms, too.

I almost always have my full system on. The exception is when I'm sleeping on the couch and want to put the TV on a sleep timer.... since there aren't any receivers with a sleep timer, I just use the TV alone.

I've been meaning to investigate if the auto power off on no signal of the TV can trigger the CEC to turn off the receiver. That way the auto-off of the PS3 will drop the signal to the TV, and then the TV will tell the receiver to turn off (which is the only thing left running).

My Onkyo has a sleep timer.

Really? I didn't think ANY receivers had one!

I'm picky towards speech. Television programs and commercials is mostly speech and compressed at that. I don't need to hear excessive sibilance flipping from station to station . I will only put it on for certain programs. I like it for baseball because I like to hear the crowd noise coming out of the surrounds.

Sporting sound so real, hot dogs will fly out and land on your lap.

Auto racing sounds weird in surround. I use it anyway. With the way my TiVo is hooked up, I can't use the internal speakers on the TV.

Another option is a Harmony Remote, my 900 has a sleep timer built in (and my onkyo does too)

I don't even think I know what my TV speakers sound like. My system is used 100% of the time.

Full system all the time here. It's amazing how many programs are available in DD now.

Hi all,

My aging DLP rear-projection set has quite large internal speakers and decent sound quality---certainly good enough to watch TV news. And they aren't shooting war coverage in DD 5.1 surround so far, though I'm sure that will come.

So I have the system set up so I can casually turn on the DLP with its own speakers or use the whole AV receiver/amp/5.1 system for appropriate material.

Contrary to some others here, I do not want 5.1 on to watch college basketball or baseball, tennis, etc. I find all the crowd noise distracting and the inane "commentary" by sports "analysts", who don't seem to realize we're watching television (duh. . .) and not every on-screen action needs elaborate description in near hysterical tones. As it is, I turn the TV volume down really low so it's barely audible on sports events. (End of rant.)

On the other hand, I watched an HD documentary that did have stereo sound, on a unit's advance in Afghanistan, and I put that through DPLII and it was impressive.

Regards,
Alan

I know what you mean, Alan. Back when I had the set up for it, I used to do a lot of music listening while watching baseball games. I muted the TV sound and would have a good 3 hours or so of listening to whatever I wanted.

St. Pat,

Good idea! Must try that. I hope I didn't deeply offend those who like sports commentators. I have a friend in Queens who loves watching the NCAA half-time analysis by Gumble (spelling?) and friends. .

Cheers,
Alan

Alan, I don't know if you remember or not, but we have the same Samsung DLP. And mine is finally dying on me. It just randomly shuts itself off two or three times a night.

It's just pushing me to a 55" LCD or Plasma, I think!

Hi Mark,

Yes, I'm quite aware we have the same set, even the same "generation," I believe.

I've had the random shut-off very occasionally, maybe once every six months or so. I'm amazed I'm still on the original bulb, but I use the Cinema mode almost all the time, which is the least brightest, so that may have prolonged the bulb life. I think our generation of Samsung DLPs have quite long expected bulb life--from 5000 to 8000 hours, if memory serves, way longer than front projectors.

Yes, when mine eventually dies, I think I'll opt for a slightly larger plasma 1080p, maybe as big as 60 inch.

Back up in ol' Canada visiting friends, then I'm heading up to the Axiom plant for a few days. I left Manhattan without gloves--it was 60F the day I left, really mild--and it's cold up here in the mornings (Toronto and London).

Cheers,
Alan

I believe the correct spelling is Ghumzble. The z is silent.

LOL! Love it.

Alan

I almost universally hate sports announcers, but I do enjoy the surround effects with the crowd. And of course plenty of movies and shows on TV are sent with a good soundtrack now.

I switched from Comcast to DirecTV last week and my old Naks have started to give me a new issue to deal with. They make this awful chopping noise if an AC3 signal is sent to any setting on the Processor other than AC3. And the DirecTV box only sends AC3 with HD channels. The non HD channels send ProLogic or none... meaning I have to switch it to those to get sound on those channels (DIY network is really the only non HD channel I watch, unless it's a random secondary movie channel).

So now I'm forced to just turn Dolby to off on the DTV box and ProLogic on the receiver. And now the volume is all off and the 4 channels of ProLogic are mostly inadequate. It really sucks. Most of my viewing, even movies, is via the cable/satellite (OnDemand is quite nice), so I'm kind of screwed. My surrounds are basically ornaments now, unless I go in and change the setting on both the box and the processor... and then remember to change it back.

It's the one drawback so far from switching to DirecTV.