Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your TV's built-in speakers probably don't sound very good. Connecting a soundbar is one way to solve this of course, but there is an affordable, convenient alternative: a pair of active speakers with a HDMI or optical input.
It's a product we're seeing more and more of, with Audio Pro among the most recent brands to enter the active speaker market with nicely priced, HDMI-toting models. And now Klipsch has introduced a pair called The Fives, which we have just spied at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show following their worldwide debut at CES last month.
With HDMI, Bluetooth, optical, USB, 3.5mm and phono inputs, The Fives are active stereo bookshelf speakers that can hook up to almost any source – a TV, turntable, CD player or smartphone, for example.
They feature 1in titanium tweeters on tractrix horns – a common design trait of Klipsch speakers – coupled with a 4.5in woofer, all housed inside black- or woodgrain-finished wooden cabinets that sport source input and volume dials on their top panels.
The Fives look very promising indeed and are expected to launch in spring for around £800/$800.
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