If I had one wish for TVs in 2026, it’s not that they’d be even brighter (they’re already bright enough), it’s that they’d sound better than they currently do.
A familiar exhort from myself, and other reviewers, is that modern TVs just don’t sound that good. Sure, there are objectively good efforts (for a TV) but from brands that you expect to deliver higher quality audio – Samsung, LG – they’re often inadequate, especially at the prices they’re asking for.
My solution(s)? Well, I’ve got a few that I’ve mentioned before and I don’t see any harm in putting my wacky theories out there.
Sound off
Radical, I know, but if we’re going to motor on with underwhelming speakers for the next few years, why don’t we have some (select) models that just don’t bother with speakers at all?
There are a few TV brands that believe innovation drives design and design drives innovation – but the preoccupation with slim TVs can come across as the TV industry’s version of a size-zero waistline.
And the biggest loser is always audio, which needs room within a TV’s chassis to move the air and create sound. If there’s less room, well, high frequencies and the midrange might stay intact, but the bass? That’ll always suffer.
So why not just do away with internal speakers altogether? I think it’ll be interesting to have the choice of a model that didn’t have built-in speakers and came with a soundbar instead.
Speaking of which…
Throw a soundbar in a TV package combo
This does happen, but not often enough. The way it’s viewed is that it’s a sales promotion – I’m more interested in it being an actual proposition.
If we’re not going to ditch speakers, then let’s have a TV where the soundbar is not a promotional offer to entice you but an actual combo – a genuine two for the price of one solution.
Sure, TV brands might feel that they’re giving a soundbar away, but I’d say with my 20-year-old knowledge from GCSE Business Studies, that you’d lock that customer into both your brand’s picture and sound offerings. Perhaps this is why I’m not a business person.
The customer could sell the soundbar for profit, an issue I’m aware of, but that’s where I’d go back to radical idea number one. If the TV doesn’t have speakers, they’d be a fool to sell the soundbar that comes with it!
Sell me some surround speakers instead
This idea is not new, and I’m not surprised that more haven’t attempted it. Just off the top of my head, trying to maintain the consistency and tonality of sound between the TV’s built-in speakers and that of a surround speaker might be tricky – but not impossible.
It’s not a new idea because, in a sense, Dolby Atmos FlexConnect brought it to the market. But despite launching two years ago, it hasn’t made much of a dent. TCL and Hisense announced FlexConnect speakers, and then the dial tone seemed flatline thereafter.
Now LG is jumping on the FlexConnect wagon with its Sound Suite models, and it has the right idea. It’s convenient – you can place the surround speakers where you like and through the wizardry of technology, the speakers will understand where they are and adapt.
It’s flexible – you don’t necessarily need the H7 Soundbar and can rely on the M5 and M7 satellite speakers, and even the W7 subwoofer. You can have multiple speakers, which solves a problem spatial audio currently has: it’s front-heavy from the main speaker rather than filling a room. The surround speakers are wireless, so you don’t have to deal with HDMI compatibility issues, which can be the bane of my reviewing life.
This solution is likely to be the most expensive, but as I’ve written before, I think modular is the way to go when it comes to home cinema sound systems.
There are TV brands that deliver a good sound from their TV – Sony, Philips, and Panasonic are three, while TCL and Hisense have gotten better at providing built-in audio solutions.
Some have worked with hi-fi brands (Philips with Bowers & Wilkins; TCL with Bang & Olufsen, Sharp with Onkyo, and Hisense will soon start working with Devialet). If you’re not going to do any of my wacky theories, collaborations and partnerships like these are a good bet.
I simply don’t think this regular theme of recommending a soundbar to go with your TV when the sound is poor can continue. For some, even a £700 TV is expensive – to have to buy a sound system on top of that is one purchase too many. I can’t stand poor sound, and quite frankly, neither should you.
