22” or 24” LED HDTV with passable sound quality

[Robert M]

Hi everyone,

My father is in the market for a small LED HDTV for his kitchen. Although there is no such thing as an LCD/LED/Plasma TV with _great_ sound quality, small HDTVs such as those in the 24" and under range have even crappier speakers than larger HDTVs. My dad is in the market for a small HDTV and wants good sound quality. I already told him that it's not going to happen so he's willing to settle for passable sound quality.

While finding a small TV with good sound quality is going to be difficult, if not impossible, one with passable sound quality is definitely feasible. Several years ago, my wife and I were fortunate enough to find a 19” Sharp LCD TV with passable sound quality. It was more by accident than anything else and that particular model is long discontinued. Otherwise, I’d get a larger version of it for my dad.

Connecting the a TV to an external sound system isn’t possible in my dad’s kitchen space. Otherwise, I’d tell him to buy a small shelf stereo and use it for audio. I’m going to check out a couple of Sharps since my wife and I have had good luck with our small HDTV but I’d like an alternative or two if none of them pan out.

Suggestions will be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Robert

[Michael]

We just bought a 22" Vizio for our spare bedroom. It's either this one or one close to it: http://www.amazon.com/VIZIO-E221VA-22-In...r_1_3?s=tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1347387542&sr=1-3&keywords=vizio+tv The speakers are in the front bottom and are passable.

One other thing your dad might consider is whether he wants a kitchen tv that is on a swing-down mount. We have one that we rarely swing up, but having it not touching the counter makes a much more convenient than our old tv that sat there. That would have to be smaller than the 22. I think ours is somewhere in the 16" range.

[Grateful11]

I've not heard a TV built in the last 10 years that has decent sound.
We have TV's ranging from a 55" Vizio to 46" Sharp to a 32" Vizio
and the Sharp has fair sound quality. We have a Vizio soundbar on
the 55" that we're ok with.

[Speedy]

TVListener. Check eBay.

[Robert M]

Speedy,

Thanks for the suggestion. Headphones aren't a viable solution.

Robert

[sekker]

I spent a very long time shopping for a 30" LED LCD TV with decent speakers.

I ended up getting the last Vizio demo unit from Target. Literally every other model I field tested from Sam's Club, Target or BB had tinny sounding speakers. And none of the local stores had any more new units to sell.

Alas, that Vizio model is now EOL, so I'm not sure there's even a current equivalent.

I'm just offered a couple pieces of advice 1) Don't give up, there ARE some models with better sound and 2) Vizio did have a model with better quality sound than others at a similar price point.

[Rolando]

You won't get one, since flat panels have no resonating chamber (housing for a tube). Get a soundbar, or even a small amp with some bookshelf speakers will do the trick! I hooked my wife's TV in the bedroom to an old bookshelf system