For the technically minded, can anyone explain the rationale around the urge for television manufacturers to skimp on the audio quality of their products.

I would have thought it comes down to size. CRT’s had a bigger housing so there was more space for speakers. Bigger speakers produce more sound. Flat screen TV’s have a much smaller footprint and there seems to be a race to produce thinner and thinner displays leaving much less space for speakers.

@Lightlyseared GA.

I was going to suggest it partially because a lot of people (like me I admit) can’t really distinguish between good sound systems and poor ones as long as they can hear what is said so why spend the money improving the quality if it isn’t appreciated.

I experienced the same “dilemma” with my laptops. At full volume you can barely hear anything. My guess would be with most new electronics. people are using earbuds and headphones and with TV’s probably the vast majority are supplemented with amplifiers and surround sounds so why put expensive sound reinforcement into hardware and thusly keep the price down.

In the store, when there are zillions of TVs lined up, the volume is usually down anyway so nobody knows. Most people buy for screen quality and techies will supplement with a sound bar.

So many people hook their TV’s up to their Surround Sound amps, so why have good sound on the TV?

I like @Lightlyseared ‘s geometric answer.

Electronic products generally have crazy competition for price so I expect they skimp on good sound since as @rojo wrote, many can’t/won’t notice the problem.

Also as the last three people mentioned, people who do notice can buy improved sound systems which (given the space limits and price competition for new flat TVs) the TV couldn’t easily compete with.

And it creates the need for another thing for people to buy… :-P

Since this is in “Social” perhaps the issue is not the audio but your advanced hearing age. lol
Maybe you need to get an ear trumpet Stan. ;-)
Okay, seriously, while not a technically minded type I think all of the answers above provide good clues.

It’s a mystery me, too. I wound up buying a $300 sound bar for my $1800 55” Sony 4K… and $300 was the store’s cheapest!).

LOL @Coloma If you did not type your answer for me to read, my reply would be WOT….WOT You say??

@Coloma Ear trumpet? One must be of a certain vintage to have even heard (no pun intended) of such a thing. My daughter brags that her father. can hear a penny hit the sidewalk a full block away.

I’d be happy for the tv not to even have sound when I’m going to hook it to a receiver anyway. It’s the compromise with price. Most folks who will not buy a soundbar or receiver don’t care that much about sound quality

I think @kripter and I had the same thought. So many times people have more elaborate sound systems just devoted to quality audio that tv makers just assume you use the cables and not the speakers provided.

@Pachy: Check Costco. Online with Costco, you don’t need to be a member to order.