Sound Advice: Big savings on a small TV soundbar

By far the most frequent questions and complaints sent to this column regard difficulty in hearing voices on television programs and poor TV sound in general.

There are three reasons for this. The first is that the dialogue is mixed to be lower in volume than the rest of the soundtrack. The second is that modern televisions have poor sound systems with tiny, rearward-facing speakers. The third is the demographics of newspaper readers, who tend to be older, and, as we all know, hearing issues tend to crop up as we get older.

Combine poorly mixed audio with weak, ineffective sound systems and older ears — you have a recipe for auditory frustration.

I have a plasma TV with both an antenna and a wireless satellite box. Despite being older technology, plasma is ideal for watching sports because of the natural colors and absence of motion blur. My father played football in college and is a huge fan. If he visits on a fall Saturday, he'll want to watch a game (even if it's between two obscure — at least, to me — teams). This television is set up just for him, and I wanted it to be ideal for his viewing with a great picture, satisfying sound and operational simplicity.

To deliver the sound for my dad's football games, I chose a ZVOX AV355 Low-Profile Soundbar. Available in three colors, the AV355 is a bit smaller than a typical soundbar but delivers full, room-filling sound with surprisingly good bass. It is very easy to set up and use and makes a dramatic difference in sound quality and dialogue clarity.

It has a dedicated center channel in the cabinet and there are several surround and AccuVoice modes to choose from. No matter which mode you choose, it projects the voices into the room. I achieved the best results with surround setting 2 and suggest you start there.

Why am I bringing this up now? Not only is football season about to start, but the soundbar, normally $299, is on sale for $199. Plus, until Sept. 30, using the coupon code SAVE70 on zvox.com brings the price all the way down to $129 with free shipping and a 60-day satisfaction guarantee. With an offer like this, there's no reason to suffer through poor television audio and dialogue any longer.

Q: My Onkyo TX-NR595 receiver has no preamp outputs for the surround channels, only speaker connections. I don't want to run speaker wires to the surround speakers. What are my options to get wireless surround sound without preamp outputs to connect to a wireless transmitter?

A: Your solution awaits you at Best Buy. The Rocketfish Wireless Rear Speaker Kit will take the output from your speaker terminals and transmit it to a remote amplifier that will power your surround speakers. I have not reviewed it, but users rate it highly. It sells for $149.99. bestbuy.com

Send questions to Don Lindich at donlindich@gmail.com. Get recommendations and read past columns at soundadvicenews.com.