Speaker Efficiency/TV hookup

[wgb]

Hello Audioholics. Long time reader, first time poster. Here's the situation: I have a 32" Insignia TV in the bedroom. It's not too bad. I got it really cheap on a boxing day a couple of years ago. There is a "sound bar" that came with it that bolts onto the bottom of the TV providing sound. The interesting thing is the sound bar is connected to the TV on each side with speaker wire and conventional spring clips (ie. no internal wiring). The sound is pretty tinny, as you would expect. I think the TV amp is rated to put out 7W x 2. I didn't see any markings on the sound bar to indicate its impedence.

On a whim yesterday I hooked up some old JBL MR28 (large 2-way bookshelf) directly to the TV. I think they have an efficiency rating of 91db. I didn't think the TV could power them, but to my amazement it sounded 1000x better than the sound bar, and I got the desired volumes at about the same volume levels on the TV as before (ie. turned up about 1/3 of the way).

1) Can I assume that hooking up speakers such as these to the TV will not harm the TV amp?

2) I would like to get some new small speakers to put on stands beside the TV and eliminate the soundbar. It would be great if I didn't need a new amp to power them, because my wife doesn't like fussing with a lot of equipment while watching TV in bed. I'd like to run them right off the TV. Would the new speakers need to be just as efficient as the JBLs to work properly? If not, how low of an efficiency rating could I go on that low power being provided by the TV?


Thanks for your help.

 

[TLS Guy]

Hello Audioholics. Long time reader, first time poster. Here's the situation: I have a 32" Insignia TV in the bedroom. It's not too bad. I got it really cheap on a boxing day a couple of years ago. There is a "sound bar" that came with it that bolts onto the bottom of the TV providing sound. The interesting thing is the sound bar is connected to the TV on each side with speaker wire and conventional spring clips (ie. no internal wiring). The sound is pretty tinny, as you would expect. I think the TV amp is rated to put out 7W x 2. I didn't see any markings on the sound bar to indicate its impedence.

On a whim yesterday I hooked up some old JBL MR28 (large 2-way bookshelf) directly to the TV. I think they have an efficiency rating of 91db. I didn't think the TV could power them, but to my amazement it sounded 1000x better than the sound bar, and I got the desired volumes at about the same volume levels on the TV as before (ie. turned up about 1/3 of the way).

1) Can I assume that hooking up speakers such as these to the TV will not harm the TV amp?

2) I would like to get some new small speakers to put on stands beside the TV and eliminate the soundbar. It would be great if I didn't need a new amp to power them, because my wife doesn't like fussing with a lot of equipment while watching TV in bed. I'd like to run them right off the TV. Would the new speakers need to be just as efficient as the JBLs to work properly? If not, how low of an efficiency rating could I go on that low power being provided by the TV?


Thanks for your help.

Sounds as if you need speakers with a sensitivity of over 90db 1 watt 1 meter. Every time you loose 3 db it like halving your amp power. Your problem is that small and high sensitivity do not run together.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

What is the model number of your TV? I'd like to see if I can find some information that would help answer your questions about impedance.

To Mark's comment, how small of a speaker are you looking to get? There are plenty of bookshelf speakers that have sensitivities of 90dB or higher, but I don't know if they are larger than you want.

 

[wgb]

What is the model number of your TV? I'd like to see if I can find some information that would help answer your questions about impedance.

To Mark's comment, how small of a speaker are you looking to get? There are plenty of bookshelf speakers that have sensitivities of 90dB or higher, but I don't know if they are larger than you want.

The TV model NS-LCD32. Manufactured in Nov, 2006.

I was looking at something really small like the Energy RC-mini. I'm not sure how good something like that would sound, but if I can keep them under 10 inches high I can use stands I already have, and still have the speakers fit where they need to go without reconfiguring anything.