I have full-up 7.1 Surroundsound setup and it sounds fantastic! BUT. I'm looking for a solution to casual TV viewing that does not include firing up the A/V receiver everytime I watch TV but improves on the standard Audio of the LCD TV. Everything I've found so far is either overkill(includes DVD, Subwoofer, etc), or cannot connect to 2 seperate sources. Currently have BOSE VCS-10 Center Channel speaker right beneath the TV and the ideal solution would be a soundbar that could act as a Center Channel Speaker when the A/V receiver is on -or- as a powered soundbar (stereo only) when the receiver is off. I would replace the VCS-10 if necessary.
Unfortunately the Samsung LN46A550 only has digital optical out and discrete analog audio out (RCA jacks). No amplified output. My thought was to use the optical out to the HT AVR and the RCA connections to some sort of stereo soundbar with active speakers. I hope I'm making sense here. Just seems like a basic problem with alot of flatscreen TV's audio quality. A soundbar type device that would easily connect to the TV out and AVR out and switch between the two would be ideal.