TVs have probably changed more in the last 15 years than at any time since 1967 when colour transmissions started on BBC2. In this relatively short period of time we have seen huge improvements in almost all aspects of using a TV. These advances include the following :
Square (4:3) shaped screens have changed to widescreen (16:9).
Inefficient analogue signals have given way to the new digital ones.
We had seen the introduction of HD broadcasting.
Ceefax & Teletext have been replaced by interactive services such as BBCi
We can now use our TVs to watch iPlayer or other on demand services instead of recording.
TV's can now let you access Skype, twitter or Facebook as social networking gets ever popular.
Trudging to the rental store has all but gone as we stream movies via broadband instead.
32" screen sizes are now considered small. 15 years ago, 36" was as big as you could get.
TVs in bedrooms for children was still considered a luxury instead of a standard fitting.
Mounting a TV on the wall was a feet of structural engineering and only really happened in pubs or hotels to keep them out of reach of the public.
All these improvements have been fantastic for the consumer & made using a TV more enjoyable than ever before. There has however been been one big casualty through this period. Sound quality.
Old fashioned CRT TVs
15 years ago, TVs were huge, not by screen size, but by sheer bulk. Larger TVs could be almost 2ft (600mm) deep & often had 4-6 inches (100-150mm) of plastic frame around the edge of the screen. A lot of this bulk was unavoidable & simply dictated by the size of the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology that was used to produce the picture.
The up-side for this bulk was that speakers could be placed in less conventional positions. They were often placed behind the CRT itself with ports directing the sound out of grills at the front.
We also saw TVs that had sub-woofers on top of the CRT, sometimes inside the main casing, or inside an additional clip on unit. They were out of sight when watching the TV but added valuable depth to the sound quality.
The beauty behind this was that the designers didn't have to worry too much about the audio, they could fairly easily provide a quality of sound that all but the most critical viewer would happily accept.
The early flat-panel TVs
The early generations of flat-panel TVs didn't fare too badly with their sound quality. At the start, manufacturers overcame the space limitations by placing speakers at the side of the screens, at the bottom of the screens and by placing smaller bass speakers behind the screens.
Even so, the depth of these new TVs was a revelation compared to the old CRT sets and even this Panasonic from 2006, with a depth of 6 inches (150mm) was considered slim. The manufacturers were not adding depth to the sets to incorporate these speakers. They were simply fitting the speakers in around the vast amount of boards, heat-sinks & other components that were needed for the TVs to work.
By 2005, manufacturers had started to realise that the design of the TV was becoming almost as important as the picture & sound quality. The picture below shows how much the design of a 32" LCD from Panasonic changed from one range to the next. The later TV offered much sleeker lines and far less frame around the screen. The obvious speakers on the earlier set have been replaced with hidden speakers on the newer design but are still found either side of the TV screen.
Today's flat panel TVs
The trend for TVs to become more streamlined has continued & been made easier as components have got smaller allowing more of then to be squeezed on to each circuit board. As this trend continued and further advancements such as LED back-lighting appeared, more pressure was put on the space needed to accommodate a decent set of speakers. At this point different manufacturers approached the design of their TVs differently, some sacrificed the size of the speakers to suit the styling of the TV, others sacrificed the styling in the pursuit of better sound. Fairly quickly it became obvious that the more stylish TVs were preferred by the consumer & if required extras speakers could solve the sound problem.
The picture above gives you an idea how far the casing around a Plasma TV has shrunk between 2004 & 2012. The later TV does have speakers built in, but watching anything other than a soap opera or the news may leave you feeling disappointed. You certainly wouldn't, by choice, want to watch the Proms or an action film as there would be many aspects of the audio missing from your experience.
The images above show a top-end 32" from 2006 compared with a mid-range 32" from 2012. It's quite clear how much smaller the newer TV is. The photo in the middle shows a speaker taken from an older LCD lined up next to a new set. The new set is almost half the depth of the speaker & graphically shows the reason why newer TVs have such poor sound reproduction, there is simply no room to do it.
It's a conspiracy!
We've had quite a few people coming in to our store saying that the poor sound quality is all part of a conspiracy from the manufacturers to make us buy additional equipment so we can enjoy TV. I can see where this idea has come from a consumers perspective but highly doubt that this is the case. One of the reasons I doubt this is because the degradation of sound quality has been a slow and continual process. If Panasonic, Sony or Samsung wanted to force people to buy home-cinema systems they would simply take the speakers out completely or would have jumped from the reasonable quality found in 2004 straight to today's standards for the 2005 range. They didn't do this & have been developing speakers ever since to try and maintain as much sound quality as possible. Unfortunately they are fighting an uphill battle against styling and consumer preference.
To see our range of products that will help improve the sound quality of your TV please visit our web site www.HickmansOldTown.com Or for our blog about improving the sound quality of your TV please click here!
Buying a new washing machine should be a simple enough task, shouldn't it?
In theory yes, but today's vast array of washing machines can cause confusion. For this reason I thought it might be useful to give you some information and things to look out for when buying a new one.
One of the first things to look out for with a new machine, and something that sounds fairly obvious, is the physical size. All of the normal machines on the market are designed to fit into a space 600mm wide by 850mm tall. This should be the size of gap that has been left by your kitchen fitters if you have a new kitchen, or the size of gap your existing item is in. There is however the chance that your gap maybe slightly under 600mm wide. this is normally due to errors when fitting the kitchen or the previous machine (that the units were built around) being slightly thinner. For this reason it is always worth double checking.
One dimension that can change quite a bit is the depth (front-back) of the machine. Standard machines will generally be somewhere between 550-650mm. In the past we have had issues in very small galley kitchens where slightly deeper machines can prevent cupboard doors opening properly. If the depth is a problem for you, there are slimline machines from brands like Bosch that are only 450mm deep. These do however have a much smaller wash load.
Capacity
15-20 Years ago a washing machine was lucky to have a wash load of around 5-5.5kg. People accepted that larger loads such as sheets or blankets may need to go to the laundrette and were happy to do multiple cycles to clear the backlog of washing. Times however have changed. In today's fast paced hectic world of after school sports events, meals out with friends, visiting family, walking the dog & the more mundane everyday things like shopping and working, it seems like we have less time to do the washing. This is one of the reasons why manufacturers have been making larger & larger capacity machine. It is almost normal for a washing machine to now have an 8kg wash load and not surprising to know that 11kg loads are now available.
Having a larger capacity allows you to do less wash cycles per week saving you money on electric, water, detergent & conditioner. Don't worry if you can't always fill the full load though. Most machines now monitor how much washing is in the drum and will adapt their cycles accordingly to be as efficient as possible. Bear in mind though, using the machines to the wash load capacity will minimise your running costs.
Energy Rating
The buzz words at the moment seem to be "eco-friendly" & "energy efficiency". As these are such important matters the EU has revised the law on how products are labelled for efficiency. The new labels should make it easier to find the most efficient machine for your budget and needs.
All washing machines being made for sale in the EU now have to provide an "A" rated wash performance so this detail has been removed from the new labels. The new labels give you an idea how much water & electric the average person will use during a years use of the machine. The exact values will vary depending on how you use it, but as all machines are tested in the same way it is a good comparison between models. Currently washing machines can be rated up to "A+++" for their efficiency. Some machines have already attained this level of performance and are likely to become even more efficient in the future too!
Something to bear in mind when were talking about efficiency is the initial cost of the machine. If you're doing a dozen washes per week, spending extra to get a very efficient machine could well save you money in the long run. If you only do a couple of cycles per week it is unlikely you'll recoup the additional cost of choosing an "A+++" machine over an "A" rated machine during its lifespan.
Wash Cycles
Wash cycles have become far more important over that last few years & the machines are now far more tailored to different types of clothes. Some machines will have special cycles for outdoor wear, sports kit, baby clothes or bedding to name a few. If there are any particular types of cycle that you need, check with the sales person to see which machines suit your needs.
Each wash cycle is designed to hold only a certain amount of washing. This is to allow the clothes, water, detergent and drum action to work in harmony with each other to give you the best results. For example a synthetics wash may only be designed to handle 4kg of washing even if the machines capacity is 8kg.
The capacity normally refers to a cottons wash only, with all other cycles varying as listed in the instruction book.
If you do overload the drum, the machine will still complete a wash cycle but may have to use more water, more electricity and take significantly longer to finish the load. The clothes are also likely to come out feeling strange to the touch compared to normal. This not only affects your outlay on running costs but you may also find that you have to replace your clothes more often. This is because they are not being taken care of as they as supposed to be.
It can come as a bit of a shock but it's worth thinking about how much the clothes in a wash load could be worth. For example, I've priced up the value of the clothes that a typical wash for cottons could be for an average man. These are prices from Next and as such are neither budget or designer prices.
2 Pairs of Jeans, starting at £45 each, £90
4 Cotton T-Shirts at £25 each, £100
5 Pairs of Cotton Socks, £10
6 Pairs of Boxer Shorts, £40
5 White Work Shirts, £22 each, £110
2 Pairs of Shorts from £22 each, £44
Total, £394
Now I might be a little bit of a skinflint but £394 sounds like a lot of money to be throwing away by not looking after your clothes with the correct wash cycle! It also seems a bit odd to me to trust a £300 washing machine to repeatedly wash loads of up to and over £400!
Special Features
On top of all of the normal wash cycles most machines now have a variety of additional features and functions to help you personalise the machine to your own needs. These features vary from brand to brand but also in their purpose.
Some machines such as the Aqualtis from Hotpoint have steam cycles that allow to clean your clothes with just 200ml of water. Ideal for refreshing clothes that have only been worn once or may have picked up odours from day to day use.
Other machines like the Siemens IQ500 varioPerfect or Panasonic VX3 have speed/eco options. These allow you to either significantly increase the wash time to save you money on electricity or reduce the wash time, by using more power. This means you can either get more washes done when you're home or you can save money when you're at work!
Most machines tend to have a couple of additional features in common, these will often include a "Reduced Ironing" mode to keep creases to a minimum. An "Extra Rinse" rinse cycle so allergy sufferers can ensure there is no detergent left in the clothing and a "Mini load" button. This lets the machine know if only a couple of items are being washed. This is not to be confused with the old "Half Load" button which has disappeared from almost all machines. Today's washers are able to estimate the level of laundry in the drum (as long as it's more than just a couple of items) and use the correct amount of water accordingly.
Spin Speed
Washing machines today tend to have spin speeds of 1200-1600rpm. 1800spin machines are available but are few and far between. The need for 1800spin machines has diminished as drum design has become more efficient, allowing water to drain more easily. The spin speed rating is the maximum speed of the drum. Different cycles will spin at different speeds to look after the clothes you are washing. You can generally choose to slow the spin down or even cancel the spin cycle all together. You can't however increase the speed, this is to make sure you don't damage the clothes!
If you always dry your clothes outside or are never in a rush for the clothes to dry, the spin speed is irrelevant and shouldn't be a big factor in your decision. On the other hand, if you always dry your clothes inside or use a tumble dryer, a faster spin speed will help keep the drying costs down. It will also reduce the amount moisture in the air at home, particularly important if you suffer from damp or mould problems.
Latest Technology
Consumer electronics are now changing more rapidly than ever before, with new developments appearing every year on domestic appliances. These developments continue to bring running costs down and allow the machines to look after your clothes better than ever before.
One of the latest advancements comes from Siemens and their iDos IQ700 washer. This machine has replaced the traditional detergent drawer with a much larger container that will hold enough liquid detergent & conditioner for approximately 20 washes. On top of the normal wash cycles that you would expect to find on a washing machine, this Siemens has 2 Fully Automatic washes too.
These wash cycles literally allow you to put your washing in and press start!
The machine works out how much clothing you have put in the drum, the type of material it is made from, how dirty it is and how hard the water is in your area. Once it has this info the iDos IQ700 works out exactly how much detergent & softener it needs, to the nearest millilitre, to complete the cycle as efficiently and as effectively as possible.
If this wasn't fantastic enough, there is also something called autoStain Removal (ASR). This feature allows you to tell the machine if there is a particular type of stain on the clothes you are washing. This sets the machine in to a slightly different cycle that is designed specifically to remove one of 14 different types of Stain, without the need for extra substances like Vanish. By using all these technologies together the IQ700 is able give you incredible washing results combined with huge savings on detergent, electric, water, softener & stain remover.
All this technology obviously pushes the initial purchase price of the machine upwards. This jump in price may however be largely recouped over the machines life. Siemens have worked out that over 5 years the IQ700 will save you about £275 in running costs. This does not take in to consideration the additional lifespan that the machine will give your clothes by looking after them for longer. Neither does it take in to account the probability that it will last significantly longer than a lower priced machine, reducing the need to replace or repair as often.
In line with this the higher end machines from brands like Panasonic or Siemens are likely to come with longer warranties. Typically these now tend to be 2 years as standard or 5 years during promotional periods. Some machines also carry a 10 year warranty on the motor, again demonstrating the manufacturers faith in their products.
Lastly
When helping you buy a washing machine, the information above forms part of our product knowledge to ensure you get the right machine for your needs. Unlike some of our competitors, we never want to push a higher cost machine onto any of our customers. What we do want to do is make sure that whichever machine you buy you are genuinely happy with.
Our machines are almost always delivered & installed free of charge in the local area, plus we will remove and recycle your old item free of charge too. We are always available either in store or on the phone to help with your queries, both before and after your purchase.
To see our range of Washing Machines, please visit our website
The early generations of flat-panel TVs didn't fare too badly with their sound quality. At the start, manufacturers overcame the space limitations by placing speakers at the side of the screens, at the bottom of the screens and by placing smaller bass speakers behind the screens.
