Doesnt help that most of the new tvs on sale have back/ down firing speakers. Its stupid. Im clinging on to my plasma until it gives up the ghost.

Sadly, most new TVs in the US have factory settings that promote in-store display: cranked up saturation, punchy & unbalanced audio, etc. One of the first things that should be included with your initial setup of any new TV should be correcting that bullshit, IMHO.

Hell, I was stuck at a massive "thrift" store (ie. warehouse size) and in my time-wasting wander, I noticed their media section had TVs with wildly different picture settings. All volumes were zeroed or muted, so I know someone had to interact with each one —and, it's statistically unlikely that each was set that way when individually donated/acquired. So, I went over and began silently correcting them.

I mean, no one in the store was giving those borked screens a second glance —until I fixed them. Some fellow shoppers started asking me a few basic questions about the TVs, and my ND ass didn't connect the dots. These are people simply asking for help, and I enjoy helping people find the tech they need/want, so: win/win.

I must've helped half a dozen of them to choose the best one for their needs & budget, and each left with one in their cart. Near the 10min mark, a worker came over to ask what I was doing, so I told him: "I'm helping total strangers buy a TV from you, I guess? Do you want me to stop? You are running out, so I can understand the concern." 🤣

If I tried that at Costco, etc? I'd get arrested before I could say ACAB. ☝🏼

I had for years a 2.1 stereo setup and the one thing that fixed it for me was adding a center speaker.

It seems that AV receiver downmixing can't quite handle that center channel content so you end up with voices sounding quiet so you turn up the volume only for any loud noises to blow your head off.