May 2013 - Snellings Gerald Giles

In our last blog post we reviewed what we think are the best 32 inch TVs around at the moment. They are popular as second room TVs or for smaller living rooms especially if you don’t want the entire room dominated by the box.

Now we move on the larger but still extremely popular 40 and 42 inch TVs. Again these TVs won’t take over the room and are still great for second rooms or bedrooms. Whilst the best of the 32 inch TVs range in price from £350 up to £550, the 40 and 42 inchers that we’ve chosen here range from £950 through to £1,100. That may seem like a lot of money – but all the TVs listed below have excellent picture quality, great styling and let you do much more than just watching live TV.

Whichever one you pick – you’re in for an amazing cinema experience – in your very own home.

We start with a TV that has set pulses racing since it was unveiled earlier this year at CES2013. We are talking of course and about the phenomenal Sony W8 range of TVs, all new for 2013. We’ve already reviewed the 47 inch Sony W8 LED TV in previous blogs so we’re already very slightly in love with these TVs from Sony.

The Sony KDL42W805 (to give it it’s full name) is the 42 inch version of the above and is a Full HD LED 3D TV and comes with all the same fantastic features of including Near Field Communication (NFC) to transfer the contents of your smart phone straight onto the big screen.

The design is lovely, with a great elliptical stand with soft baffle lightly to indicate what mode the TV is operating e.g. watching TV or playing Blu-Ray. Obviously you can surf the web, Skype and watch movies and programmes when you want via the Sony Entertainment Centre.

Next up we have the Panasonic TXL42FT60B another new TV for 2013 and another Smart Full HD 3D TV with full internet access. This set has a really wide viewing angle which means you get a great picture from virtually anywhere in the room.

The portal screen and menus are really easy to navigate but what makes the Panasonic stand out is its use of voice recognition. Yes – just speak into the remote and the TV will act upon your commands, for example just speak a search term into the remote and results appear on the screen. Brilliant for those who are yet to master touch typing.

Slightly more expensive than the Sony at £1099.99, this is a great TV with great features and über modern design.

If you’re really into your web browsing then our next pick of the best 40 – 42 inch TVs will satisfy even the most ardent of web surfers.

It’s the Samsung UE40Es7000KEY – a 40 inch screen TV that is the ultimate ease of use smart TV and may see your lap top relegated to the loft because it comes with a free wireless keyboard (while stocks last) making surfing the net an absolute breeze.

The UE40ES7000 comes with Smart Hub, a load of apps, Video on Demand and it now includes NetFlix.

The whole package is brilliant. Oh and the picture and sound quality are pretty excellent too. The Samsung UE40ES7000 retails at £999.99 making it a great value LED TV.

Finally we’ve thrown a 46 inch TV into the ring for your consideration. The Sony KDL46HX853 was released last year and was the top of the range Sony TV. It’s still up there with the best of them in 2013. It’s a Full HD 3D TV with an extremely lovely and practical monolith stand that doubles up as a speaker array – the sound quality therefore is better than most other flatscreens.

As with most Sony’s, the build quality is excellent, set up is childsplay and to go with the exceptional sound quality you get a fantastic picture with an awesome range of colours and deep true blacks.

The other thing that makes this a great LED TV is that you can buy this 40 inch beauty (that normally retails for around £1,500) for just £1,099.99. Which is just a fraction more than some of the newer 46 inch TV models above.

So there you have it – our best 40 – 42 inch TV review. With a 46 inch LED TV thrown in for good measure.

Any of these will give great all round performance and with manufacturers like Sony, Samsung and Panasonic you really can’t go wrong.

For more images of these TV – check out our Pinterest Board – “Best 42 inch TV. Our review.”

The new Sonos PLAY:3 promo is all about giving customers the ability to TRIAL this amazing bit of kit by giving them the chance to try it out, in your own home for a full 60 days. That way you get a chance to experience the brilliant sound quality that the PLAY:3 delivers.

Basically you get everything you need to test the PLAY:3 in your home, for 60 days.

Gerald Giles currently have the Sonos PLAY:3 reduced from £299 to £259 – making this an even better time to sample the sound of Sonos.

The PLAY:3 is a real “blow your socks off” wireless sound system that is small enough to fit in any room and lets you stream and play your entire music collection in crystal clear, cinema, surround sound audio quality.

Set up is simple with the Sonos Bridge, which is included free in this promotion.

And the addition of unlimited 60 days access to Napster means you can search, find and stream literally millions of songs.

We’ve always loved Sonos, their products are really well made and the sound they deliver is amazing. Now this promotion gives everyone the opportunity to try Sonos in their own own home – risk free. You really have nothing to lose so why not give it a try. We think you’ll be amazed at how different your favourite tunes will sound when they are played through the the PLAY:3.

For more pictures and info relating to this Sonos promotion visit our Pinterest board that we’ve put together just for the Sonos PLAY:3 or come in to our Norwich showroom to see and hear for yourself what the Sonos PLAY:3 can do.

32 inch TVs are really popular as a second room TV particularly for bedrooms and studies. But even if a 32 inch TV is going to be your main TV – it doesn’t mean you have to settle for poor picture quality, limited functionality or clunky design.

Most top manufacturers like Panasonic, Sony and Samsung have some really brilliant 32 inch TVs. In this blog we take a look at some of the best ones on the market right now. We hope that this helps you decide which 32 inch TV is right for your home.

Like our other reviews we haven’t put these in any particular order preferring to let you decide which one best suits your needs.

If you’re looking for a 32 inch TV with great picture quality then the Panasonic TX-L32E6B could be the right choice for you. This is a Full 1080p HD LED TV from Panasonic’s award winning Viera range which means you get a great picture with stunningly bright colours and deep, opaque blacks. On top of that you’ve got WiFi built in meaning you can surf the web and get your hands on loads of content through Viera Connect. Even if you haven’t got WiFi, the TX-L32E6B comes with an ethernet port, 3 HDMI sockets and a USB port – giving you a truly connected experience.

The TX-L32E6B is on sale now at £499.99, which is a great price for a TV that delivers such brilliant picture quality.

For the geeks among you who want to use their 32 inch TV for more than just watching TV, then Samsung’s ES6300 Series 6 (or UE32ES6300UXXU) is the one. Like the Panasonic this is a full HD TV but it’s also 3D. With wireless connectivity to the web you’ll be able to Skype friends all over the world. Sharing content is easy too. You can play movies direct from a USB stick and you can record programmes straight onto the USB drive too. The other snazzy feature of the Samsung ES6300 is it’s “One foot connection”. Place a compatible device within a foot of the TV and it automatically detects it allowing you to browse through photos, movies and TV programmes with ease – all from your sofa.

As far as looks and design goes both the Panasonic and the Samsung both look great.

But if you’re looking to make a real lifestyle statement then cast your eyes at the new for 2013 32 inch KDL32W653 from Sony. The W6 range has many of the features of the Sony W8 TV range which we recently reviewed – so that includes things like X-Reality image processing, Motionflow, Mirroring and access to the Sony Entertainment Network but what makes this 32 inch TV really stand out is the design. Simple and majestic the screen is slim with very little bezel and the stand is the epitome of understated elegance.

Finally, we thought we’d include another Sony 32 inch TV in our top picks simply because this one represents great value. At just £349.99 the Sony KDL32EX343 looks great, delivers really good picture quality, is fully connected and comes with FREEVIEW.

To see more images of these fantastic TVs – visit our Pinterest Board “The Best 32 inch TV. Our recommendations.”

Well, we hope our guide to the best 32 inch TVs has helped you decide which one is right for you.

As we said, there are some great TVs out there and with the manufacturers we’ve highlighted you can’t really go wrong but if you need any more help just drop us an email, pop into our showroom or give us a call on 01603 621772 and we’ll be happy to help.

More and more people are looking to improve the quality of their TVs sound by connecting a sound bar. We’ve talked already in our blogs about why flat screen TVs suffer from poor sound, and we’ve also highlighted some of the best TV sound bars around – namely the Sonos PLAYBAR and the Bose SOLO. Both of which are brilliant, lifestyle choices.

So we thought it was time to put together a top 5 TV sound bars to help you choose which is best for your budget, your TV and your room. So here it is.

Our top 5 is a blend of sound quality, ease of installation and obviously price – so we’ve tried to include a range to suit all budgets.

So in no particular order these are our picks of the best sound bars for TVs 2013.

This sits right at the top of the pile both in terms of quality and price. At £1300, it’s our most expensive TV sound bar but you do get an awesome subwoofer and it comes with its own remote. Dead easy to install – it’s pretty much plug and play. Everyone needs a mate every now and then. And so does your TV – so give it the Bose CineMate 1SR.

For £149.99 this beauty belts out 60 watts of power and you get a subwoofer too which delivers real 2:1 cinema sound. Plus you can’t go wrong with Sony, a great manufacturer with great, solid products. We like the hexagonal design of this one (see foot of the page) and it’s the perfect choice if you’ve got two or three flat screens at home that you want to upgrade.

What more can be said about this visually and audibly stunning sound bar from Sonos that hasn’t been said already. Check out our earlier blog dedicated to this piece of electronic wizardry. It sounds brilliant, looks gorgeous and with a globally famous DJ who wears a giant mouse head as an official ambassador – it’s dripping in Sonos coolness. We’re selling this for £599.99.

Similar in price to the Sony, this “less is more” designed sound bar can be yours for £179.99 and it pumps out a huge 90 watts of sound to give you the 2:1 channel effect. For the eco conscious amongst you – Panasonic claim this has a very low power consumption. The techies at Panasonic have also weaved some audio magic so that the sound actually appears to come out of the centre of the TV screen. This sound bar is great value and an obvious choice if you’re plugging it into a Panasonic TV.

We reviewed the Bose SOLO sound bar a while back. It’s not so much a bar – more of a slab. But that can be an advantage because you literally stand your TV on it, plug in one optical lead into the back of the telly and a power lead into the wall and it’s ready to rock. And rock it does. Bose don’t deal in watts – they deal in the quality of sound and for £349.99 you get phenomenal sound that you can actually feel.

So there you have it. Our five best TV sound bars for 2013. Remember we not only have these sound bars in our Norwich showroom, we also have them in our living rooms as well. Gerald Giles wouldn’t recommend products that we wouldn’t want to use our selves.

All of these sound bars deliver great performance and will really bring your TV to life. Come in and find out for yourself, give us a call on 01603 621772 or send us an email and we’ll be happy to help you find the one that is right for you.

Pictured below is the Sony HTCT60 with its smart hexagonal design. For more images of our top 5 sound bars 2013 visit our pinterest board where you’ll find out the identity of the DJ with the large mouse head.