How old are you and how is your hearing ??
My hearing is shot, I need the sound cranked. Subsequently anyone in the vicinity wants the sound turned down. My wife and I can't watch TV together because it deafens her while I can't hear it. So I have sets of Sennheiser infrared headphones hooked up to each TV which I use while she listens to either the TV sound or through the stereo system.
I often consider a sound bar but without any base/treble adjustment (which most lack) it won't do anything for me, I really need the higher pitches cranked and the base turned down.
2 cents from an old, deaf guy !!
I'm 63 and know my hearing isn't as good anymore (working in a Chrysler assembly plant didn't help) but my wife is 50 and she's thought the same thing about the sound quality of a flat screen TV.
The speakers point out the back on them and since our 50 in flat screen TV is in an amoire it really muffles the sound even more since it's harder for the sound to get out.
As others have already stated, the speakers on them are tiny and suck at sound quality.
