Voices too quiet, music too loud - and a couple of other Q's

[tenohfive]

I've got a Panasonic TXP42G10 on a wall mount (with no separate speaker/sound system) and recently something which started as a niggle is becoming really irritating. The voices come through too quietly which - when music starts - prompts a scramble for the remote too turn it down, as by contrast the music is too loud. It does this whether going through the Tivo box or streaming through an HTPC. I've had a quick mooch through the TV settings but don't really know what I'm looking for.

Is this something I can do 'in TV' or do I need to look at some sort of speaker setup? If the latter, any 'good budget' options?

Next question - I've had the TXP42G10 for 5 years (paid around £900) but with a much better streaming service am watching a lot more TV. It doesn't do anything badly and I'm still happy with it, but out of idle curiousity - without spending megabucks, would I notice a big difference swapping to a more modern offering? Not fussed about smart TV's as such (in the sense that I have an HTPC that does most of that stuff anyway), more curious in terms of image quality.

[tenohfive]

I've had a play about. Surround was already off, and it was on speech mode.
Maxing bass and treble does seem to have made a small improvement but it's still quite noticeable.

How much would I be looking for a reasonable (but budget) surround amp?

[tenohfive]

Then it's consistent across terrestrial broadcasting and streaming, and I agree - it's irritating. I think in the new year I'm going to bite the bullet and get a surround amp.

In the meantime is there anything I can do 'in PC' with the settings to make it a bit less noticeable when streaming over the HTPC?