Built-in vs External Speakers for Projectors: Which is Better?

Introduction

A clean-looking projection can grab attention, but without good sound, it won’t be the good kind of attention. Audio is half the experience. It brings life to the visuals, makes speech clearer, and helps immerse your audience. When sound falls flat, it breaks the connection, no matter how good the picture looks.

In this post, we’ll explore whether built-in projector speakers can deliver good enough sound or if upgrading to external speakers is the better choice.

Table of Content

1. How Bad Audio Can Ruin a Great Visual Setup？

Even the best projector can’t compensate for bad sound. Without clear audio, words get lost, tension fades, and focus breaks. Muffled voices make meetings hard to follow, especially for remote listeners. Action scenes lose their punch, and quiet moments lose their weight; it’s a lose-lose situation. A good sound setup, built-in or external, fixes this and will let your content shine.

2. Different Audio Needs for Different Situations

Not every setup needs surround sound, but some do. Let’s break it down:

• Movies & Gaming: Sound with strong bass and wide stereo separation will give you the most immersion. Surround sound also intensifies action sequences and helps you hear subtle in-game cues.

• Business Presentations & Video Calls: Clear, natural voice reproduction is the most important. Audio doesn’t need to be loud, but speech should sound clear and easy to understand. It’s best to prioritize a projector with built-in speakers since they are more portable.

• Outdoor Screenings: High-powered speakers that can fill a large space without distortion. Outdoor setups need more volume to cut through background noise.

Room size matters too. Large rooms or spaces with lots of hard surfaces can cause sound to echo or get lost, while smaller rooms may only need moderate speaker power to sound full.

Figure1-Built-in vs. External Speakers

3. Built-in vs. External Speakers: What’s the Better Choice?

Projectors usually have the convenience of built-in speakers. They might be enough, or you may need external ones based on your room size and audio needs.

3.1. Projectors with Built-in Speakers

Built-in speakers keep things simple. They save space, cut down on wires, and work right out of the box. But their small size limits how powerful and detailed they can sound.

Pros and Cons

Example: If you’re doing a quick presentation in a small office, built-in speakers might be fine. But if you try hosting a movie night with them, you’ll probably end up struggling to hear quieter scenes.

Figure2-a small movie room

3.2. External Speakers for Projectors

External speakers add complexity but dramatically improve sound quality. They give you more volume, better bass, and a wider, more immersive soundstage.

Example: If you’re building a home theater or hosting events in larger rooms, external speakers are the best experience. Even a simple soundbar with a subwoofer will make a night-and-day difference.

Figure3-external speaker

4. How to Decide What’s Best for You?

The choice mostly depends on your use. Let’s break it down by home and business use:

For Home Use:

• Room Size: Bigger rooms need more powerful speakers.

• Main Use: Movies and games benefit from external speakers; casual TV watching might not.

• Budget: Built-in speakers save money, but external ones can completely transform the experience.

• Space & Setup: Soundbars or compact speakers work well if you want less clutter.

• Future Upgrades: If you change houses, it’ll be easier to move a built-in speaker projector or build on its sound with external gear, while starting out with external speakers needs more installation effort.

In a small living room, a projector with halfway decent built-in speakers might do the job. But if you want a true home theater feel, upgrading to at least a 2.1 system is a better idea.

For Business Use:

• Presentation Type: Voice-heavy presentations need clear speech; multimedia content needs fuller sound.

• Audience Size: Larger rooms or bigger audiences need louder, more powerful speakers.

• Portability: If you move between locations, built-in speakers might be more practical, you get more quality from that compared to Bluetooth speakers.

• Existing AV Gear: If you already have mics, sound systems, or conferencing equipment, think about how your projector fits into that setup.

• Ease of Use: A projector with built-in speakers is easier for different people to use without knowing the special tuning of a full sound system.

For a 5-30-person team meeting, the built-in speakers for the projector might be enough. But for a 50-person seminar, external speakers will let everyone hear the presentation more clearly, even in the back of the room.

5. StarryHub: A Balanced Solution for Business Audio

The CZUR StarryHub is the perfect mix of built-in and external speakers, so it’s a smart option for businesses that want quality sound without complicated setups.

What Makes StarryHub Stand Out?

• 10W Built-In Speaker: More powerful than most built-in options, they can give clear, natural sound for meetings and presentations.

• 6-Mic Circular Array: It can catch voices from any direction (up to 10m) with noise reduction and echo cancellation, so remote participants will hear speakers loud and clear.

• Low Fan Noise (24 dB): Keeps background noise to a minimum, so the speaker isn’t competing with the projector itself.

• Multiple Audio Inputs: Support Bluetooth means there's more flexibility to add external speakers if needed.

In a common conference room, StarryHub’s built-in speaker can easily deal with meetings with up to 30 people. It also works fine for larger spaces or multimedia-heavy presentations, but you can still connect external options for another layer of sound depth via Bluetooth.

Figure4-built-in speaker

Experience StarryHub Built-in Speaker

Conclusion

Projectors have improved a lot, with built-in speakers now offering more than just basic sound. External systems still provide better sound, but both options are good. 

Thanks to tech improvements, it’s easy to find quality choices at any price. The decision comes down to what you need. Presentations, movie nights, and gaming all need different sound setups.  In the right context, either built-in or external speakers can deliver great sound.