I liked my old Sceptre TV, but after 8+ years it recently stopped powering on. The identically-sized replacement has sound quality that is absolutely horrid...

I liked my old Sceptre TV, but after 8+ years it recently stopped powering on. The identically-sized replacement has sound quality that is absolutely horrid... and by that I mean my cell phone sounds better! Okay, a sound bar might be a reasonable investment but... my new Sceptre TV doesn't do HDMI-ARC, which means a soundbar is a big ongoing hassle, for the life of the TV. I still give Sceptre credit that they have VGA inputs, and handle DVI converted to HDMI properly (separate audio input), which it seems all other manufacturers just shrug off and don't care to support, even if their know-nothing support reps may tell you otherwise.