Speakers on flat screen TVs are not noted for their quality, so I find it difficult to follow speech in drama programmes on my Panasonic LCD TV, particularly when there is a lot of background noise such as traffic. Although not a true surround sound system, this unit has solved the problem and at a very reasonable price.
One note of caution: if your television does not have RCA sound-out sockets, you will need to buy a 3.5mm stereo jack plug connector, to connect the unit via the TV's headphone socket - why does Sharp only supply the RCA cables?