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Bottom line for me is that if you judge the new BG by the standards we would apply to any new SF effort, it's good but not killer ... nor should it ever be compared to the original, too much time has passed, it's an apples/oranges thing ... standards have changed. I remember the...

I liked it. This is hard Science Fiction, not a ridiculous comic book as was the original series. It's also not for young kids, with that amazing "Number Six" walking around using sex as a weapon. The show has an agreeable edge and it's not afraid to show you that war is dirty and violent and...

The effects of infrasonic sound I described are all real. I was there during much of the experiment. By the way, the two smallest speaker systems we constructed during the program (the only two considered portable) ended up in the music department and the campus chapel, where they were found to...

I want to submit a warning here. In the early 1970's I got a campus job working for one of my EE professors who was in turn supporting research on infrasonic sounds conducted by the Psych Department. (I never found out who was providing funding, it may have Psych or possibly even some Federal...

I didn't see a distortion spec at those web sites. The time-honored way to appear to have more power than a competitor would be quoting a power rating without disclosing the frequencies where distortion was measured, the amount of distortion, and the conditions of test (all channels driven...

Lee - that's cold, dude. Take her to the hospital. The subwoofer will wait.

Colin, I constructed a screen as follows: 1) I built a rectangular frame of 1X3 S4S fir joined with half-lap joints in the four corners. This is stout material and you should not substitute other softwoods such as pine. 2) I then stretched the white blackout fabric over this frame and...

This subwoofer is in fact the one Dickason discusses in detail in his book Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, 6th Edition. Everything you would ever want to know, and then some. Gary

I would go for a Piano or a new SVGA data-grade digital projector. Nothing like having new stuff under warranty. If it was me, I'd get a 4:3 data-grade projector with zoom and use the current screen. Digital projectors tend to have longer throws than CRT's, and are much easier to ceiling...

David, I use an XGA-resolution, 1000-lumen LCD projector, the NEC VT-540, which otherwise is pretty similar feature-wise to Matt's LT-150 (I auditioned both in my home). Either of these projectors offers compatibility with all three XBOX video modes you mentioned via the internal scaler...

The best solution for you would be a GrayHawk screen from Stewart, or perhaps even the new FireHawk. These screens offer on-axis gain so you get a nice bright picture, but they also have gray pigments incorporated which reduce the effect of ambient light and twice-reflected light which first...

Theo Kalomirakis, the famous theater designer, offers such ready made panels as options in his "Signature" series theaters. Look it up here: http://www.tktheaters.com/ If those turn out to be too pricey, Edmund Scientific offers inexpensive plastic fiber optics kits. Gary

You might re-read my message. I didn't attempt to generalize by stating that I always prefer the "Fullscreen" version of a film - I stated only that I preferred one film Silence of the Lambs in it's "Fullscreen" aspect ratio. I quite agree that many "Fullscreen" film versions are inferior...

Sadly, the world is not as simple as we would like. One of the last movies Blockbuster stocked in both "Widescreen" and "Fullscreen" versions was the re-release of Silence of the Lambs, which they stocked up on for the initial DVD release of Hannibal last year. There are, generally speaking...

I use the 142.5l PR Shiva (EBS alighnment) for both music and home theater. I guess it depends on what music - I'm fond of E. Power Biggs on the pipe organ, and this cabinet design plus the Adire AVA250 plate amp are indeed perfect for such demanding musical material. Gary

Go here and read all about it: http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~mleach/lowtim/ The Low-TIM version is 120 watts RMS at 8-ohms, and will go to 240 watts RMS at 4 ohms if you build a stout power supply. The SuperAmp is here: http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~mleach/superamp/ This one will do 300 Watts...

IMHO, it depends upon what you are doing in this large room. In a typical smaller "Home Theater" room, there are a few seats and the audio "sweet spot" where you get perfect surround sound is a rather small area - and two surround speakers are sufficient. You could do something like this in...

The best of both worlds is to own a largescreen FP and also a high definition CRT display like a 32-36" multiscan monitor. Princeton Graphics makes such in both 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios. You then have the option of watching every video source you have either on FP (darkened room and total...

Note that there is a Region 1 DVD of this mini-series available. I found it of sufficient quality to add to my small collection of SF films. I may also pick up the Lynch movie version from 1984, which is for the most part, inferior. Gary

If it actually ships, this will be the new record holder (aside from that massive, approximately 90" diameter monster speaker we saw in the original Back to the Future film). The previous "biggest" was the Electro-Voice model 30A woofer produced in the 1970s, which was 30" in diameter. This...

The movie Sphere sucked because of the weak ending - which as true to the book which also sucks. Basicly they imagined it hadn't happened, got a momentarily confused look on their faces, and reality was changed. Give me a break already - Sphere was a big budget production with several big name...

If you can make a scale floor plan of your room, you can determine the ideal screen size and shape for true "movie experience" emotional involvement. The Society Of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) has determined from long experience and study what the apparent screen size should...

Congratulations - you are in the minority who can still hear the 15.75 Khz sweep frequency. Good luck in finding a service rep who can also hear it (some will privately think you are nuts). The high voltage flyback transformer is the usual culprit. I have resolved some such problems by...

Most people end up paying a fee to get these hauled away. If it is a fancy cabinet (finished furniture-grade hardwood versus plastic and particle board) then one alternative to trashing it is to gut it and put a projector inside with a front surface mirror to fold the optical path onto the...

I'm afraid not. The sound that goes through the walls and ceilings and floors is best addressed with sheet goods that make extra layers of acoustic insulation. There are also special techniques like resilient suspended floors - but such techniques are typically used to isolate home theater...

I disagree that it's a placebo. One thing a 100" screen does is place a 100" piece of cloth over what were formerly acoustic reflective surfaces. It is my experience that this deadens front of the room sound reflections and creates a noticeably crisper, more directional soundstage, with utter...

I enjoyed Hannibal and give it three stars out of four. The Silence of the Lambs was of course better, few books and few films are so thought-provoking, and seldom have I been as chilled as when observing the depraved serial murderer Jame Gumb dancing about attired in the tanned hides of his...

For two subwoofers I built for my sister, I simply constructed the MDF cubes from the plans on the Adire Audio web site (the EBS alignment Shiva Passive Radiator subs). These were then built into two end tables that flanked her overstuffed sofa. The drivers faced down and the PRs faced the...

I did evaluate the LT150 before buying a VT540 - I want to correct some misunderstandings in the thread above. Screen size - the LT150 is a fixed throw projector with no zoom, so use the projection calculator at http://www.projectorcentral.com/ to determine the screen size for any projection...

"Tinning" the stranded wire means you heat it and touch the solder to it and effectively make the end of the wire one solid piece instead of individual strands. This avoids the stray strand that may cause a short. By sealing the alcohol and letting the fumes evaporate before using an open...