How many households have HT sound systems? (1 Viewer)

[John Robert]

I agree 100%. Just helped a friend who bought a new house set up his first HT. By the time we got half way through toslink, coax, component, composite, 5.1 analog, bass management, crossover level, speaker placement, sound meter calibration, etc., etc. etc., I could see his brain overload with too much info.

Now I understand why Bose sells so many units - color coded wires, no adjustments, no fuss.

Until this changes, even mid-fi will stay on the fringes...

John

 

[Philip Hamm]

I'm a man and I hate wires as much as the stereotypical "woman" in this conversation. In my old townhouse I was willing to tolerate them because I had no choice, but I hated them. My wife didn't mind them at all. In my new home the only wires you'll see are the speaker wires going from the binding posts mounted in the wall/ceiling and the plug going from the wall to the TV. When we moved out of the townhouse I sold my sub; I was more excited than my wife about having a room with no "box" or "tube" type sub in it.

No, Home theater is not mainstream. Why is that a problem? Why must everybody share our particular interest?

 

[PaulDA]

The only people I know with home theatre setups are my wife's old boss (a JVC HTIB with speakers in all the WRONG places), my brother in law (just sold him my Denon AVR1600 and Panasonic S55 DVD--he's only got two speakers for now, but the room acoustics are horrible, though he wants to fix it up, so there's hope there ) and my cousin (though not for long--he had a break-in a few years ago and the insurance replaced his old '85 era Yamaha separates with a Denon AVR3600--which he's never used as more than a two channel receiver and which I'm buying from him for my secondary setup because he wants something "smaller and all in one, like Bose"--though I'm doing my best to dissuade this).

Otherwise, people just kind of give that indulgent smile you sometimes give a child whenever I talk about my system/hobby, though they all seem to enjoy watching movies at my place. I wonder why that is?

 

[Joris van W.]

Over here (Netherlands) all-in-one home cinema sets (you know, dvd/receiver + 5 little plastic speakers + sub) are a real hype. It seems that everybody buys one. I personally don't understand. The sound is really crappy (irritating high and booming low), but I guess that most people don't have high demands.

 

[Wayne Ernst]

In my experience, I do see homes that have some sort of audio/video capability. However, I do come across the following:

1) DVD players connected to 19" TVs with RF interfaces.
2) Front and center speaker combinations - that are obviously not timbre matched.
3) Home theaters in custom homes that have 10" subwoofer drivers powered by 75 watts of power - and 100" viewing screens for the projection system.
4) People who have 5 good speakers, a sub and a decent receiver - but, know nothing about DTS, DD 5.1, Pro Logic, crossover points, etc.

Basically, it's a very "mixed bag" of offerings out there. At the end of the day, I'm just happy to get home to what I have.

I'm not an installer at all. I basically do home renovations and repairs. However, I'm sure that I could make some major improvements in many of the systems that I see by charging a $150 fee to configure and calibrate their system. But, then the question comes to mind - they might not like to hear a properly calibrated system. After all, these could be folks who are using the "zoom" feature on the DVD player to fill up their screen with a picture. I think this battle will never be won.

 

[Tim Fennell]

I can understand all lot of the behavior described above. Some people just watch stuff and aren't into the "video experience". Some people own Ferraris and not Camrys. Everyone has their priorities.

I've always tinkered with audio gear. When I was in high school I bought a stereo for $300. My friends would have bought a junker car for that kind of money. ( and yeah it was 30 years ago... )

Over the years I've upgraded all sorts of pieces. Right now I am running 2 amps, a big 2 ch for the fronts and a 3 ch for the center and rears. I've picked up pieces used over the years and this was the way to go from 2ch to 5ch
without tossing the stereo amp.

My setup has video stuff on one wall in front and audio on another wall on the left. I have cables running along the wall from the audio to the front and to the back. I've tried to keep it so that the room can be used for other things than HT. I appreciate the fact that if I got a 100" projection screen I'd have to move everything out of the den and into another room. I'd rather have my gear in the room where we hang out all the time. It sometimes is painful but appreciate the aesthetic arguments given to me and I try to accomodate.


My mother got a dvd/vcr combo and I connected it up for her and used audio cables to get 2 ch analog into her stereo. To her it sounds heavenly, to me it is fine and to have to explain 5.1, toslink, DTS and DD is overkill...

She really likes the sound of my setup but at this point buying all the pieces new would go for about $10K-$12K for the audio side alone (Lexicon, Adcom, Velodyne, KEF, B&W) . Most people have fairly low satisfaction thresholds for audio. I'm in the middle - I'm no purist, but know what I like ( and what I'm capable of hearing ) and don't buy more than I need.

Finally I think that HT has a ways to go before it gets accepted into the norm. It is much like PCs were in the 80's. Way to hard to understand and not easy to get involved with it without overloading on techie terms and hard to assemble hardware.

Tim

 

[BryanZ]

Most do not share our passion for it. Most, if they get something, desire an all-in-one solution and are completely ignorant. They think boomy equals good and Best Buy and Ciruit City are the way to go. Most want small speakers with a TV that becomes the focal point of the room. (Just once I'd love to see a Trading Spaces episode that takes home theater design - function rather than looks - into account.) They think you should see the TV and only hear the sound, not where it is coming from.

Generally people are also ingnorant. However, with the advent of DVD and BB no longer really selling VHS HT systems will become more popular. People will need to be educated on calibrating a system, how much sub they need for a room, and why not to get an all-in-one system (more specifically dvd/receiver combo). They will have to learn for themselves for they will not draw upon the experience of others. Unfortunately, that experience will cost them hundreds of dollars but live and learn.

 

[Garrett Lundy]

Remember young grassshoper: Not every man is a king who can afford a 65" TV. But not even a beggar deserves to watch a Pan & Scan VHS tape.

 

[Robert Todd]

I cut holes through the floor, because all of my equipment is on the other side of the room from the RPTV. I had to run flat "wire-mold" up to the surrounds, then I painted them to match the walls. My equipment cabinet is enclosed, with cherry frames and black, perforated doors and sides. My Elite RPTV is, I think, the most attractive on the market, but it is still a big black box. My mains are big, tall MLs, and there are 4 surround speakers on 3 walls. I made every effort to integrate all this crap into the overall design scheme of the room, but it still looks like what it is: a media room. I imagine most of you have similar stories. I don't think most people are willing to compromise the homey "aesthetics" of their living space to accommodate all of the equipment necessary for a QUALITY HT. They want pictures of their kids and grandma on the walls, not speakers. The other factor limiting mass acceptance is that it actually requires WORK to put a decent system together. You have to familiarize yourself with the technologies involved, do some research, go out and audition, usually at several locales. All of this is just too much of a PITA for most folks. THAT is why Bose
sells so many POS systems. Everything, including the "receiver/DVD player" are in one box, with idiot-proof directions and color coding; tiny, inconspicuous speakers
that disappear into the room. Of course they sound like crud, but most people don't know the difference. No doubt,
most people who buy these things think they have a state-O-the-art system. You have to hand it to Bose though. Through clever (deceptive) marketing, they've suckered thousands into purchasing wildly overpriced junk. I have no respect for them as a company, but somehow I doubt they care.

 

[EricSal]

Great thread.

I really don't know anybody personally who is into HT. My next door neighbor has a Kenwood HTIB, with the three front speakers sitting across the top of his RPTV, and the two surrounds, together, on the floor along one side wall halfway between the couch and the TV. And he says how he loves the "surround sound". Yikes!

I come to HT via the background of a music fanatic, something I suspect is fairly common around here. Couple that with being a movie lover, and it makes the audio part of the movie experience more important than it probably is to most people. I remember when my wife and I went to see Bourne Identity at the local multiplex how totally unsatisfying it was for me because the left front channel wasn't working. My wife didn't even notice it But hey, she's a movie lover too and it was her idea to get a widescreen/big screen TV a couple of years ago - I was fairly content with the 30" Toshiba / Pro Logic setup we had, but never look a gift horse in the mouth! And well, once the TV got upgraded, I felt we really needed to go 5.1. And then of course those speakers aren't really timbre matched....

While she probably would be content with a $250 HTIB system, I wouldn't be. And I know she digs feeling the floor shake while the ladies are surfing pipeline in Blue Crush (the backspray sounds so real in that movie I can almost smell the ocean), or feeling like we're about to get trampled on the track in Seabiscuit. That's the kind of stuff that transforms just watching a movie into an experience.

But yeah, I don't have a dedicated "theater" room (although the kids better watch out, we have our eyes on the finished basement "bonus room") but just have the family room pretty much overrun with RPTV, speakers, etc.

The complication factor no doubt is the major reason more people don't do HT in any serious way. In my case years of messing around with stereo components and speakers (not to mention the endless fiddling with cables and wires and amps as a semi-working musician for awhile) no doubt went a long way towards removing that roadblock for me - and again I bet that's similar to a lot of others here. But for the population in general? What the world needs is a all-in-one solution with the simplicity of Bose but the sound of _________ (insert your favorite speakers here) at a price point that won't scare the average Joe away.

 

[Eric Shafer]

I think the Ferrari/Camry comparison fits best.

Medium to High quality Audio equipment is viewed by most as a LUXURY item.

I know the turning point for me was when I heard a scene from the Matrix in a sound demo room. Immediately I started doing the math in my head to figure out how I was going to afford the speakers/amp/DVD, etc.

I am convienced if more people heard how impressive a good/great surround setup can sound, more people would be inclinded to afford one.

Otherwise it is hard to justify spending $1000+ on a surround system they may use only once or twice a week. If that!

I would recommend that everyone take their wife or girlfriend with them to the electronics store. I explained the concepts of DLP rainbow effect, and combing effect on interlaced video many times to my girlfriend. Yet when she could see the two effects in action it was much more obvious.

The nice part to this story is that she really liked the 51inch HDTVs, and now she REALLY wants to get one when we move in together in a few months.

 

[Philip Hamm]

I'm not. I think people would think "Gee that sounds nice" then go back home and enjoy their TV speakers without any second thought. Then they would go spend their money on Kayaking, biking, needlepoint, stamp collecting, whatever.

I do not understand the whole "everyone must enjoy my hobby" mentality.

 

[John Robert]

I not sure that wondering why HT doesn't have wider acceptance is the same thing as demanding that "everyone must enjoy my hobby"...

 

[PaulDA]

Last night I was discussing my speaker shopping adventure with some of my wife's co-workers (bring your own music, try to use equipment as close to the stuff you own, etc.) and one of them piped up about how his new Bose Acoustimass (1200$, seemed to say he only had two sats with bass module??) sounded wonderful. Now I believe that speaker preference is highly subjective and I'm not trying to bash Bose here (it's done to death already). My point is the guy was most impressed with the ease of hookup with the colour-coded wires and how everything disappeared into the decor. I bit my tongue about the value issue (as to sound, if he likes it...) because a) I'd just met him and b) he really seemed proud of his purchase and I didn't want to burst his bubble. Others chimed in about having heard demos of HT but once they saw the wires and size of the speakers, they just went on to look at something else. The simplicity issue is the BIG stumbling block (with the speaker intrusion a close second). As to the humongous TVs with tiny HTIBs, the group consensus was like the old saying about children, They should be seen and not heard. Big screen TVs are fun to look at, boxy speakers are not. Everyone at the table wanted a big screen TV (about 20 people), only three wanted the kind of system I've put together (certainly not a monster by any stretch of the imagination) and for two of those, only if I would install it for them.