Small Speaker packages??? ECHHH!!! (1 Viewer)

[NathanP]

I don't like em'!
You know, the cheap crud you buy at Walmart for $500 with a built in Dolby Digital processor and dvd???
The speakers are like 2 inch full range crud that can't put out anything and they also give you a 30 watt powered "subwoofer" in a PLASTIC box..
ECH!!!
I'm so anti-shelf system, anti-small speaker!!
Bigger is BETTER!
Am I right?
I say, am I Right?!?!?

Nathan
P.S.
I hope I have not offended you..

 

[NathanP]

So...
Am I right?
------------------
"Fascinating Captian"
--Spock
Visit www.speedemenu.com

 

[Max Leung]

Yes, you're right that you don't like small speaker systems.

(that was a smartass remark hehe...don't hurt me!)
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Max Leung

 

[Matty B]

You're right, you dont like that crud. On the topic of things we do and don't like. I like home theather. and I think watching press your luck on a big screen is rad.

 

[Bob McElfresh]

Has this ever happened to you:
A friend/co-worker has a TV and a VCR. No receiver, speakers, sub. He wants to get a DVD player, but his SO is against the large box's, $$$$$ for receivers/cables/etc. How do you help him?
You point him towards either one of the Kenwood HTB's (Home Theaters in a Box) or one of the micro decoder/speaker packages that include the DVD player, bass module, walkman-like speaker wires.
Small, yes. Cheap, yes, poor quality sound.... Compared to the VCR running through the TV speaker...No. It's a vast improvement.
These systems are "toe-in-the-water" systems. Good for a college student, in-laws or even a small bedroom system.
These systems are for people who DONT want to make home theater a hobby. They just want to watch movies and not obsess over upgrades, subwoofer sounds, level-adjustment, etc. (Not the typical HTF member )
So I'd recommend one of these systems to a friend who has nothing now, and some severe SAF (Spousal Acceptence Factor). They do serve a nitch market.
And when your friend starts talking about getting a little better system, you have just the fourm for them to visit.

 

[NathanP]

I just really sick of people saying that they are an "Expert" or "Audiophiles" with something like a shelf system!
Nathan
------------------
"Fascinating Captian"
--Spock
Visit www.speedemenu.com

 

[Dan Hine]

Nathan,
I work with some people I would call "experts" and "audiophiles" even though they own very little equipment if any. However, they are freelancers for Audio/Visual productions houses where they get to spend a lot of time using high quality gear. They have other things they need to spend their money on and cannot afford to have an "audiophile" setup in their homes. I'm sure you did not mean anything by it so I, like Sean, ask "What's goin on?"
Dan Hine

 

[Chuck C]

Nathan, I wrote http://www.geocities.com/chuckster042000/HTBs.html?979804779010

 

[NathanP]

Very nice Chuck, Very nice...
I love that article...
Well,
It all happened a few nights ago when I hooked up my kid cousins' stupid, idiotic, Shelf system..
Gosh, I hate those things,
Well we started chating and he started to call my $3,000 HT sound system (which he had never ever seen) crap, crap, crap..
He also said " I Love my shelf system" "I love it"
"It's the best sounding thing I've ever heard" " I'm an expert, I nkow what I'm talking about"..
Yah, like two crappy plastic sony-crap-in-a-box speakers with 6 inch woofers and some 1 inch tweeter can out do my stuff..
I'm just so sick of people doing that stuff... that like the 4th time it's happened this week..
I'm getting verbally bashed over amateurs who don't know what they're doing...
Some guy yelled at me last week for a cutting the strip of his speaker wire to get some more cable out of it..
See what I get??
Nathan
------------------
"Fascinating Captian"
--Spock
Visit www.speedemenu.com

 

[Chuck C]

I hear ya man...I saw your rant over in another thread.
Screw them! We are the elite HTFers, and our indivdual home theaters which we have researched, tweaked, and nurtured make us even more elite. Don't fight back because in time, the pre-newbies will outgrow their attachment to terrible K-Mart stereo systems, and they will discover our world....
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Chuck
http://www.hometheaterinsider.com

 

[Mike Kao]

I made the plung and bought a full blown home theatre system this summer that comprises of a 32" Wega screen, Harman Kardon AVR510 a/v receiver, Harman Kardon DVD5 dvd changer, infinity HPS 1.5 bookshelfes and & used my old midiland S4100 set for the sub and speakers as rears (it's a computer multimedia speaker set, but it was the best & at a $400 price tag). I wish I could've gone further with it; buy Def Tech Towers or Infinity Interludes & move the bookshelfes to the back and add a buttkicker to the setup, but alas, I was out of money and besides... I would be gone at summers end to college (which I'm at right now as I speak). In any case, now to the point of the story... so I recently got a chance to listen to my friend's family's new home theater system (which happens to be a Kenwood HT in a box), which I admittingly smirked at the sight of it. I wish I could have been there to advise his father of purchasing a home theater system, but it was too late anyway. I nearly had to refrain myself from yelling at his dad for putting the front speakers next to each other in shelfs BELOW the telivision and placing the rears on to opposite corners of the room. I didn't even bother...
So he fires up Jurassic Park & I begin to watch with major skepticism. Amazingly, I was extremely surprised with how well the system performed! I actually jumped on several occassions in the movie, and left their house thoroughly impressed.
Now do I regret spending all that money on my own system? Not really... but most people don't need 'the best' to be satisfied (not to say my system is even near the best). I used to agree fullheartedly with your opinions on home theater's in a box, but after my experience I would now have to say that full blown system is definitely NOT for everyone.

 

[NathanP]

Just wanted to clear this up.. my cousin's 2 speaker shelf system is like JVC not Sony...
Thanks Chuck! I feel exactly the way you do...
I was at the locay Best Buy today (electronics chain store)
and I decided to look at some sound stuff..
The first thing thats there is some stupid all-in-one package with 5 mini speakers about half the size of my computer speakers and you know what they call this system?
"The expert's package"
As I was turning away, the manager asked me " Can I help you sir?"
I replied " No, No, No!!!! " and I bolted out the door...
Man,
We don't get appreciated at all...
Nathan
------------------
"Fascinating Captian"
--Spock
Visit www.speedemenu.com
[Edited last by NathanP on September 16, 2001 at 09:22 AM]

 

[Rutledge]

I bought a Sony Dream Theater system on Home Theater Magazine's recommendation last year. it is used in our family's beachhouse which is used mostly in the summer time.
It sucks. First of all there are no tweeters. The bass is boomy. There are no tone controls either. The only way to adjust the sound is to raise or lower the level of the speakers. i have the sub set at -4 and the center channel set at +2. The center channnel is not loud enough and can't keep up.
What i hate about it most is the lack of a hifi top end. The treble level and quality is non existent. The sub and the mains don't blend. When the the sub level is raised it causes the singer's consonants to make popping sounds.
I could go on but you get the picture. We don't listen to it much and i will probably be selling it.
When i really want to listen to music i drive 10 miles into town and crank up my Mirage M-3s.
[Edited last by Rutledge on September 16, 2001 at 10:02 AM]

 

[NathanP]

Ach!
BIGGER IS BETTER!
Nathan
------------------
"Fascinating Captian"
--Spock
Visit www.speedemenu.com

 

[Tony Lai]

Yeah but on the other side of the coin is the systems that many of us here have and that's floorstanders, multiple subs and pre/pro/power racks that weigh a ton and stand proud so much that they dominate a room.
My system which is pretty modest by most of the regulars here goes to ~60kg and that's just electronics on a rack.
NAD have a compact HT system that looks art-deco (L75 receivers + matching DVD).
Low on power though (40w x 5)...
T.

 

[Rutledge]

Logistics was the main reason i bought the theater in a box.
I used to take my M3's over to the beach house every Spring and bring them back in September. They weigh 140 lbs each!
I would pick them up, carry them down the stairs, into the back of my camaro and back up the stairs to the beachhouse.
All by myself. Old age (38) and the fact that when i was over there, music and movies were not a big priority, led me to stop taking them over.
If you want to see something funny, its a pair of 4.5' long speakers sticking out of the back of the camaro with the hatch half open and the car listing to one side due to the 280 lbs of weight.
I have found 2 DVD's that sound half decent on the dream theater. Keb Mo' "Sessions at West 54th Street" and Peter Frampton's Live in Detroit", I guess these discs sound good on anything.

 

[Phuong]

My first home theater system was a "cheap" home theater in the box system by Cambridge Soundworks. As a starving college student, it was the cheapest entry into decent surround sound performance that I was gonna get. The speaker and receiver package cost me $550, which was a lot. I had to forgo eating out for at least a couple months. But overall, it allowed all of us in the apartment to enjoy watching movies in an entirely new way. I could have sucked it up even more and bought a pair of NHT SuperOnes and a stereo receiver until and built around them, but I do not regret for a second the purchase of that HTiB. I have since upgraded the system to NHT SuperZeros and a Velodyne 10 inch servo sub, and a Yamaha receiver, and given away an excellent "budget" system to my younger brother, after which I am starting all over, beginning with a pair of Paradigm Atoms, I don't regret for one second having bought the cheapie package in the first place. When faced with the alternatives, a cheapie system is the best way to get your feet wet in the world of home theater.
Just don't ever let them HTiB get away with saying they have a better system than yours, especially if you have a much better subwoofer.
Peace

 

[brentl]

"I just really sick of people saying that they are an "Expert" or "Audiophiles" with something like a shelf system!"
One of my best friends is an auto mechanic(he loves his work) and he drives an 86civic with 400k on it.
See the comparison?
Brent L

 

[NathanP]

Makes sense Bret..
400k? Woooooww
------------------
"Fascinating Captian"
--Spock
Visit www.speedemenu.com

 

[NathanP]

I've been reading in a few books that with the $500 you can spend on a HTiB your better of buying a cheaper early 1980's amp, bookshelf speakers with a pro-logic decoder..
I'm always hearing that 80's amp can sound a whole lot better than another HTiB...
Just a little insight..
Nathan
------------------
"Fascinating Captian"
--Spock
Visit www.speedemenu.com