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View Full Version : Both Funny and Sad



jvillas
03-23-2008, 11:53 AM
From my perspective,(dedicated 2-2.1channel) music listener. I found this article both funny and sad.

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/features/2800/silent-but-deadly.html

robruffo
03-29-2008, 04:04 PM
Joe Six Pack is a very depressing fellow, in many ways.

Along with overspending for horrible home-thatre set-ups, he doesn't read, and probably listens only to overcompressed mp3s.

Mike^S
04-22-2008, 10:42 PM
Hmm, I'm only running 3.1 speakers. Although they are certainly no HTIB. More like 3 Sierras and a JL Fathom F112. The main reason is because I just don't have the room to properly place surround speakers. My couch is right up against the wall and if I put up surround speakers, they'd be inches from my ears.

robruffo
04-22-2008, 11:24 PM
That's not at all a HTIB! I was only commenting on idiots who stack their surrounds on their mains! No wonder MP3s are more popular than SACDs. Likely a lot of people think MP3s are better quality because they're more "high tech". :eek:

However, I would advise you that placing surrounds at the sides can give you amazing results. I have lost of room here, but my 1st surrounds are mostly side-placed.

The 170ses image amazingly well with Sierras.

blindcat7
04-23-2008, 02:17 AM
I thought my first HT attempt was sad. I picked up a Pioneer laserdisc player at Circuit City and then went and picked up a Pio HTIB at Service Merchandise. I was so green that I found out the hard way that my HTIB would not give me the full digital glory of the Independence Day LD I chose as my first title. I was not aware that prologic and Dolby Digital were two different animals. Because of the shape of my room, I could not place the speakers correctly, but at least the surrounds were actually in the back and the center was, if not evenly so, between the mains. My education progressed much quicker after I determined that I did not care to make another error as large as the one I started with.

I think the big problem is that the average consumer just does not research. By the time I got to my last speaker upgrade that ended up being Ascends, I had been researching for this upgrade casually for a couple of years and seriously for about a year. The experience leads me to conclude that careful research can pay off in a big way.

I have discovered over the years that people can happily carry on, not only with their first system, but with upgrade after upgrade, living with the effects of the same mistakes in setup or configuration just because they never encountered the information that they had something configured wrong. On another forum, I helped a newbie figure out how to set up his new powered subwooffer so that he could enjoy full 5.1 for the first time. Someone with a setup that probably cost ten or more times than mine joined the discussion and informed those of us who had told him how to set things up that we were incorrect. He informed us that the RCA input on subwooffers was inferior and that the sub should be hooked up using the high level inputs running from the receiver to the sub then to the mains. He had hooked up all of his various systems up this way for years and just did not want to accept that he might have been doing it wrong for all of this time. I don't recall how many times I and others explained how 5/7.1 worked and specifically how DD and DTS handled the LFE, what the LFE channel was and all about crossover settings and so on. He was simply hung up on the superiority of line level inputs and repeatedly came back to why his high end sub would have them if they weren't supposed to be used for 5.1. The newbie got the idea of how to hook everything up and got his sub going using a sub cable and getting his crossovers set up properly for his speakers, but I am not sure if the experienced HT guy ever truly grasped what he was being told. For all I know, he is still running his subwooffer through his mains. It pains me to no end that the world may be full of great subwooffers being set up so that their owners are not even hearing the LFE channel at all, totally unaware that the great bass they are getting through their mains could sound so much better with the addition of the LFE and the bass from the other channels.

Experiences like that make me fear finding out that I have some lurking bit of missing setup knowledge, but that is why I continue researching and trying to learn as much as I can. Which I guess makes me not an average consumer.

Chris

bdfin
04-23-2008, 08:05 PM
Granted I don't have high end anything in my system, but ever since my first magnavox stereo that had built in mains next to the turntable and detachable side speakers (for wherever you want them) I have never had an issue running wires. I only have a 5.1 system setup but still have 10 speakers ( stacked rear B set, LCR, sub, and surrounds ). Hell, half the fun and enjoyment is changing now and then to see what else you can squeeze out of your setup for even more enjoyment. Hopefully a pair of sierrias sometime this next year.
There are millions of people that will never know what they are really missing when they are watching HT or listening to recorded music.....because their systems are improperly setup, its just SOUND to them, they don't want to read the instructions like anything else.
And please stop insulting my sixpack...

Confessed speaker junkie

robruffo
04-23-2008, 09:50 PM
I think Joe Six Pack defines a man who seeks nothing but to be average, does not think for himself, only follows the herd, feels that salesmen and politicians are "experts who know best".

Regardless of your beverage choices (hey, I have a thing for grape soda), as a member of this forum I doubt you fit that bill.

I am not trying to be a money snob - I make a good salary, and I am lucky enough to be able to afford Sierras and 1080p, but I do not look down in any way on those less fortunate, or those wishing to shift money onto other things.

For example my in-laws watch about 1 hour a week of TV, all their movies at the theatre, and for them the speakers that came with their CRT do just fine. I can fully respect that. They prefer to spend their money on live shows, restaurants and travel.

However, sheer laziness is something I do look down on. It doesn't take much effort, or even much intuition, to learn that putting your surrounds in the front is a bad idea. If you can't run the wires - just turn them off or sell them on eBay.

It's especially shocking since I'd guess it's a probable reality that these very same lazy idiots spend the most time watching TV - they don't even want to learn about something they spend so many hundreds of hours with, that is teh very centre of thei rlives. That's just weird. Aren't they curious at all? Are they that oblivious to the world around them?

bdfin
04-24-2008, 09:08 AM
Well I think you hit several things on the head. Yes, laziness does prevail unfortunately......and they are oblivious to the world around them. It takes time to read and figure things out and alot of people just can't sacrifice watching american idol long enough to get it done. It is weird, you would think that terms like surround sound, 5.1, 7.1 etc. would intrigue them enough to at least open the setup instructions and take an hour or less to figure it out......but oh well.