The truth, the whole truth and nothing but... Home Theatre

Can't help thinking though that, if I had spent some serious bucks on an HT sound system, I would be mighty pissed off if the sound quality was the equivalent of a number of cinemas that I know.

 

I would say, however, that the vast majority of AV home cinama boys are really not into extreme quality sound. All they want is to shake the foundations of the house and have plenty of volume. Take a Look on AV forums and see the number of guys who shell out a fortune on a big plasma and DVD rig, and run a much cheaper, lower quality surround sound system.

High fidelity surround sound is a very small niche in the market IMO.

 

GTM, by "problem", I only meant Steve's confusion.

Personally, though, I think "home cinema" only means the recreation of cinema sound in the home until you reach the point where your system is actually better than the majority of cinemas... then you realise there's no reason to stop there - the sky's the limit.

Dunc

 

You can just about call my system a home cinema setup, all that's lacking is the big TV!

I don't feel the objectives/requirements of HC and hi-fi are at odds, just that it is difficult to achieve the two in one system.

I can't say I've come across this 40-80 Hz boost being a good idea for HT before, although a boost in that region on subs incapable of going much lower is common. I've calibrated my system to give as flat a response as possible in the bass region (not that it is an easy task).

I certainly don't aim for cinema quality sound which is often terrible but I do want to be able to play loud with bass down to 20 Hz. Of higher priority though is music reproduction, which my AV receiver and sub-woofer aid.....

 

Now now. Most of you always claim the prime aim according to the two loudspeakers religion is everyone must buy toys that sound good to their own ears and no one else. So if these toys sound good to these other people even they don't believe in the same religion as you why suddenly the double standard?

 

Neither is Home Cinema but misguided souls like Saab need to be able to let off steam occasionally.

 

The odd thing is Ian, even some of the Bling, bling a/v systems I whitnessed this year have been sadly lacking, both in sound & Vision
This week I got to play with the new Faradja all singing & Dancing 4000 video processor, yes is good, but the little arcam that was sat next to it was matching point for point in pal prog, makes you wonder some what

 

Speakers with a flat response (such as some studio monitors) are often described as boring by people not used to such a sound, or who prefer boosts in certain frequencies.

Given that almost all of us have speakers that dont have a linear response, it seems churlish to criticize a home cinema enthusiast for admitting that a linear response isnt the prefered solution for many home cinema enthusiasts!.

Where the article goes wrong it seems to me, is his statement that for hifi what people want is a linear speaker - when as above very few speakers are designed that way, and many people like it this way.

Chris

 

Because there is, I believe, an issue of education here.

Make people aware that 'truth' is the objective of hi-fi (by definition - high fidelity) and their opinion of what's good or bad can change within seconds.

The difference between hi-fi aware and non-aware people (the majority) is this quest for true reproduction.

Home theatre enthusiasts are no different to anyone else. The difference (particularly from a manufacturer's perspective) is that thousands of people are suddenly spending serious money on kit and that there's therefore a fabulous window of opportunity to attempt to impart this awareness.

 

True. IMHO eventually a few would find the right path and discover the pure religion of correct music making system. Whether it is 2.0, 5.1 or even 7.1 some will discover that distortion may sound tempting at first but it is ugly over a longer period.

If Arcam has made a toy that could match the more expensive version then perhaps AV has finally matured. When the gap between so call cutting edge toys and sensible versions are close then it is a good sign to sit back and simply enjoy rather then worry too much what one could be missing out on.

 

Some home cinema is like that, granted (although I'm not sure who uses 4 speakers...)

However, it's not all that different with hi fi. CD or vinyl is never, ever going to sound the same as live music. Most hi fi is designed to do completely different things than a live music PA does for a start.

You might be able to assemble a system that sounds like live music but most studio recordings have nothing to do with live music either, so the best you can hope for is to hear what the recording engineer and producer heard, and even they try and second guess how you'll actually be hearing it and change the sound accordingly.

At least with home cinema you can replicate (and even improve on) real cinema if you do it correctly.

 

I'd agree with you Ju - IMO the sound quality from even my fairly modest AV system beats most cinemas hands down. The picture is a different story though (in my case) but you can get as good as cinema (or better) with a decent projector.

Michael.

 

I agree with multiple subs for the remaining five channels and a few more for the LFE.1 channel.

The LFE.1 channel like the other discrete and independent channels should be allowed to play on its own. In my home cinema I run two subs, a 12†Eltax A-12 R that caters for left centre right and surrounds to extend the lower frequencies with a bit more support. While a larger 18†JBL professional DIY made JBL 4645 severs the LFE.1.

Its hard to tell sometimes if the LFE.1 is active, if the levels have been set right, its hard to tell, unless you playback a specific sequence and mute the LFE.1 and the extra low end support, which could be when Selene is punched in the face by Viktor the hard hitting punch is more on the LFE.1 at this point.







Other sub bass impacts remain on the other channels. It's a combination of going here or there its unpredictable you never know when the LFE.1 is going to produce some exclusive low end.

Getting phase and polarity correct can be easy with a Behringer DCX2496 controlling the sound system, I use one for the fronts LCR but need two more for surrounds SL SB SR and third for sub bass and LFE.1.

Looking at the little modes on an RTA where a sound pressure metre would make it rather difficult to see the small changes.

I also have a FBQ2496 which is acting as parametric EQ for sub bass and LFE.1 this can help a multitude of small problems, with quick and impressive results.