Re: Comcast HD service

"Sri Krsna" <vze3drf7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:46E09378.90407@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MZ wrote:

Eh, I prefer a stereo setup over surround. I've owned, used, and set up
both dozens of times, but the artificial subwoofer + satellite combo
leaves a lot to be desired, IMO. It's typically lacking significantly in
the 200-400Hz range (lower midrange), and they're almost always ported
wrong (and too small), so you get a wild frequency response below that. A
good stereo pair will give you a far better sound, even if it lacks the
movie theater boom and sizzle (something which I find annoying, by the
way).

Having said that, a good center channel design with good processing can
add a fair amount of depth. And by processing, I don't mean the crap that
comes with most 5.1 receivers. But its benefits are very much
room-dependent.
Yeah, but Glenn doesn't exactly strike me as being a die-hard music fan or
music DVD fan so for what he wants, it's probably in his best interest to
be dazzled at the local Best Buy or Crazy Eddy's. I like you run a stereo
gig in my living room with a McIntosh set-up that's about a decade old and
I really can't complain about the sound. The only weakness with this
set-up is that when out of the sweet spot, the dialogue when watching
movies is a bit muddled, but there's an elegance and musical truth to the
stereo set-up even when spinning SACDs or DVD-A that I don't want to
sacrifice. The rig in my study is a bit more serious though so I tend to
do most of my music listening there.

I wasn't only referring to music listening either, where two channel tends
to reign supreme. And, granted, many of the movies I tend to watch either
pre-existed surround sound or just don't benefit much by it. But even for
the other types of movies, I'm just not overwhelmed by the audio and see
more problems with it than benefits. Especially with your typical home
theater setups, which belong over in the Bose section of "innovative and
neat looking, but lacking in functionality and quality." I went to the
Transformers movie recently with some friends (yeah, I know...), and was
annoyed to no end at the shrill highs and overpowering boomy sub bass (bass
isn't supposed to be boomy, folks, even down to 20Hz). And to think, people
actually try to replicate that sound!

Not only that, but the "sweet spot" issues you bring up are only exaggerated
as you add more channels of audio. It's hardly a trivial matter to get two
channel
s to play nicely, let alone 5 or 6 or more. Technically, additional
channels can help the image, especially when they're encoded specifically to
do so like 5.1 (hell, I installed a "dumb" center channel in my car for that
very purpose), but it's not easy to implement correctly. Certainly not by
opening a box and screwing the stuff to the wall. Yes, multichannel audio
can have its benefits (surprisingly, even for music), but only when done
correctly.

That's not to say that people won't like what they hear when they make the
"upgrade" to a home theater setup. After all, to each his own. But I
wouldn't suggest it to someone without knowing their tastes, the movies they
watch, and most importantly, the room it'll be in.


.

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