Home Theaters

Part of the answer to that question is readily apparent to anyone who is reading this column on a regular basis. The population has become enamored of the ‘total experience’ of the home theater. Home theaters are great, but few remember that the whole is a sum of parts, and the part that has been neglected is the audio.

There are good reasons for this.

While not many have attended a concert in a proper symphony hall,

this is what  most of the populace has been missing.

most have seen virtually everything presented upon a television or movie screen. This shows that while some dismiss the poorer absolute quality of audio that is considered acceptable, it is only that way due to uneducated and inexperienced ears prevailing.

In my time as a salesman of audio and video equipment, I built a reputation as someone who was uninfluenced by the needs of the market, or to the dismay of employers, their bottom lines. I believed that I (and the companies I worked for) would always be farther ahead if basic honesty was the rule. I never tried to pull any of the standard audio purveyor’s tricks on unsuspecting customers. Instead, I gave the plusses and minuses, and showed each component sold in its best light. This was common before the beginning of the Home Theater era. Since the advent of theaters in the home, any sort of objective audio analysis has been replaced by the subjective needs of budget and braggadocio. The first time assembler of a home theater system is thinking how to best spend his money to achieve 2 results – maximum bombastic effect and  maximum covet factor. He wants anyone treated to a ‘performance’ to be at once bowled over and envious. Choices based upon individual reflection would yield better results – closer to what is desired, both in terms of audio quality and envy factor.

This is, more than anything else, a result of the overtly materialistic nature of those our culture has turned out lately.

Another problem I see is environmental factors that are mutually exclusive. Only the most wealthy have the luxury of constructing a room

  wouldn’t everyone like to come home and find this, added on to the house they left that morning?

that will be used for the home theater / audio experience. Most of us must use a re-purposed room made acceptable by careful treatments.

Because of the constraints, time, money, space, and lack of real knowledge of what is real sound, the consumer has to rely on a best guess, from himself, or someone else, to achieve the desired effects.

In the next couple of installments, I am striving to show how audio is the core, and how by using personal tastes, knowledge available, and cost effective choices, anyone can achieve a much higher level of realism, and therefore, enjoyment, than usually possible at any price point – from the sublime to the ridiculous!   Stick with me.

Technorati Tags: home theater - audio - stereo - quality - purchasing power

While looking for something else, I came upon an older article about a copy of a well respected subwoofer by Hsu Research. The project is very straightforward, using sound building techniques, and has clearly copied all the right parts in the right places. It is not hard for someone who is careful, and that is the major reason why it is such a great project.

the subwoofer is doubling as an end table – and fits in well – a major factor for many people as large objects that give no sating can cause problems with the decorator of the house

A project like this one will give you a great sub for your home theater, and will also build your confidence, so that you will then attempt a build of main speakers, or perhaps some other small project, the the assembly of that HTPC.

pictures of the project – at various stages

this is what the raw Sonotube looks like, and don’t fret, it is designed to hold concrete, so the pressure of a vented subwoofer will not be the slightest problem.

the completed subwoofer, looking from the bottom up – by using the floor as a baffle, the frequency cutoff doesn’t have to be as low, or as steep.

This project will give all the bass you will need unless you are a classical fan, and your mainstay is pipe organ recitals Low frequency effects from movie soundtracks will be reproduced with authority – if you’re in an apartment or condo you will be able to get yourself thrown out if you so desire. The barest minimum of tools are all that is required, and if you don’t have them, chances are good you have a buddy who does. As a matter of fact, this makes a good buddy project – you help him build his, and he helps you build yours.

As I said at the beginning, this is from an older article, published in 1999 – fear not, all the necessary items are still available, and the state of the art in inexpensive subs has not changed  -  besides that, you cannot buy anything pre-made that gets anywhere close for 3 times the price of the raw materials.

This is an audio experimenter’s dream project, which also happens to be an audio gem.

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Technorati Tags: subwoofer project - do-it-yourself - cost effective - phenomenal performance - Hsu subwoofer clone - Sonotube