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 Since the advent of theaters in the home, any sort of objective audio analysis has been replaced by the subjective needs of budget and braggadocio.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

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.

-

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

Now ATi has announced the latest in the All-in-Wonder series, combining an HD3650 video card with the TV Wonder tuner card, for a list price of $199.

While not the fastest GPU around, the 3650 will do a very good job of taking care of the HTPC and media center market segment, while the choice for the gamer who also watches movies would be a 4xxx series card and a separate TV Wonder card. For those who are using a small form factor box to build the HTPC, this will be a beautiful thing, because the heat output of the 3650 GPU will be much easier to mitigate.

The PCI Express 2.0-based All-in-Wonder HD card,  includes unified decoder technology for hardware-accelerated Blu-ray playback, and records and captures both HDTV and analog signals using ATI Theater 650 Pro hardware MPEG-2 encoding. Dual DVI connectors are included, and HDMI support has also been added. HDCP support, however, has apparently not been included.

AMD’s Catalyst Media Center provides a front end to scheduling recordings, while a second bundled AMD LIVE! “Entertainment Suite CD” allows a user to access the DVR capabilities over the Internet with a broadband connection.

In the announcement from ATi, the door was left open when the question of faster GPUs paired with the TV Wonder. It may happen, and that would bring the raw speed of GDDR5 memory to the HTPC system, making it much easier to do those things that stretch the abilities of lesser GPU/CPU combinations. It will also make small form PVRs easier to build, as the combo card will free up an additional, much needed slot for an additional tuner.

-

Technorati Tags: ATi - All-in-Wonder - PVR - HTPC - AMD Live!

Onkyo is a maker of decent quality gear – actually top of the heap of mid-fi – which is defined as equipment that has a name you know, and you don’t need a bank loan to purchase one piece. Seriously, the Onkyo name is a good one, and the company makes quality audio and video equipment.

The Onkyo HT-SP904 5.1-Channel Home Theater System is currently on sale at Crutchfield for 599.99, and comes with free shipping. If you hurry, you can get another $20 off by using a coupon code of “3A825″.  The unit has 110 watts for each of its 5 channels, and comes with acceptable quality speakers for each channel. The subwoofer comes with its own 230 watt amplifier. That is not as left-handed as it might seem. While most will want to do better, the desire to change the speakers won’t be at the front of your mind the entire time your listening to them.

The DVD playback, plentiful music options, and easy setup with Onkyo’s HT-SP904 will reinforce the purchase choice. The receiver’s advanced circuitry and high-current amplifier team up to deliver precise sound from the included speakers and subwoofer. The Onkyo-exclusive  Audyssey 2EQ auto calibration system makes setup a breeze  as the receiver automatically optimizes this system’s sound for your room, so all your stuff sounds great.  (This equalization usually costs quite a bit, and is not found incorporated into the system.)

Onkyo designed the DVD player to produce quality picture from your favorite movies, TV show box sets, and concert videos. For an HDTV with an HDMI input, the DVD player upconverts the signal from standard DVDs to match your set’s high-definition display. If your television has only one HDMI input, you’ll  appreciate the receiver’s 1080p-compatible HDMI switching capability. This allows hooking up the DVD player and a second high-resolution video component and switching between them easily, while maintaining the best possible picture quality for both. There are adequate audio/video inputs and outputs to accommodate your gear, including high-definition-capable component video.

the handsome components make a good addition to anyone’s living room or bedroom, and allows immediate enjoyment, while also making speaker upgrades a sensible decision, and not a waste of money.

the full feature remote makes being lazy easy, and allows precise control of the equipment

with this kind of flexibility, you’ll want to buy extra stuff to hook up!

While this doesn’t have the cachet of Audio Research or Threshold, it is very nice stuff, and the eventual replacement will lad to this being something the friends and relatives will draws straws for, rather that want to carry to the dump.

from the Crutchfield website

DV-SP405 DVD/CD player:
plays DVD-Video, DVD-R & DVD-RW, audio CD, CD-R & CD-RW, and MP3 and WMA CD
plays CDs encoded with JPEG digital photos
selectable 720p/1080i output via HDMI digital interface (separate adapter available for TVs with DVI input)
selectable progressive-scan playback for smoother video with HD-compatible TVs (via the component video output)
coaxial digital output for Dolby® Digital/DTS®/PCM
1 set of A/V outputs (composite, S-video, and component)
17-1/8″W x 2-3/8″H x 8-1/2″D
designed for use with “Region 1″ coded DVDs

Receiver:
built-in Dolby® Digital, DTS® & Dolby Pro Logic® II processing, for surround sound from DVD, VHS, and stereo sources
5-channel amplifier (110 watts x 5, plus 230-watt powered subwoofer)
Optimum Gain Volume Circuitry minimizes noise
Wide Range Amplifier Technology for high instantaneous current capability
H.C.P.S. (High Current Power Supply) Massive High Power Transformer
192kHz/24-bit digital-to-analog converters for all channels
adjustable crossover (40/50/60/80/100/120/150/200 Hz)
SIRIUS satellite radio capable (requires SIRIUS subscription and optional SiriusConnect™ Home tuner kit)
XM Satellite Radio Ready (requires XM subscription and optional XM Mini-Tuner package)
XM HD Surround-compatible
iPod dock included

Audyssey 2EQ auto calibration (microphone included)
5.1-channel audio input for connecting an SACD or DVD-Audio player
HDMI switching capable (2 in, 1 out) with 1080p video pass through — separate audio connection required
high-definition-capable component video switching (3 in, 1 out)
5 A/V inputs (including 5 S-video and 1 front-panel)
video output for TV (composite, S-video, component video, and HDMI)
digital inputs: 2 optical, 2 coaxial
full-size headphone jack
color-coded speaker connectors
17-1/8″W x 5-7/8″H x 14-13/16″D

Speakers:
2 front, 1 center, and 2 surround speakers
video-shielded
dual 3-1/8″ woofers and a 1″ tweeter
5-1/2″W x 14″H x 3-11/16″D (14″W x 5-1/2″H for center speaker)

Powered subwoofer:
10″ driver
bass-reflex enclosure
built-in 230-watt amplifier
10-13/16″W x 19-15/16″H x 16-3/16″D

General:
color-coded cables included for 5 speakers and subwoofer
audio/video and HDMI cables included
remote controls for receiver and DVD player
warranty: 2 years (1 year for DVD player)

All told, this is a great starter system, a great bedroom or den system, or a great graduation present for the child going off to college. Get one for yourself or someone else, you’ll be happy either way.

-

Technorati Tags: Onkyo - Home-Theater-in-a–Box - DVD player - remote control - room equalization - Crutchfield

That is the main reason I never considered them for my own system. I had to have speakers that sounded good with all types of music, and when I wanted, had to ‘rock me like a hurricane’.

Almost 30 years of practice seems to have given us a set of speakers from DCM that retain the magic of the Time Windows, but make the window open up, and get real.

 DCM TimeFrame TFE200 Home Theater Speaker System   -  the magic comes into the whole room, but at a price.

DCM is now owned by Mitek, which is known for their auto audio products, and any other relationship is purely coincidental. The new TFE200 is a quite large (for today), tall, and narrow-but-deep three-way tower that boasts bass extension and output to match its imposing size. Conventionally ported through a wide, bottom-front duct and equipped with a striking perforated-metal grille, it’s a handsome structure. DCM included complementary center- and surround-channel models in our kit, as well as one of its new 12-inch subwoofers, the 150-watt TB1212.

the center channel

Upon listening, the TimeFrame shows that it suffers from little of the niggling problems of the original for which it shares part of the name. It has excellent balance from top to bottom, showing strength in the lower registers that was never in evidence in the original. No doubt the larger cabinet, increased number of drivers, and simple porting are to be credited for that. A single 6.5” woofer loaded into a transmission line was hardly capable of impressive bass. Lesson learned. Actually, the midbass was a touch strong at times, but nothing that was unable to be adjusted out with careful room positioning.

the subwoofer is capable of substantial output, and is very stylish, like the rest of these speakers!

 The rest of the system, the center channel, the rear speakers, and the powered sub, all integrate into a system that will give credible theater sound in almost any size room encountered. The Donald Trumps of the world might be disappointed, but then, they can afford to have the actual performer in house!

Another view of the stereo pair

In today’s market, with the declining dollar, and the declining quality of sound, due to the mp3-listening of the youngest generation of buyers, these speakers make the statement that quality sound can be had at a price that will not break the bank (or anger the banker).

the rear channels function well as rear augmentation, and allow adjustment of the tweeter phase to get the most coherent sound, the cabinet allows for placement either vertically, as shown, or horizontally, hanging from the rear wall or ceiling.

The full system will give (I almost said impressive, but that is a very wrong choice of wording) relaxed, accurate sound, that will be natural and give none of the listening fatigue of inferior speakers. These are keepers, whether listening as a stereo pair, or a 5.1 system for theater. The total price is $2350, with $1000 devoted to the stereo pair.

Circuit City is one of the retailers carrying the line from DCM. Other national retailers might carry these, but a simple search has not found any. I would imagine, that, as before, these are going to be carried by boutique dealers for the most part. Casual looking may make you think that these speakers are comparable to similar looking models from Polk Audio, but in my opinion, is not so. DCM built a reputation on quality sound, and these continue that tradition.

-

Technorati Tags: DCM - TimeWindow - TimeFrame - full range speakers - dynamic - accurate

though the pics of the X-Fi HT 7.1 are not available yet, this is the X-Plosion 7.1 Cinema, which shows the great layouts that Auzentech uses, along with ultra high quality individual components.

same card as above, note the gold plated connections - better any time sound is traveling in the analog domain.

Called the X-Fi Home Theater 7.1, the card features a PCI-Express x1 interface, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. It accepts video from either an internal or external connection, mixes it with digital audio, and then outputs the combined video and audio through a single HDMI 1.3 port. (If you remember earlier mentions of the HDMI spec, you know that there were problems with some of the full feature set of the HDMI spec not being implemented before revision 1.3.) The PCIe interface will free up a PCI slot for something else, and give some microATX motherboard users a solution in crowded spaces.

nVidia fans will be excited, as the company is teaming up with nVidia to deliver ‘ultimate in audio and visual entertainment.’ The audio card will include a port, for use with nVidia video cards, to allow all the proper audio and video signals to pass through the HDMI connection.

The HomeTheater 7.1 features Dolby Digital and DTS encoding for a single-cable connection to home theater systems, however, this is much more than simply a card for home theater enthusiasts. The card uses the PCI Express-optimized X-Fi processor (yes, the one from Creative - Auzentech has taken this route before - it uses a Creative main processor and surrounds it with higher quality components than those found on the native Creative solution), to deliver accelerated audio for better game performance too, and with EAX 5.0 effects and 3D positional audio it’s going to be a favorite of hardcore gamers and PC enthusiasts. Another bonus will be the fact that Auzentech either writes its own, or tweaks existing drivers, both of which are preferable to what comes from Creative with their cards.

Since the card is not yet available, the pricing has not yet been set, but a good guess would be in the realm of $200 - pricey for many, but nothing compared to what some games pay for triple and quad SLI setups. One difference will be that the sound quality, and the drivers included, will make a huge difference for anyone who chooses to get out the green to buy one. The release date is quoted as September.

Save your pennies!

-

Technorati Tags: Auzentech - X-Fi HomeTheater 7.1 - ultimate quality components - superb drivers - EAX 5.0 - 3D Positional Audio

get the home theater ready, popcorn, peanuts, caviar, and martinis, for everyone! 

The sales of the first simultaneous DVD and Blu-ray release, Casino Royale, were brisk enough to cause the announcement of the first six releases of the Bond catalog in the high definition format. The only bit of bad news is that the titles are going to be released in France first. Who knew that the French enjoyed Bond this much? One would think that Inspector Clouseau would be the archetype  for the French good guy of daring-do.

Of course the releases had to start with the original, but where did they get off track – leaving out Goldfinger, and Diamonds Are Forever?

Scheduled for release in late October are: Dr. No, Die Another Day, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia With Love, and Thunderball. The timing couldn’t be better. With the debut of Quantum of Solace in November, the release dates can’t be an accident. The Blu-ray release of these six titles will certainly up the hype for the theatrical debut of the 22nd 007 flick.

The six classic movies will be treated to some tender loving care. Frame-by-frame restoration, remastering, and lots of special features will make these a must-have for any Bond aficionado. Some may feel the choice of titles for this initial release are  questionable (where’s Goldfinger or Diamonds Are Forever) you have to admit these will all look and sound stunning on Blu-ray.

Those of us who realize that the farce-as-acceptable-movie Casino Royale – the original – is still worth having due to the phenomenal soundtrack, including the sonic spectacular, ‘The Look of Love’ by Dusty Springfield, anxiously await the announcement that it too, will see the light of Blu-ray.

-

Technorati Tags: Blu-ray - announcements - James Bond - Ian Fleming - remastering - October 2008 release

if you have one of these, an Xbox 360 HD DVD drive by Samsung – it could be worth lots of money someday, as the lst of its kind!

With the format war over, all the major manufacturers have been doing some rearranging and shuffling of parts and priorities. Hitachi has continued in partnership with LG to produce Blu-ray drives, and has been doing well in sales and  upcoming commitments.

you know what announcement means – it means that the first ones are already shipping in Japan

The first product introduced will be a Blu-ray read, combined with DVD-RW, drive. It is expected to sell the largest number of drives for quite some time. The low availability of Blu-ray writeable media, combined with high cost will keep the second projected product, a full read-write Blu-ray drive, out of most consumer hands for some time. This will, no doubt, keep the movie studios happy. It is in no small way that the relationship of Sony, the movie company, to Sony, the drive and player manufacturer, keeps the cost of Blu-ray media up.

don’t let the pictures fool, these things are still few and far between

No prices, or model numbers, were announced, as everyone at the press conference knew the adage about having to ask. It is simply assumed that the first runs of the read-write drives will likely cost as much as 50% of the combined cost of a Blu-ray equipped PC. On the other hand, the proliferation of Blu-ray read-only drives should make their inclusion in many more PCs probable. A Samsung executive was said to have projected 2010 as the timeframe for the beginning of significant market penetration of the read-write drives, pumped up by the high definition television adoption in many homes.  

While the ability to have one of these drives in an HTPC may seem great, remember that the price will come down with time, and there’s no scientific way to predict how quickly it might happen. You don’t want to be part of another HD DVD replay – where, in the space of 2 months the going price of a good drive goes to 33% of what you paid!

-

Technorati Tags: Samsung - Blu-ray - PC form factor - read-write - combo drives

What I will do here is give the reader a few ideas of mine, to copy if they wish, or to step off from my ideas to something greater.

A while ago, I spoke of the Via PC-1 concept motherboards, and how great a start they would be for a Home Server (using Windows Home Server, for instance), or a media center, or an HTPC. It seems that for some unknown reason, the PC-1 motherboards are not available – with no excuses given, nor any bad reviews that would cause them to be discontinued. In fact, the motherboard was used in the Everex PC that was sold in great numbers by WalMart at Christmas. The board was a micro ATX form factor, and as such, would not fit into the smallest cases, designed for miniITX. That should not have caused problems for most, but still there seems to be no reasons for the disappearance.

the PC-2500 platform

the Everex PC, incorporating the PC-2500 motherboard

the PC-3500 motherboard, no floppy connection, and a PCIe slot substituted for a 2nd PCI slot 

All the above seem to be gone from the U.S. market.

So instead, why not try a miniITX board? It fits better with a set of audio and video components because of the size of the cases possible.

Intel has just come out with a board for our consideration. It uses a very low power CPU, based on the Core architecture, and comes soldered into the PCB. It only has provision for 1 DIMM, but since DDR2 memory is available in capacities up to 2GB per stick, the memory capacity is 2GB. Although the video is built in, the possibility is there for using one of the flavors of Vista on the machine, although the better choice would be Windows XP Media Center Edition.

The choice of case is critical. All components must fit, but also, the system must look good from the outside, because it is after all, part of the Home Theater.

the Intel miniITX mainboard, using the Atom processor, a derivative of the Core architecture

the Apex MD-100 miniITX case

The case chosen necessitates the use of a  notebook-style DVD drive, so if you want to have a Blu-ray drive included another choice of case is needed. Apex has 2 other models that look approximately like the MD-100, and are only slightly larger. The Apex case is more expensive than some, but it is well built, like the rest of the line. This manufacturer has cases also sold under the name Supercase, so if you see the same model number, with the Supercase designation, it would be identical.

For this case, I would choose a notebook DVD-RW from Samsung or Toshiba, simply because of the reliability that those brands offer. If you are going with a full sized drive, in another case, I would consider the Samsung drives first, as they are very reliable, and very quiet, showing no problems with firmware glitches.

Although moving toward the highest capacity hard drive would be the move most would make, I would say that anything these days over 500 GB should get you by well. Also, since the video capabilities, and the CPU will not do 1080p Blu-ray very well, it might be a really nice dual duty system for the bedroom, functioning as a general purpose PC, along with a media server – I can see myself computing with a wireless keyboard and mouse, on the foot of the bed, with this being connected to a 32” LCD.

Nice enough as a budget system, a bedroom system, or for those pampered youngsters going off to college, a dorm system.  For those wanting a bit more, a PCI (not PCIe) video card can still be had, and could do fairly well – this could possibly carry off 1080p, if the machine was carefully set up. It would require a PCI riser card, which is available for about $25. Actually to go for the true HTPC, with DVR capabilities, of course a tuner is needed.

For every purpose but gaming, this sub-$800 PC would get the job done in style. (and as I said, you now have some ideas to build on!)

-

Technorati Tags: HTPC - Intel Atom - Apex - Supercase - Samsung - PCI tuner

The company of the eery green glow has produced another amazing series of GPUs, with stupendous performance, provided your wallet or plastic can handle it.

It does seem as though AMD simply cannot catch a break of any kind these days, as from one side, Intel attacks with Nehalem, and on the other, nVidia brings off the explosive debut of a couple of GPUs which show an advantage of approximately 150% in comparison to their AMD/ATi rivals. 

Yes, preliminary testing on ZDNet gave a lead of 150% for the NV280 chips over the 3870×2 cards. That must be very demoralizing for ATi fans, as the 4xxx series is close to release, but it is known that no way is a jump similar to the one nVidia made expected.

The 280 series from MaximumPC

the only drawback, for the HTPC crowd, is the extreme length of the card, it necessitates a full size case.

The GTX 280 is an absolute beast of a GPU: Packing 1.4 billion transistors (the 8800 GTX got by with a mere 681 million, and a quad-core Penryn has 820 million), it’s capable of bringing a staggering 930 gigaFLOPs of processing power to any given application (a Radeon HD 3870 delivers 496 gigaFLOPs, while the quad-core Penryn musters just 96).

and

A stock GTX 280 will run its core at 602MHz while its stream processors hum along at 1.296GHz. Memory will be clocked at 1.107GHz. The GTX 260 will have stock core, stream processor, and memory clock speeds of 576MHz, 1.242GHz, and 999MHz, respectively (what, they couldn’t squeeze out an extra MHz to reach an even gig?).

for the non-gamer, interested in CUDA

 CUDA applications will run on any GeForce 8- or 9-series GPU, but the GeForce 200 series delivers an important advantage over those architectures: support for the IEEE-754R double-precision floating-point standard. This should make the new GPUs—and CUDA in general—even more attractive to users who develop or run applications that rely heavily on floating-point math. Such applications are common not only in the scientific, engineering, and financial markets, but also in the mainstream consumer marketplace (for everything from video transcoding to digital photo and video editing).

thankfully, energy efficiency has been a consideration as well

Nvidia has made great strides in reducing its GPUs’ power consumption, and the GeForce 200 series promises to be no exception. In addition to supporting Hybrid Power (a feature that can shut down a relatively power-thirsty add-in GPU when a more economical integrated GPU can handle the workload instead), these new chips will have performance modes optimized for times when Vista is idle or the host PC is running a 2D application, when the user is watching a movie on Blu-ray or DVD, and when full 3D performance is called for. Nvidia promises the GeForce device driver will switch between these modes based on GPU utilization in a fashion that’s entirely transparent to the user.

So while all of this cool is making your mouth water, remember that, like automobiles, “Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?’ Going with a single 280 series card will set you back about $650. Two or three of these cards would be in bank loan territory for most, not to mention the robust power supply that would be needed. On the other hand, expect to see many dual or tri SLI setups for those CUDA applications.

For the home theater enthusiast, it again makes sense to upgrade, as the efficiency has been increased, the speed is increased – taking that much more load from the CPU, and, if using the HTPC as a dual purpose machine, the card supports single slot SLI with an nVidia chipset motherboard, allowing non-gaming very low power use. The 260 series for the HTPC would make a great deal of sense, with only slightly less impressive specs, and a good savings for the user wanting to have something left over for media!

-

Technorati Tags: nVidia - 200 series - CUDA architecture - costly - double-precision floating point standard