I laughed when I read this article:

http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/guide/262/budgeting-for-your-home-theater

Do I need soundproofing in my room?
If you have kids, soundproofing is a must. Some folks go all-out and install soundproof doors or even build their home theater with a staggered-stud construction to keep sound leakage to a minimum. We recommend doing simple things like applying an acoustic door seal to your existing doors and using a lot of cushy materials in your theater that will help absorb errant audio.


LOL.

I laughed when I read this article:

http://reviews.digitaltrends.com/guide/262/budgeting-for-your-home-theater




LOL.

They use a 50" Plasma as an example of what video to choose for your Home Theater. I know, they're just not from our world.

CD

Comparing what the average home owner wants/does for HT and what we do is like apples and oranges.

Who wrote that article?

10% of budget goes to speaker wire and cables? So, in their model of a $4,000 budget they think you should spend $400. On what?

Also, the math they used doesn't add up. 10% of $4000 = $200 :confused: See they couldn't even spend $400 on 3 hdmis, a spool of speaker wire and a subwoofer cable. Also, $2300 + $1400 + $200 = $4100? :rolleyes:

Sorry CD, as much as I cringe when I hear it too, to the rest of the world a TV and modest 5.1 satellite speaker system, in the living room, is a home theater. :(

It wouldn't surprise me if the author of the article considered "quality" cables "Monster Cable".

/full disclosure: in 1998 I bought into the hype and exclusively bought monster cable.
//recovering, still attending MCOA. (Monster Cable Owners Anonymous)

Whats worse is if you google the authors name you will discover she has a book in print as well.

Now, now guys. Just like that dope, Suzy Orman, has been showing for years, canning up simple, common sense advice can be very lucrative if you target the right audience. And if you are targeting the right audience (those with little to no common sense) it is most likely helpful to them, so it is a win-win.

I agree that 200 is not 10% of 4,000 and I agree that 10% of your budget on wiring is silly in general. But I do think it is important to point out to people that they do need to budget for wires separately as it is not as easy as just getting a red/white/yellow RCA cable with your VCR anymore. And let’s be honest, for the uninformed, they are going to listen to the zit faced kid at Best Buy and buy that Monster Cable so they should budget for it lest they end up spending more than they wanted to after the fact.

As for the suggestions about soundproofing, as much as people around here like to go overboard (Yes expecting 100+ dB on one side of a wall and 50 dB on the other is going overboard relative to the rest of the population…) relatively cheap additions to a “common” house setup can make a difference. Although blocking up a leaky door joint with a door seal alone won’t stop an angry SVS at full throttle, it will do a lot to kill higher frequency noise transmission at moderate playback volume (like muffling the annoyance of being able to just hear the dialog in a movie while trying to do something in another room.)

Anyway, the point is that simplifying something to the point that it is usable by the average J6P often leaves the message as offensive to someone in the know, but she isn’t targeting those people anyway. Hey, at least she didn’t recommend a BOSE 1-2-3 system…

-Suntan