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Relative importance of different components of a GOOD home theater

1060 Views 10 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Terry Montlick, May 14, 2007

srikant

Discussion Starter · May 11, 2007

Hi All,

Off late I have been wondering about one question:

"What makes an excellent home theater?"

Of course the obvious answer is "Excellent components make an excellent home theater." But what are those components that differentiate a *good* home theater from an excellent one? And what is their relative importance?

We all know that a better receiver, better speakers, better subwoofer, better sound source, better wires (yes !!!), better power supply, better acoustics, better everything will make a better home theater. But what is their RELATIVE importance. (e.g. most people will no doubt agree that cables/wires are way less important than speakers)

If I were to upgrade my home theater, what is the component that I should be looking to upgrade? is it the speakers, or is it the receiver? (of course the weakest link .. but still .. assume I already have good speakers and good receiver ... in that case what should be improved?)

Yes, this is a very subjective question. I am interested in knowing different opinions.

I am interested in knowing different things such as what people think about different aspects of receivers like, usability, uniformity of frequency response, ease of configuration etc. On the same lines, what differentiates one set of speakers from another? frequency response only? timbre? brightness?

I am interested in knowing what differentiates the **wow** factor and the **WWOOOOOWW** factor for a home theater. What is YOUR opinion on this?

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1 - 11 of 11 Posts

WallyWest

· #2 · May 11, 2007

#1 by a long shot is the room itself. You can't make a bad room sound good, no matter how much money you throw at the equipment.

In general I think people are wowed by really powerful, tight bass more than anything.

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DoyleS

· #3 · May 12, 2007

I think the answer depends a lot on what an individual wants their Home Theater experience to be. In my case I want a big high quality picture so the CRT projector and Stewart screen sized for my room had a high priority. I knew I could control the light so front projection was not a problem. I initially started with separate audio components but then gave in to the simplicity of a good receiver with good speakers. My wife (an interior designer) on the other hand wanted the room to be completely finished with woods and colors and finishes that she liked. So, there was compromise, No black cave was allowed but she was able to work with the color schemes to come up with what we both felt was good. When I sat in the Berkline 090s I knew that we would not be sitting on a couch but had to have the theater seats, buttkickers and all.

So, I think you need to answer for yourself, what part of home theater is important to you. What is the effect you want and how will the room and theater be used. It is most likely different for a lot of people. Not that we can't look at some of those over the top theaters and wish or admire. Enjoy the process of getting your theater where you want it to go.

..Doyle

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ChrisWiggles

· #4 · May 12, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by WallyWest /forum/post/0

#1 by a long shot is the room itself. You can't make a bad room sound good, no matter how much money you throw at the equipment.

In general I think people are wowed by really powerful, tight bass more than anything.

I would have to agree. The room is very important for both audio and video performance (more fundamental for audio performance, but still quite important for video as well). In addition, comfort and decor are often very important for people, depending on preference.

Beyond that, preference will dictate how much things like integration, video, audio are important for the buyer. Some people really care about audio, others all video, others want something their grandmother can operate. Some want all of the above. So it kind of depends.

Something that a lot of people forget, is that movies are obviously very important too. There are a lot people out there with a lot of disposable incomes and fantastic home theaters that never watch any good movies. Personally, I'd rather watch a fantastic film on a 27inch TV than 3fast3furious or whatever in a high performance HT. So the movie library is also something that is oft forgotten which is pretty telling as well, but not really relevant to performance per se.

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TumaraBaap

· #5 · May 12, 2007

Srikant, it would be best to address those areas most susceptible to the greatest distortion (from an audio perspective). In a typical room, this would be the bass. A powerful sub, bass traps and parametric EQ help tackle this problem. Almost as important is the loudspeaker. It must be highly accurate, wide dispersion, with an even sound power response. This is a rare animal amongst consumer models. Such a loudspeaker will be very amenable to room acoustics. Next comes the room. Some will argue that the room is more important. Not so. A loudspeaker is earlier in the "signal chain" and an excellent one will deliver in a wide variety of neutrally furnished rooms. There is significant leeway in how you treat the room but some basics are universal. It must provide consistent absorption through the octaves, and wide band absorption on the ceiling and center portion of back wall are particularly helpful. First reflection points on the floor must also be treated. Lateral reflection points need NOT be treated if using some of the finest loudspeakers, but I comprise the (extreme)minority opinion on this. As for video, a HD front projector is the way to go. Thirty to 36 degree viewing angles truly draw you in. And unlike with set top TV's, the screen won't skew the tonality of the front speaker.

Other gear, such as receivers, CD players, speaker wire contribute less than a percent to fidelity, even if that.

Tumara Baap

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Terry Montlick

· #6 · May 14, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisWiggles /forum/post/0

I would have to agree. The room is very important for both audio and video performance (more fundamental for audio performance, but still quite important for video as well).

Not surprisingly, I agree.

See my current interview in Ultra Audio:
http://www.ultraaudio.com/

Quote:
Something that a lot of people forget, is that movies are obviously very important too. There are a lot people out there with a lot of disposable incomes and fantastic home theaters that never watch any good movies.

I readily admit that I'd much rather watch my film print of Citizen Kane, with its crappy monaural optical soundtrack, than any Adam Sandler movie in Dolby Digital surround at the best theaters in the world.

Regards,

Terry

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nerdyone

· #7 · May 14, 2007

I don't think wire should even be on your list. I really wish people would stop fooling themsevles with how important wire is. A decent, not crap, but decent set of interconnects is all you need for HT

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Tnilsson

· #8 · May 14, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by srikant /forum/post/0

We all know that a better receiver, better speakers, better subwoofer, better sound source, better wires (yes !!!), better power supply, better acoustics, better everything will make a better home theater.

Actually, I think most people on this forum would agree that spending more than 40 cents per foot on 12 gauge wire is utterly senseless and that an external power supply is equally senseless unless you live in an area that has frequent power blackouts.

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rnrgagne

· #9 · May 14, 2007

There's experts here that might shoot holes in my theory but based on my own experience to date, in order of relevance for the audio side;

1. Room/speaker interaction (room treatments, speaker placement etc.)

2. Accurate bass response (bass traps, EQ, placement etc.)

3. Speakers

4. Signal processing (DAC's, ADC's, DSP's)

5. Amplification

6. Everything else

On the video side it boils down to light/reflection control.

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Randybes

· #10 · May 14, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Terry Montlick /forum/post/0

Not surprisingly, I agree.

See my current interview in Ultra Audio:
http://www.ultraaudio.com/

Regards,

Terry