Automatic setup programs are supposed to be easy, but they can stump home theater neophytes.
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)Most new AV receivers come with an "auto setup" or "automatic calibration" feature, but despite the word automatic, these features can stump AV novices. If you're setting up an AV receiver for the first time, this guide will put you on the right track.
First, let's describe what auto setup systems do.
They send test tones to all the speakers and subwoofer, and use a microphone to pick up the sound of the speakers in your room. Auto setup systems determine speaker sizes and volume levels, set the subwoofer-to-satellite crossover frequency, measure distances from each of the speakers to the listener, and confirm that all of the speaker cables are correctly hooked up. Some receivers also use equalization to balance the frequency response of all the speakers.
Auto setup systems go by different names, but they all do approximately the same thing. Denon and Onkyo feature Audyssey; Sony has Digital Cinema Auto Calibration, Pioneer Multi Channel Acoustic Calibration, and Yamaha uses a Parametric Room Acoustic Optimizer.
(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg)
The exact positioning of the auto calibration microphone is crucial for achieving accurate results. Some auto setup systems work from just one mic position, which would be the primary spot where you sit when watching movies by yourself. Ideally the mic should be placed at the same height as your ears when you're sitting watching a movie.
If you have a camera tripod, use it to place the mic at ear height; perfectionists should move the couch entirely out of the way. Lacking a tripod place the mic on the back of the couch, atop the highest pillow.
... Read moreI love in-ear headphones--the ones that fit inside your ear canals, as opposed to ear buds that rest on the outer ear. I'm a big fan because in-ear headphones' ultraclose proximity to eardrums offers the potential for the highest-resolution sound quality.
The better in-ear headphones also do a great job of sealing out external environmental noise so you can listen at a lower (safer) volume and still hear all of that amazing detail. The problem is, unless both earpieces are sealed tight, you're not going to get the sound you paid for.
Everybody's ears are different, so achieving a perfect fit can be a tricky exercise. Most in-ear headphones come with a selection of differently sized and shaped eartips. Try them all; the goal is to produce a the best possible "seal," which reduces the amount of outside noise you hear and delivers the headphone's fullest-possible bass response.
The difference in sound quality between a good seal and an iffy one isn't subtle. It's definitely worth a little extra effort to maximize each tip's seal. Remember, too, that poor sealing makes for a less secure fit, so the earpiece is more likely to fall out of your ear.
Tip: Your left and right ear canals may not be exactly the same size; you might need, for example, the smallest eartip for your right ear and a medium tip for the left ear.
I've included a gallery of images to help perfect your in-ear insertion techniques. First, try rotating/twisting the tip slightly as you push the headphone inside the canal.
... Read more
Dynaudio C-1 speaker with a 6.7-inch woofer and 1.1-inch tweeter
(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)Listen, if you're buying speakers, the best thing to do is listen to them. If you can't, you'll learn a lot perusing specifications.
Online shoppers need the most info, but even brick-and-mortar buyers can predict quite a lot about a prospective speaker's performance and system compatibility by looking at the numbers. Tech talk gets you woozy? No problem, the main points of interest would be the dimensions of the speaker and how much the thing weighs.
Hint: bigger and heavier speakers almost always sound better than small, lightweight ones.
So far, so good, but woofer size also provides clues about how much bass a speaker will produce. Bigger woofers make more bass than smaller ones, but the cabinet's size is almost as important a factor as woofer size in determining bass quality/quantity. Multiple woofers may look impressive, but they're less reliable predictors of bass oomph; we've tested lots of skinny speakers with two, three, four, or more drivers that didn't make much bass. The cabinets were too damned small, four 3-inch woofers don't make as much bass as one 6-inch woofer in a larger box.
You might hope the frequency response specification, "38 Hertz -- 22,000 Hertz," would predict how much bass the speaker would make. The first part of that spec, "38 Hertz" refers to the bass output--the lower the number--the deeper the bass. Ah, but since there wasn't any reference to the tolerance of the spec, it's just about useless. Some manufacturers include a "+/-" after the frequency response number, something like 38 Hertz - 22,000 Hertz +/- 3 dB, and that helps a bit. Any speaker that reaches 50 Hz or lower can be considered "full range" and doesn't necessarily need to be partnered with a subwoofer--for music. Multichannel (5.1, 6.1, 7.1) home Theater applications almost always require subwoofers.
I have less to say about tweeters, other than to recommend buying speakers with tweeters; a fair number of pricey "sound bar" speakers are tweeterless. That's not to say they will sound bad, just not as detailed and clear as speakers with decent tweeters.
... Read more
(Credit:
Steve Guttenberg)
The iPhone commercial parody on YouTube with genius filmmaker David Lynch hit the mark for me. His insight about people watching movies on iPhones, I'm paraphrasing--"You think you've seen the movie after watching it on your iPhone, but you'll be cheated. You haven't seen the movie."--could also be applied to music.
Just because you were listening to music while text messaging your boy/girlfriend doesn't mean you've actually heard the music. Exposure to music, art, film, what have you, is not the same as active engagement. It's kind of like having sex while watching Lost or Law & Order, which might not necessarily be a bad thing, but it does say something about the sex.
So the question is, do you ever just listen to music--without also doing something else at the same time?
Or do you--
Read
Cook
Work
Exercise
Commute to work
Or ________
while listening to music?
And when you just listen, does it change your feelings about the music?
Amplifier power is measured in watts, as in "100 watts per channel," but what does that really mean? Do all 100 watt per channel receivers deliver 100 watts? And what about those "1000 watt" home theater in a box systems? Are they more powerful than 2,000 A/V receivers? And what about high-end 100 watt per channel high-end power amps? Are all watts created equal? I don't think so!
Pass Labs 200 watt XA200 amplifier weighs 175 pounds
(Credit: Pass Labs)Unfortunately power ratings are a near meaningless way to compare the loudness potential of one receiver, amplifier, or HTIB against another. That's what power gets you--the more power you put into a given speaker--the louder it will play. More watts aren't necessarily better sounding watts; some hard-core audiophiles get off listening to ultra low power, 7 watt per channel, hand-built, vacuum tube amplifiers. These guys think the purity of the watts is where it's at.
Sure, most of us want more, not less power, but the catch is there's no reliable way for a consumer to learn about a given amp, receiver, or HTIB's wattage. Oh, there's one specification that has served me well over the years: weight. Power is heavy, or to be more precise, the stuff that makes power is heavy. I'm sorry, but a 9 pound HTIB amplifier has about as much chance of putting out 1000 watts as I do. I pretty much guarantee that a 44 pound receiver will clobber a 22 pounder when it comes to dishing out King Kong's room shaking antics. Look under the hood of a high-end amp or pricey A/V receiver and you see a humongous power transformer. Powerful amps need big transformers to pull a lot of power from the wall outlet, and high current transformers are always heavy things. The other power supply related parts are also big, heavy, and, well, not cheap. Fact is, most $500 A/V receivers never come close to delivering their spec-ed power into their seven channels. Some can barely manage a third of their claimed wattage.
The reasons the manufacturers "get away" with this outright fraud are numerous, but the reality is most buyers don't listen all that loud. If you do and/or live a big house or apartment, or have speakers that demand oodles of juice, pony up and buy a serious receiver or better yet, a separates based system with a surround processor and heavyweight power amp. One hundred watts per channel might not be enough, or 200 might be better, but an honest-to-God 300 watts might be what it takes to rock your world. Even if it's just the occasional party where you really want to blast the system, you need to buy enough power. When in doubt, go for more, and don't worry about damaging your speakers with too much power. Fact is, more speakers get fried by underpowered amps than by uber power amps. In other words, you're more likely to "blow up" a speaker with a 25 watt amp than a 250 watter.
- prev
- 1
- next
