Battle-of-the-bands.info/blog

You’ve just bought a brand new 70″ HDTV after months and months of saving. You’ve cancelled the vacation, fought the wife, and it’s obvious your oldest child will now have to work their way through college. You’ve settled into your easy chair and the big moment comes as you turn on your monster and you hear-a peep. The sound just does not match the gargantuan proportions of the screen. Now what? You should have looked into an audio receiver. Don’t worry, I’m going to help ya.

The purpose of the audio receiver is to amplify sound and separate channels for your movies. These days 5.1 home theaters have become the norm, though there are some 6.1, 7.1 and even 7.2 systems out there. Let me define this for you: the “5″ in 5.1 is the number of smaller speakers–your high to mid-range speakers. The “.1″ part of 5.1 is the subwoofer, which is your bass. If arranged and hooked up properly, you will have achieved (angel’s singing in the back ground) surround sound. Or to put it more simply, the bullets on the screen will “whizz past your head” in “3D audio” and you can go back to grinning.

Next we have speakers. Speakers are not what it’s all about, but they are definitely the first thing people ask about. Most guys reply, “Uhh…they’re 200 watts.” Just look impressed, because he probably doesn’t know what that means either. Speakers carry no wattage themselves; the wattage referred to is actually what the speakers are rated at, or how many watts the speaker can handle. So a 200 watt speaker system should go with a 200 watt amp, right? Basically, the answer is no.

So how much power do you need for your speakers? If you have 200 watt speakers, having a too powerful of a receiver will leave you buying new speakers after you “blow” your old ones. While having, say, a 100 watt audio receiver will make getting a home theater a moot point anyway. There must be a hard and fast rule for picking speakers and receivers. It just so happens that you are about to read a simplistic solution, with very little math involved. Take for example 200 watt speakers and multiply by .75 (150 watts). Then add back in now add 25 watts (175 Watts). 175 Watts would be the very rough recommended WPC (Watt Per Channel) you would be looking for from a receiver. Why? With all the different manufacturers’ there is some cushion they provide themselves. Basically, 200 watt speakers can handle more than 200 watts. For warranty reasons they aren’t going to tell you that, or tell you how much they can handle at “peak performance.” Audio amplifiers will generally have a peak output above their specifications as well. That is as so if there is a sound louder than the “loud sound,” it can be differentiated from the initial sound. It’s like they can crank it to 11 if they need to. By keeping more or less to these specs you can eliminate under-powering without worrying about distortion at high output.

You hear all the time about people buying the same home theater system and getting drastically different results. Often it’s blamed on the manufacturer. The things you have to ask yourself are: Are the exact dimensions of the rooms the same? How about the speaker arrangement? Do you and your twin buddy both have the exact same taste in home furnishing? Believe it or not these are all factors in room “tuning,” and sometimes you have to look at the environment before you run off and buy a new audio receiver and speakers. Is your media room warm or cold?

“Warm” rooms are generally just that: warm. Think about a movie theater. Have you ever noticed the extra padding and/or heavy curtains on the wall? That’s to absorb sound. So basically, a sound at say, 70 dB (decibels) is born and dies right away making room for the next sound to take its place. This is the ideal environment for your home theater. Realistically, it’s not going to go down that way. The exact opposite would be the “cold” room. Go into a public restroom, or if you have the time drive to the Grand Canyon. Sound echoes there. That’s bad, and though it’s not really that discernable to the untrained ear in say…your apartment, it is a factor in noise.

So walk into your media room and yell “HEY!” Did you get an echo? Did the sound die right away? Did anyone pop their head in and say, “WHAT?!?” If you have a very bad echo, you might want to consider over-stuffed furniture, a few throw rugs and some pictures on the wall. Otherwise you are never going to get that high powered “HD sound” you’re looking for. A warmer room requires less wattage and you will get richer, deeper bass tones. The best part is that your high and mid-range tones won’t give you a headache and make all the neighborhood dogs howl.

The final suggestion is pretty straightforward and requires no math at all: When in doubt, ask a professional. Even if you bought your gear somewhere else, a qualified professional at your local electronics store will almost always be willing (even happy) to answer questions and give additional advice.

Tags: Arts & Entertainment // Add Comment »