[mythtv-users] Speaker Suggestions ???

match at ece.utah.edu match at ece.utah.edu
Fri Jun 9 16:49:40 UTC 2006


On 8 Jun 2006 at 14:05, Brian Wood wrote:

> It's hard to find a DVD soundtrack that has not been "processed" and  
> "enhanced" within an inch of its life, and another word for  
> "enhancement" is "distortion". It is a change from what was  
> originally recorded, no matter how good the intentions of the  
> "enhancer".

Exactly. This is why I've mentioned both on and off list that one 
should consider separating his HiFi from his home theater. This is 
also why you shouldn't necessarily shop for a theater speaker the 
same way you shop for a HiFi speaker.

Not only have movie sound tracks been "enhanced" but a goodly portion 
of the soundtrack is created in a Foley lab and the sounds are 
completely un-natural to start with. Therefore the requirements for 
home theater and HiFi are somewhat different.

For my HiFi, I want my speakers to be able to reproduce a 32' organ 
note, and I want cymbals and sibilants to be crisp and clean, and I 
want everything in between to be perfect.

For home theater I want natural sounding vocals, and I want the 
timber of each speaker to be similar, that is, if I'm watching a 
movie and in it there is a B-25 bomber that flies over my head, I 
don't want it to turn into a Cessna as it passes behind me. Other 
than that, as long as there is a solid bass presence down to 45 Hz 
(there's almost no information in movies below 45 Hz) and treble to 
15kHz, who cares if it's really HiFi? Actually, I'd rather keep the 
illusion of horse hooves in the desert, rather than to be able to 
distinguish that those sounds are really coconut shells on a table 
covered in sand.

So to recap, for home theater I want my system to cover about 45Hz to 
15kHz, but I  only care if it's HiFi from about 300Hz to 3.5kHz 
(voice range) and I want all 5 + sub speakers to integrate well.

Q. OK, now that we have a goal in mind, can't I use my HiFi speakers 
for front L & R, and just buy 3 of "something else"? 
A. Been there, tried that. It's extremely difficult to get 3 more to 
integrate well and the differences in efficiency will drive you to 
drink. Of course you could just buy 5 HiFi speakers, but why waste 
all that money on movie soundtracks?

Marvin



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