2. home-theater
  3. 1014349570

Totally Confused about home theater

I have been many years in audio, but video is an alien field to me...I recently purchased my first TV ever (27" Sony WEGA) and I'm 39!

I was wondering just how critical it is to match the surround speakers. I bought a pair of Swans M-1 satellites with ribbon tweeters and have a pair of Mirage MBS bipolars with polycarbonate dome tweeters.

This has become very confusing, for I have an extra pair of Wharfedale Diamond 7.1's with the same polycarbonate tweeter. Definitely, I have enough gear to have two separate systems (including an old Proton 600T Preamp/Video Tuner I picked up at a pawn shop and an Audio Control 5 band EQ with knobs).

Should I go for two channel HT? Should I keep them in separate rooms or as two separate systems in the same room? Is there any real difference between 5.1 and 7.1?

For the record, I *do* appreciate the simplicity of my Melos SHA-1 hybrid preamp: just On/Off, 3-input selector and volume--that's it. Not even balance or a tape loop. Straightline design...and extremely musical.

I would appreciate any suggestions, since after e-mailing several members here they are all 100% audio and could not help me...and when I go to stores the HT systems sound so awful I just have to leave! Salesmen knowledge is nonexistent, also. Have you ever heard those dolls that you pull a string and it says a sentence? That's exactly how those kids sound to me!!! They just repeat the same things over and over and over...no reasoning power whatsoever.

Thanks.
psychicanimal

Showing 1 response by bishopwill

bishopwill
369 posts
 
Sean, you are right on target! I wonder if the problem isn't that many HT people don't know what sound is supposed to sound like. If they've been watching VHS played on a Circuit City special sending RF to a 27" Magnavox, even horrid HT sound is a vast improvement. I've found that lots of folks who buy those $50K HT systems are replacing exactly that kind of junk.

At the risk of sounding like just another horribly snobbish audiophile, I find a great many--a majority--of HT buyers lacking in listening skills and naive about what can be achieved with a little care and effort.

"Don't call me naive. I have a Runco projector. I have Cinepro amplifiers. I have a line sextupler. I have electric drapes. I have a Crestron control system and the programming fees, alone, cost more than your speakers. I have an original Jimmy Dean poster. And I payed a fortune for these speakers that mount right in the wall...."
More to discover