You know the phenomenon. You start to get a hankering for a new car, pair of skis, bicycle, dining table, whatever. You research the subject. You check the web, magazines, friends, whatever. Fortified with your knowledge, you walk into the store and realize, once again, you're smarter than the sales guy. I know this happens because you're reading this.
A month ago, I did not know Component Video Output from three holes in the ground. You could take all I knew about home theater, feed it to a gnat and it would rattle around inside like a BB in a boxcar. Today, I can define and know distinctions between Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, DTS, and THX thanks, in part, to "Home Theater" magazine. I now understand what "sound stage" means and that cross over circuits haven't defected to the Dark Side. And speaking of dark and video gear, I never knew there was a black blacker than black. A few weeks back if you were to tell me my video equipment is passing "pluge" I would have wrapped it in plastic and put it out with the garbage. These days I know it's actually good to pass pluge. What got me started was my wife had me put away massive stereo speakers, circa 1974, because they clashed with the décor. As someone who only got as far as "dorm room motif" in interior design and in keeping with my rules for survival, I deferred to her wishes. Part of the deal was that we would get those little, wall mounted speakers that are so de rigueur in the home design magazines.
Since I didn't have the time to listen to all "sat-sub" (that's audiophile lingo for SATellite, SUB-woofer for you surround sound challenged readers) speaker systems (there are hundreds) or even a fraction of them, I had to take the word of experts. For this, I bought and read a few issues of "Home Theater" magazine. I found it to be instructional, educational, and a fun read, in short, a valuable resource. This quality magazine made it easy to define a price range and narrow my search to a half dozen speaker set prospects.
Someone said a journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step. I think it was the travel agent for the company I used to work for. My single step in finding a less-than-one-grand, six-speaker system needed for AC-3 5.1 (I can sling those technical terms around now, baby) was answered in a "Home Theater" recent article on the best sat-sub system for less than one grand. So the guys at the magazine are clairvoyant too. And, yes, it seems the audio/visual world is dominated by guys. Just an observation not a political statement.
Confident I wouldn't appear the Totally Clueless Shopper, I strolled with an easy gait through the doors of my local audio visual retail shop, as seen on TV, hoping my casual demeanor might hint of inner peace and wisdom. "May I help you?" asked the pleasant "sales associate". I asked what sat-sub systems they had in the $1000 price range that compare to the brand I was interested in. "I'm not familiar with that brand," he replied seeming to look beyond the rows of VCRs he was facing. I asked what his recommendations would be on a system in that price range. When the glaze in his eyes looked nearly appetizing he said another sales person might understand what I was talking about. Turns out neither sales person, OK let's call them guys, were familiar with the brand I had read about nor could they figure without a host of calculations, a system that THEY carried for about the same price much less assemble one in time for a demonstration. This script was followed in more or less similar fashion at other stores. I finally went to a retailer I knew carried the speaker brand I read about, asked the sales guy to make me want to take the system home, got a deal and loaded it into the car.
Why aren't these so-called sales people, OK salesguys, reading "Home Theater" magazine? Do they think that every schmoe who walks in is just going to point at a system and declare: "wrap it up"? Some retailers with storefronts better learn that their only ace up the sleeve is personal attention. People still shop in real stores for real service. I mean, heck, if you could just point at an object and want to pay for it, you could simply shop on the Web. Hey, wait a minute…
"Home Theater" is the magazine for those wondering about and perhaps considering obtaining a system. It's a flat-bound monthly and uses heavy weight paper stock for its glossy pages. This makes reading easy on the eyes since text and illustrations on the opposite side of the page leaves don't "bleed" through. The quality stock also allows the well produced photos and illustrations to be sharp and clear. Through its straight writing and some extrapolation and osmosis on the reader's part, one acquires working knowledge in selecting components and assembling a home theater entertainment system. A few issues are all that's needed to give the reader an idea of what's required, what's extra, what's available, how much to spend, and how to judge equipment. Objectively made measurements are presented in standard manner and can be interpreted fairly easily. I enjoy the comprehensive reviews and consistent rating system. Every review article includes a photo of the equipment and ancillary gear such as its remote control. Sidebars include one that highlights special features and reviewer impressions. The manufacturer's suggested retail price and contact information with a web URL is included in another sidebar. The coolest common feature of every review is a box showing what appears to be five speedometers labelled: Performance, Build Quality, Ergonomics, Features, and Value. The pointer points at a scale running from 50 to 100 for each attribute. Prospective buyers will find this nifty feature valuable when spending some hard earned coin.
The magazine also appeals to the other end of the audiovisualphile segment. By this I mean those who lust after $10,000 speakers, $7000 arcane "tube" amplifiers, and $3500 turntables. Tubes? Turntables? Don't say it's all digital now or you'll truly sound like a dweeb. Covering the esoterically high-end gear with their associated stratospherically high price tags makes some sense. Doing this gives consumers a gauge to measure their own choices against the "best" or, at least most-expensive. As with all periodicals of this sort, "Home Theater" seems to have a bias towards its most prominent advertisers. This is not a bad thing and savvy readers should have their own mental "de-biasing" filters activated when going through the issues.
Not all reviews in this monthly are of equipment. Owners of DVD players might find the "Home Theater" reviews of newly released DVDs interesting if not valuable. While not necessarily reviewing content, DVDs are judged on how well the quality of image and sound is captured on the digital format. As one might suspect, the transfer from film to ones and zeros on a plastic disk is more than a casual affair. An entire industry has been created to digitize movies. How well each movie has made the jump to digital is critically analyzed in video and audio context. Many DVD collectors, like CD collectors of yore, are selecting movies that they already own on aging analog sources such as tape. These owners would like to know that the DVD versions are just as faithful to the original. In some cases, according to "Home Theater", the DVD versions are better.
One would probably not subscribe to "Home Theater" since once your own system is selected and installed, you won't be buying another for years. On the other hand, I think audiovisual retailers should provide subscriptions to their sales force, OK sales guys, as required reading.
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