AVRant #12: Putting your peg leg down
July 26th, 2007
Arrg matie! It’s a pirate show today (not really). It is listener question day as Dina and Tom discuss audio elitism including a long discussion on price points and what are some of Tom’s review beliefs. Some insight into the inner workings of Audioholics is revealed. How to hide AV equipment to keep a spouse happy and why room treatments are for you squeaks in at the end. Don’t forget, when you move your gear to a different room, you’ll have to run wires though an attic or basement but that’s the price you pay for pirate love. Keep those questions coming and we’ll see you next week.
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Tom, you only WISH you had a pirate wench! The right kind of pirate wench will make you forget you even want a home theater!
As a side note, I don’t make my wife dress up in wench costumes. Not if I know what’s good for me… *laugh*
Here are some pictures of my setup that Tom and Dina talked about in the podcast:
http://picasaweb.google.com/bob.mcclenahan/HomeTheater?authkey=xwvNBl1pVRI
Tom did give me some suggestions on how to tame some of the harsh sound in the room. As you can tell in the pictures, wall treatments may not help too much as there isn’t a wall to treat. I toed out the main speakers and toed in the surround speakers on his recommendation, and the sound quality did improve.
And Dina, my wife actually bought me those pillows for my birthday, because I love me some sugar cereals.
BobMac,
I’d treat that right wall a little bit if possible (couldn’t see it all in the pics) And GET SOME CURTAINS FOR GOODNESS SAKE! lol
Adding some curtains to the room will help decorate and provide a little bit of balance to the reflectivity I see now (but at least you have carpet).
Bob, I have ONE of those subs in a room about as big as yours, and I can make my kids throw up with test tones… (I know, because it happened once when I was trying to position and tweak it.) I can’t imagine what would happen with TWO of them. Go ahead, loop a 16hz tone for about 10 minutes and see if you can melt your internal organs, I dare you…
(I take no responsibility if Bob kills himself or any family member, friend, or acquaintance by use of subsonic frequencies!)
I’ve gotten queasy running test tones as well, especially at higher volumes. Not a recommended practice unless you are trying to clear your house of unwanted guests 😉
Curtains behind the TV would help tame some of the sound…I should see what the boss says about that. She nixed any sort of window coverings on the windows in the open space. We live in Napa and have a really beautiful view of the mountains and vineyards that the photos didn’t capture. This house was always just temporary. We’re building a new house, and it will have a dedicated theater room.
The subs are powerful, but they’re calibrated to the same level as the rest of the system. I could have gotten away with one or even smaller subs, but I like symmetry and those just look so brutish.
Napa… I’m totally envious. Visited there once near Thanksgiving. It was awesome. Great wineries, beautiful weather. I once tried to get a job near there but it didn’t pan out.
The weather here is really nice. It’s 54 and sunny. I have family in Jacksonville and saw that it’s 91 (and I’m sure very humid.) You could review equipment here, couldn’t you?
Tom nailed it on hiding the gear – get an RF universal remote!
But there are other options as well. One that I frequently suggest and install for people is an IR repeater product. The one I most often suggest is around $100, and can be mounted in built-in cabinets, a closet, or almost anywhere. Very easy to install, and allows you to hide ALL of your gear.
I mentioned that as well but you still would have to have the repeater near the front of the room (presumably by the screen as that’s where everyone points the remote anyhow). Mrs. Pirate might not have liked that. The RF doesn’t even have to be in the same room and isn’t all the much more expensive. If you’re going to go universal, you might as well go RF IMO.
Good point – agreed.