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3D SOUND INVESTMENT Please Remember:
It’s really expensive when you buy something that doesn’t work If you don't want to read this on line you can download it as a PDF Right click on this link and save or open it as a PDF in your Brower by just Clicking:
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If it sounds good, Looks Good and Feels Good it is good. It’s really that simple. Choosing a hi-fi or home theatre for your home is more to about the movie or music experience than it is about trying to understand all the technical specifications and techno-babble. If it’s a home cinema you want, you need to know this; does it play all the CD and DVD discs you own and does it play Blu-ray with “Full HD video and HD audio?” If it does all of that. It’s worth looking at seriously. You won’t get techno-babble from us, just common-sense-opinions and good advice. So before you go to look at any system; remember that it’s your opinion that counts. Sales people may tell you stuff. You might read reviews on this or that. “But when you see, hear and experience what a good system can do for you; making the right choice will come naturally.” Be careful of magazine and online reviews as they are often linked to advertising revenues that these companies make. And please make a note that no reviewer will give you your money back if you hate the product they recommended to you! You may be asking what I mean by; “A system making you feel good.” It’s actually very simple, modern entertainment systems delivers a “whole body experience,” not just sight and sound, plus a good system will also turn you on emotionally. If you don’t get a feel-good-experience with the system you are evaluating then move on to one that appeals to your emotions and makes you feel happy. I would like you to understand that some companies make their systems emphasize treble this will make them sound different and more noticeable. However listening to continuous high pitch sound is very tiring. This may also explain why you don’t often use a system that you may already have at home. Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten. A good system is one that matches your needs and delivers a result that satisfies you regardless of the price you paid for it! Your living space also plays a big part in choosing the right sized entertainment system and that you may need specialist help from someone who cares about you and understand your needs and expectations. Remember; if it looks good, sounds good and feels good it is! Before you choose a hi-fi or home theatre system decide who you want to deal with. Making the wrong choices could mean that you have a system that doesn’t satisfy your needs and a black-hole in your bank account. Asking questions about a business’s replacement and returns policies as well as after sales service and guarantee policies. Asking lots of questions is a good place to start. Make sure the person you are asking is listening to you:
Beware of techno-babble and confusing technical information dumps from inexperienced sales people. You need someone who knows what they are doing and will actually listen to you and cater for your needs. If that doesn’t happen - vote with your feet and go somewhere else. So who is a good dealer: Obviously one that can satisfy your needs and you feel confident in dealing with? A dealer with a wall full of goods untidily displayed and with no clearly defined choices will tell you that they only want your money. A dealer that offers you a variety of clearly defined quality choices and can demonstrate potential systems while explaining the benefits relating to your entertainment expectations is clearly what you should be looking for. The ideal of course would be a dealer that has dedicated-rooms that are similar to your living space and where the system they recommend to you has been set up properly for you to evaluate. This method of course will give you an accurate idea of what you are actually buying. Avoid big discount stores and chains. Entertainment products offered here are geared for price and impulse buying. Finding qualified sales people to advise or demonstrate to you will also be difficult. They take your money and they move a box that can be an expensive way to buy… Modern home theatre systems are also best setup by qualified installers who are passionate about what they do so that the system as they will make the system you have bought look and sound the best possible and by investing their services and high quality HD cabling the end result will be vastly improved. Good after sales service is very important and it is important that you get a commitment from your dealer on this issue. Some companies also offer service contracts and don’t forget to add lightning protectors. So how do you choose a good hi-fi or home theatre system? We have already covered the basics of choosing a good dealer. But we need to make you smart as well on what you should be looking for. Before we start be aware that some manufacturers emphasize some bass and treble frequencies that can sound impressive but are tiring and annoying to listen to for long periods. The Source: It all starts with a good source product this could be a record player, CD player, DVD player, Satellite Decoder, Tape Recorder and of course the content you play from these discs or tapes should also have been properly recorded as well. The Source product should have the ability to extract all the music and visual content from the disc or tape and send it to the amplification without altering or deforming it in any way. This is the first step in choosing a system that you and your family will really enjoy. Amplification and Processing: We will not separate audio and visual products here as both audio and visual content is processed and amplified so that speakers TV’s deliver entertainment value. A modern AV amplifier should do the following: The video content should be up-scalable to the best resolution that your TV can support, which is currently Full HD. This should give you a sharper, clearer, cleaner and more colourful picture. Video and audio sources should be simple to use with readable on screen menus and remote controls that are easy to understand and use. The amplification has to be powerful enough to drive the loudspeaker systems you have chosen. Contrary to popular belief the amplifier is more important than the speakers and the bigger and more powerful the amplification the better and bigger the entertainment experience. A big plus with big amplifiers is their ability to deliver a quality experience even at the lowest listening levels. Please not that your loudspeakers can only reflect what is put into them - just like a mirror. Stereo amplifiers work in much the same way but without visual processing. Today the choice of digital and analogue amplification can be confusing – The best advice is listen to the products and let the experience tell you how you feel. If they make you happy go for it - if not back off and listen to something else. And if there is more talking than listening walk away… Speakers and TV: Everyone thinks it is the speakers or TV that makes a good entertainment system. However these can only be as good as the signal delivered to them by a good source and processor or amplifier as well as the cable used to make everything work together. Good speakers will accurately reproduce all the quality of the music or movie sound track providing the recording is good a have and the player and amplification can pass that information to the speakers without loss. Multi channel systems use different types of speakers to create a spatial effect that we call surround sound. All speakers should share a common voice this will ensures there are no ups and down in frequency when a truck rolls from left to right in the movie you are watching. The centre speaker is also where the dialogue comes from and properly positioning this speaker is important. The surround speakers are generally out of phase and delayed and you will only hear them when effect sounds are played through them. They are also the most abused speaker as most people think that they should hear them all the time. This is not true because if the playback volume for these speakers is set too high the front speakers cannot be heard properly. The best way to think about doing a good setup is that there is a left to right balance control just like you find in a stereo amplifier and a front to back balance control which will give you a good 3D sound experience. Sub-woofers will enhance the energy you feel from movies and music; multiple subwoofers increase the energy level to the point that the experience becomes really addictive. All speakers and Sub-woofers should be timbre-matched or have the same voice. This will ensure the best three dimensional effects. Stereo speakers: The same rules apply to stereo speakers as a theatre setup the source and amplification must match the capabilities of the speaker selected failure to do so will lead to an inferior result and a dissatisfying listening experience. We often see speakers being traded-in for so called better models. If you want to upgrade – buy or use a better source and amplification for the speakers you currently own and you will be amazed at the improvement you get. Stereo speakers are more difficult than multi channel speaker systems to set up as they are room dependent and also as there is no centre speaker they have to be positioned to create a phantom centre effect, which generally can only be experienced by one person sitting in the centre between the two speakers, while other people seating on the left or right of the listener can only hear one speaker. It is possible to get a good experience from stereo. However the future is 3D which means spatial sound and vision. TV and Projection Technology TV Panel technology is the fastest changing technology of all and we have gone over the last fifteen years from low tech, low definition Cathode Ray Tubes to hi-tech high definition flat panel displays which in the not too distant future look like becoming 3D as well. Beware of people that tell you that a product is future proof – Just like computers digital technology is evolving all the time. Backward compatibility is a better term to hear a sales person say. Current TV panels are all based around 1080P screen resolution using either plasma or LCD technology. So called LED panels are actually LCDs with LED backlighting it will still be a while before we see large panel OLED or similar technology screens. For now it is LCD and Plasma – which one is best. This really depends on your individual perception of what you are watching and again on what you will be using the screen for. Here your opinion counts as they are both very good technologies that are improving all the time. The size of screen you need is based on your viewing distance it is simple at that. Projectors: Again the quality and luminosity required is based on screen size, screen quality, viewing distance and room brightness. Generally darkened rooms are best but the technology gets better every year. If you really want the large cinema experience a large screen and a high energy sound system is a must. Many people now use a panel TV and a roof mounted motorized drop down projection screen in their entertainment room. - Small and Large Picture the best of both worlds. We hope all the tips on this page help you choose right…
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