Previous
Windows 7 media center review
Logitech Harmony Adapter for Playstation 3 review
HD 101: What is ATSC, PSIP, QAM, and 8-VSB?
How to install a CableCARD tuner in your DIY Media Center
DISH Network launches remote DVR control
Engadget HD Podcast 157 - 09.29.2009
Paradigm SUB 25 subwoofer review
Engadget goes behind the Dolby logo
Breaking news Feed
- Boxee inks deal with first hardware partner: a 'Boxee Box' is coming
- Best Buy partnering with CinemaNow to stream first-run DVDs to 'all web-connected devices sold'
- Netflix coming next month to PlayStation 3
- Toshiba details CELL REGZA LCD TV, coming December to Japan (update: video!)
- Intel announces Atom CE4100 for insanely powerful cable boxes and Blu-ray players
- Media Center CableCARDs freed from OEM requirement
- Samsung's LED TV Couple packs a 7-inch tablet remote for streaming TV and so much more
- Toshiba BDX2000 Blu-ray player coming November for $250, gives HD-DVD the final cold shoulder
- PS3 Slim bitstreams Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA audio, at last
- Xbox 360 officially the only console to stream Netflix -- sorry, PS3 and Wii
Featured stories Feed
- Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray mini-review
- Ask Engadget HD: Is it (still) a good time to buy a TiVo?
- Pace and Rovi work together to make a standard set-top a true multi-room DVR
- Ready or not, the latest 3D technology is coming home
- How to automatically skip commercials in Windows 7 Media Center
- Ask Engadget HD: How do you evaluate HDTVs in-store?
- Sharp AQUOS LC-52LE700UN impressions
- Ask Engadget HD: Best home theater setup for gaming?
- TDK's heavily stacked 320GB disc shows its nearly-clear face at CEATEC
- Panasonic's 1080p twin-lens P2 camcorder seen behind three-dee glass at CEATEC
- Don't shop drunk: Verizon's $350 ETF is now live
- Keepin' it real fake, part CCXLI: PXP 2000 is not a PSP Go, but it gets a loving unboxing anyway
- Droid experiencing external speaker problems, could be a software issue?
- RAmos W7 spotted blazing through Android
- CrunchPad is 'steamrolling along,' will cost between $300 and $400
Resources
Sections
- Announcements
- Ask Engadget HD
- DIY
- Features
- Industry
- Misc
- Podcasts
- Polls
- Regulatory
- Reviews
- Blu-ray
- Cables
- Camcorders
- Displays
- DVRs
- HD DVD
- Media PCs
- Media streamers
- Other formats
- Other hardware
- Players
- Ports
- Receivers
- Recorders
- Remotes
- Set-top boxes
- Speakers
- Switches
- Tuners
Hardware
Manufacturers
WIN Network
- Autos
- Technology
- Lifestyle
- Gaming
- Finance
- Entertainment on AOL
- Lifestyle on AOL
- Sports on AOL
- Travel on AOL
- Also on AOL
Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Steve Jr. @ Nov 23rd 2008 9:55AM
Dear Ben & Steve, but more Ben,
This refers to the round table discussion show and how Ben made the point regarding does anyone on the show have audio systems worth more than their displays?
The crickets were heard and it very much disturbed me because how can anyone claim to be a Home Theater or HD enthusiast when they regard sound so low on the scale?
How can HD and the HD movie experience not go hand in hand? The two are equally important to the HD experience and especially the HD movie experience.
Good sound quality matters, it doesn't have to be top notch, but it does have to be good and affects the Home Theater experience tremendoulsy... period.
A good solid receiver and a good center channel and beefy subwoofer are required. I currently use Yamaha, Klipsch RC-64 and SVS, respectively and never once have I regretted the money spent. I don;t have the tree in the backyard with $50's and $100's, but I did buy over the years the best of the middle area that I could afford, with a sprinkle of lower upper.
After that the front mains are next important and then the rear surrounds... which don't have to be all that great, just good.
What good is having a big HD screen with SD cloudy sound? It makes no sense to me.
Here's another thing to keep in mind, that audio system will be working just fine in 15 years... where will that HD display be in 15 years?
Don't skimp on the audio... specifically the speakers. They're the one thing that will keep on ticking regardless of what happens to the video.
Pay as much for speakers as you can afford because after that the only thing you have to ever change is the receiver, if you ever feel like it.
Thanks,
Steve Jr.
PS: Is anyone else seeing the cursor and this text box overlap on the right side with the ads and menus? Is it just me? Am I the only one typing across the list of Manufacturers right now?
Steven Kim @ Nov 23rd 2008 5:02PM
SteveJr --
I'd agree... to a point. In the roundtable, Ben also mentioned that I was probably the only one whose "investment" in audio came close to the video. I myself use a Rotel receiver and ACI speakers, and like you, have never regretted the money spent -- all said and done, probably coming in around $3k. But the money spent to put together what I consider to be very good sound isn't really close to the cost to get the same relative level of visual quality, especially when you factor in that the receiver does a lot of video lifting, it's pretty easy to spend that kind of money on a display+disc player+DVR.
I'm totally with you on getting decent quality sound, however. But in the market today, especially with internet-only audio gear manufacturers (no internet-only display manufacturers yet), you can get really good sound for relatively little money. And yes, it's money well spent, especially when you probably won't change audio equipment nearly as often as still-evolving video tech.
Steve Jr. @ Nov 23rd 2008 10:26PM
Steve K., I hear you... and all I can say is that people don't know what they are missing until they are shown (and hear) what they are missing.
When anyone auditions my setup they don't leave the same way they walked in. The funny thing is that size does matter because they see and hear everything and they think it's great, which at one time it was... but now the TV (a 61 inch Sammy DLP) is 5 years old and 720p and only 1,000:1 contrast... obsolete by today's specs, but that audio never chnages... that SVS subwoofer will punch you in the chest just like it did 5 years ago and will continue to punch people in the chest 5 years from now regardless how much the video changes.
You simply can't beat big speakers with big magnets producing clean big clear solid sound... Bose and those little cubes... paw-leeze!!!
I have a funny story about that, a guy I know has a Bose Acousticmass system and he came here and left in tears. Sound waves are sound waves and the physics of them can't be chnaged... you can try to fool your ears, but you ears will tell you you're the fool when you hear an audio system with big towers allowing the frequencies to be produced the way they were produced when the tracks were created in the first place. I personally consider the audio and the video on the same level and all rolled into the High Definition bundle. There is a difference between Surround Sound and Home Theater audio. The Bose Acousticmass systems are surround sound systems, but they are not even remotely Home Theater capable.
You mention $3K for audio gear... sounds reasonable to me. I just did some quick math on my stuff... speakers alone $5,000... receiver Yamaha RX-V2400 $1,100. You know, that would be a good poll question... how much for the gear we all have... one for audio then one for video or one for just the whole damn setup.