My new toy and a call for help.
February 20th, 2008
For the past few weeks I’ve been very good about how I’m spending my money. I haven’t made any superfluous purchases of neat-o gadgets or doodads. This is a good thing right?
Well, as it turns out it’s a great thing during those periods when I don’t buy anything I don’t need. Generally it tends to go bad after a month or so though — hence the purpose of this post. My gadget lust has been building up for quite a while now and something had to give. Disregarding all logic and common sense, I recklessly went to Best Buy last weekend and picked up a sweet new toy for myself. Here it is in all it’s glowing glory.
The choice was between the 46-inch Samsung and the 46-inch Sharp Aquos. Both weighed in at the same price and both carried the same contrast ratio; which I’m told is the usual differentiator. Knowing one of my friends has a Samsung and another has a Sharp I was a little torn. Why did I choose one over the other? Nadia, the kind and pretty saleswoman helping me out, made an off-hand comment that she preferred the Samsung because it has better sound if you don’t have a system in place yet; which I don’t. Sold.
After spending the weekend watching various forms of entertainment — standard def. TV, HD TV, 720p TV torrents, iTunes Music Store movie rentals (standard def. because I don’t have an AppleTV yet), and HD-DVDs — I’m extremely happy with the new addition. However, this has also caused the floodgates to open.
Now that I have an awesome new TV, I want to play awesome content on that TV. I want to have the full experience. I need better sound! What’s the big deal? I know next to nothing about quality sound systems. I’ve had out of the box systems before and it was nice but I want something a little more this time around. And now I’m asking for your help. Are you a home theatre audiophile? Do you know what it takes to build a kick ass audio experience for movie watching? Can you help me?
February 21st, 2008 at 8:49 am
I recently broke down and got an xbox360, and now I find myself thinking horrible things like “I need widesceen HD tv” and “I have to finally replace my busted audio receiver”.
The only thing holding me back is I don’t want to do the research I feel should be done on each before buying them.
February 21st, 2008 at 11:20 am
Yeah, and I don’t even know where to start doing research.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Just get a B&O.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Good for you. Welcome to the 21st century. Too bad TV is a nearly dead medium.
If you plan on mostly streaming audio from your computer or via an Apple TV, having a great sound system will mostly just make you realize how terrible the MP3 format really is. A quality sound system is good if you’re playing CDs or (gasp!) vinyl, but compressed audio sounds like ass.
If you want the best audio experience you need hi-def (SACD or HD-CD) CDs or DVD-audio discs which are either expensive or just hard to come by. The players for those are also expensive.
Also keep in mind that usually the better players (audio/DVD) are more prone to having issues with rented discs from Blockbuster, etc. The cheap players have no issues with that stuff. You could stick a peanut butter sandwich in one and it could play it back for you :)
February 21st, 2008 at 1:11 pm
My one bit of advice is to stay away from a home theater in-a-box. You’ll be happy with it for a little while, but that won’t last. I purchased one a few years ago and I’m kicking myself for it because I knew better. They never have enough inputs and the sound quality just isn’t there like it is with a higher end receiver and a nice set of speakers.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Luke: B&O? Not to be confused with BO? ;)
Scott: Um, ok. Maybe I should have been a little more clear, I’m looking for a home theatre mostly to connect to my TV (as near death as it is) for movie watching. Any thoughts?
Jeff: Yeah, I had a decent home theatre in a box when I was living in Calgary. It was my first one and I just put it on my Christmas list cause I couldn’t think of anything else. I’ve realized my mistake though, hence this post.
To all: Would a Harmon Kardon system (separate receiver and speakers, not boxed) be a good route to go?
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am
Good stuff, Mike! I’ve been where you’re at now, though. You buy one device that’s HD and it snowballs from there. Before you know it, you’ve replaced your entire entertainment setup.
As you know, there’s a couple directions you can go here. The cheap-o home theatre in a box route if you’re on a limited budget, or go all out and get a high-end receiver with some killer speakers. I actually have a Sony home theatre in a box, which I picked up a couple years ago when I had a pretty limited budget. I got it for $350, which included the receiver and a 5.1 speaker setup. And honestly, there’s only one thing that it’s lacking for my needs - it can’t decode HDMI audio. While it does have a couple HDMI inputs, it basically acts as a pass-through for most of the inputs. Luckily, both the Xbox 360 and PS3 support Optical audio, so that’s what I’m using for both - HDMI for video, Optical audio.
At this point, I’m still very happy with it and don’t see myself replacing it any time soon.
February 22nd, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Matt: Hmm, interesting. I think I might just go to Best Buy and see what they have to offer. I don’t think I’ll be buying anything tonight but you never can tell, I have been looking at some decent Yamaha receivers :))