Well, I've been around here for a long, long time. It's nice to finally see the forum I've been begging to see created come to life 
. In my years as an a/v professional, if there's one piece of advice I can give, it's that specifications by and large don't mean nearly as much as we tend to believe in the a/v world.
Let's take speakers for example - I remember when I was in college and putting together my first HT, I'd look for the widest frequency response possible, trying to get the most full range sound possible out of my hard-earned dollars. Well, the Infinity towers I ended up purchasing at the time ended up having terrible dispersion (off-axis response), sounded veiled, and not nearly as satisfying overall as NHT bookshelf speakers my neighbor ended up buying. The same can be said for subwoofers - sometimes going with the largest cone or most watts won't give you the most bass, or lead to the most satisfying sound for your room. Truthfully, sound quality from speakers is nearly impossible to judge based solely on printed paper information.
Video is another huge area of misinformation we come across. Most people like to believe that a DVD player is a DVD player, and all DVD players are created equal. "It's all digital, it's all the same"... right?. Well, the truth is, your eyes don't see in digital, and your ears don't hear in digital. We can't look at 1's and 0's and know what we're seeing, or what we're listening to, can we? At some point in the process, these signals have to be converted back to analog, where our eyes and ears can recognize and process the information. This digital to analog conversion process really seperates the quality of components, and can make a tremendous difference in the quality of your experience. 1080p is a big deal these days, and the potential benefits are tremendous, no question. However, the processing in displays varies hugely in quality - that's why some 52" 1080p LCD's are 2k and others are 3,500. Are some displays overpriced? Absolutely. Are there some great deals out there? Absolutely. But it's hard to see the difference when all we read on paper is "maximum resolution". Next time you guys are in Sound Advice (or Tweeter or Magnolia, etc), check out a value 1080p display next to something like a Pioneer Elite. I'm willing to bet that even though the Elite is in 768p, it will really amaze you with the quality versus a value priced 1080p.
Even with receivers - ever wonder why a 500watt Sony at Best Buy weighs 20lbs and cost $350, when a 500watt Denon weighs 40lbs and cost $1000? I'm not saying the Sony is bad, but I am saying there's more to the story. A watt isn't always a watt, especially when it comes to manufacturer's published specs.
The whole point of this general rant is for me to encourage you guys to really enjoy the hobby, and to look beyond numbers on a sheet of paper. The analogy I often find myself making with HT is to the world of automobiles...a Lexus and BMW (or Audi) may have the same specs on paper, but nowhere on paper do they describe the difference in handling or the overall "feel" of the experience. I think, to a large extent, the same is true for audio and video. There are tons of resources (AVS Forums is a huge one) where we can learn what specs are really important, and what published manufacturers' specifications really mean.
This is a wonderful hobby to take up, and one that will definitely eat up tons of time and money. I know this from firsthand experience...I'm in way over my head.
If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask. I professionally work as an interior technology designer and engineer - I've learned so much here at AT, it's nice to finally be able to give something back.
Rup
. In my years as an a/v professional, if there's one piece of advice I can give, it's that specifications by and large don't mean nearly as much as we tend to believe in the a/v world. Let's take speakers for example - I remember when I was in college and putting together my first HT, I'd look for the widest frequency response possible, trying to get the most full range sound possible out of my hard-earned dollars. Well, the Infinity towers I ended up purchasing at the time ended up having terrible dispersion (off-axis response), sounded veiled, and not nearly as satisfying overall as NHT bookshelf speakers my neighbor ended up buying. The same can be said for subwoofers - sometimes going with the largest cone or most watts won't give you the most bass, or lead to the most satisfying sound for your room. Truthfully, sound quality from speakers is nearly impossible to judge based solely on printed paper information.
Video is another huge area of misinformation we come across. Most people like to believe that a DVD player is a DVD player, and all DVD players are created equal. "It's all digital, it's all the same"... right?
. Well, the truth is, your eyes don't see in digital, and your ears don't hear in digital. We can't look at 1's and 0's and know what we're seeing, or what we're listening to, can we? At some point in the process, these signals have to be converted back to analog, where our eyes and ears can recognize and process the information. This digital to analog conversion process really seperates the quality of components, and can make a tremendous difference in the quality of your experience. 1080p is a big deal these days, and the potential benefits are tremendous, no question. However, the processing in displays varies hugely in quality - that's why some 52" 1080p LCD's are 2k and others are 3,500. Are some displays overpriced? Absolutely. Are there some great deals out there? Absolutely. But it's hard to see the difference when all we read on paper is "maximum resolution". Next time you guys are in Sound Advice (or Tweeter or Magnolia, etc), check out a value 1080p display next to something like a Pioneer Elite. I'm willing to bet that even though the Elite is in 768p, it will really amaze you with the quality versus a value priced 1080p. Even with receivers - ever wonder why a 500watt Sony at Best Buy weighs 20lbs and cost $350, when a 500watt Denon weighs 40lbs and cost $1000? I'm not saying the Sony is bad, but I am saying there's more to the story. A watt isn't always a watt, especially when it comes to manufacturer's published specs.
The whole point of this general rant is for me to encourage you guys to really enjoy the hobby, and to look beyond numbers on a sheet of paper. The analogy I often find myself making with HT is to the world of automobiles...a Lexus and BMW (or Audi) may have the same specs on paper, but nowhere on paper do they describe the difference in handling or the overall "feel" of the experience. I think, to a large extent, the same is true for audio and video. There are tons of resources (AVS Forums is a huge one) where we can learn what specs are really important, and what published manufacturers' specifications really mean.
This is a wonderful hobby to take up, and one that will definitely eat up tons of time and money. I know this from firsthand experience...I'm in way over my head
.If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask. I professionally work as an interior technology designer and engineer - I've learned so much here at AT, it's nice to finally be able to give something back.
Rup
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