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In: Home Theater
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In my quest for the ultimate home theater bass, I’d always felt that my single Velodyne HGS-15 subwoofer wasn’t delivering quite the low frequency experience I was expecting. Visits to local IMAX theater had me jealous. So I set out figure out what was missing. Much of what I learned is included in my other post entitled Ultimate Home Theater Subwoofer Designs, which describes Infinite Baffle and Folded Tapped Horn subwoofers. This post details how I installed an Infinite Baffle subwoofer system in my home theater. I chose an Infinite Baffle subwoofer design because it delivers extremely low frequencies with perfectly flat response. Those low, chair-shaking / chestRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 8 Comments

I used to think the only way to get ultimate subwoofer bass was to spend thousands of dollars on a prestigious brand of subwoofer. I thought that people who build their own subwoofers were fringe enthusiasts who cared more about building something than about sound quality. It turns out I was completely wrong. The opposite is true: DIY subwoofers can deliver sonic performance that’s impossible for commercial subs to replicate. Here’s an overview of the two of the most effective subwoofers you can build yourself. Overcoming the Subwoofer Enclosure Cabinet Size Constraint Most commercial subwoofers are focused on achieving the best possible performance from the smallest cabinet size possible. Small cabinet size isRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 28 Comments

The single most important factor of a great sounding home theater is the acoustic properties of the room itself. Not the brand of speakers, not the receiver, not the bit rate of the movie soundtrack. Unfortunately, room acoustics is usually the area where most people give the least amount of attention. And I can’t blame them, because it’s a lot more fun to shop for electronics than it is to spend hours messing with acoustic room treatments. But if you want the best sound quality possible, room acoustic treatments are an absolute necessity. It’s almost impossible to get an absolutely perfect room configuration; you alwaysRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 194 Comments

4k resolution televisions are now widely available and potential buyers are wondering if the extra resolution is worth it. In some cases it is, but in most, it’s not.  The details below can help you decide. 4K (and 8K) Resolution Defined The older 1080p HDTV standard has a resolution of 1920×1080 (2.1 million) pixels. The UHD resolutions are multiples of this base 1080p resolution. 4k resolution is named for the approximately 4,000 (4k) pixels that make up the horizontal resolution across the image. More specifically, the resolution is 3840×2160, which gives 8.3 million total pixels – 4 times that of 1080p. (4k is sometimes calledRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 6 Comments

I was performing a search on Google Images and noticed a picture of my flat panel TV install, which I detailed in this post. The funny thing was that the image wasn’t hosted on my server. I was surprised that the installer not only was using a copy of my image, but was also claiming to have performed the installation.  Here’s a PDF of the webpage. This demonstrates questionable ethics, by the web designer if not by the company itself. Update: An employee of the business contacted me.  Their web designer used the photo without permission from the business owner, who didn’t monitor the siteRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 11 Comments

I’ve created stand-alone clips for demos in my home theater.  Instead of switching discs and skipping chapters, I’ve created/edited video files that are stored on my media server and played-back using a Home Theater Personal Computer. I think the ideal demo scene is comprised of the following: lots of action some setup before the action so viewer isn’t lost or thrown-into the action too abruptly some humor and of course, great audio and video Here are some of my favorite demo scenes. Most are edited clips taken from my Blu-ray disc backups, but some are (still) standard-def versions from DVD backups. Serenity: Firefly takes onRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 2 Comments

I’ve been a TiVo user since 2001 and I’ve owned 7 TiVos. It’s a great product because it is extremely easy to use yet offers an impressive array of features.  However, I think TiVo can offer even more functionality without compromising, and perhaps improving, the simplicity of the user experience.  Here are my ideas: Seamless multi-room experience: I want every TiVo in the house to display the exact same recording content even though it’s distributed across multiple boxes. Single Season Pass / To Do List: I don’t want to manage Season Passes on each TiVo, I want them to talk to each other and comeRead More →

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In: Home Theater, Reviews
With: 2 Comments

I just unboxed and installed my Vudu XL evaluation unit, connected it to the flat panel TV in my family room, and started played around with it.  Here are my initial thoughts: This is a very nice looking set top box; possibly the most attractive design I’ve seen, with lots of glossy, high-quality plastic. The bottom of the unit even has a nice textured pattern on it. It’s unexpectedly heavy.  This is not a thin sheet metal enclosure with a tiny circuit board inside.  It feels solid, dense, and well constructed. It passed my easy of installation test: I didn’t need to consult the installRead More →

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In: Home Theater
With: 4 Comments

If you want the ultimate subwoofer for your home theater, this is probably it: the JL Audio Gotham. JL Audio, long known for their car stereo subwoofers, started to make a move into home theater a few years ago. I had the opportunity to hear this subwoofer a couple of years ago at CEDIA. Let me tell you, the bass from demo room sounded awesome outside of the demo room, and even better within. The sound was low, solid, and hard-hitting. I was impressed by how unbelievably smooth the sustained bass passages were (but I’m sure that’s in no small part due to a veryRead More →

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In: Home Theater

I’m passing along my good fortune. The good folks at Rocketfish sent me review sample and I’m giving it away to one lucky commenter. Don’t know what a Rocketfish Wireless Surround System is? Well, it’s a 2-part system that eliminates the need to run wires from your A/V receiver to your rear surround speakers. The system consists of the following: the Rocketfish transmitter – connects to the rear channel speaker outputs of your audio/video receiver the Rocketfish receiver / amplifier – powers your existing rear surround sound speakers For any contest to be interesting, there have to be some rules. Here’s the deal: You mustRead More →