Rabu, 01 Januari 2014

The Home Theater Guide - Review


This Home Theatre Guide will prove to be the salvation for most people who are fortunate enough to have had read it.


Several years ago I build a significant home with a separate billiard room and a dedicated room for a home theatre.   I even had movie theatre style draw-curtains installed on either side and across the top on the end wall, and also purchased deluxe leather reclining couches and arm-chairs.   All ready to go, or so I thought.


After making a few preliminary enquiries at both a department store and a dedicated TV/Audio/Home Theatre outlet, I suddenly realized that I knew nothing regarding how to set up a home theatre.   I did not know whether I should use a rear-projection, ceiling-projection and screen, or a large television.   I had no idea that there was 5.1,  6.1,  7.1  audio,  fixed or retracting screens,  marble or ceramic speakers,  DTS or THX, amplifier headroom, speaker cables like Canare/Vampire/TMC/Museaus, etc.,  digital signal processing, equalization, acoustics,  Dolby digital and DTS decoders,  DTS-ES,  Dolby pro-logic 11x,  extended definition speakers,  calibration,  dialogue enhancers,  projector systems such as CRT,  LCD,  DLP  &  LCos,  aspect ratio,  DXP,  DCI,  CSS, progressive scan,  time-aligned speaker,  and so it goes, on and on.


I was totally overwhelmed and found myself both unable to tell retailers what I wanted, and unwilling to be told what I needed.   Confusion now reigns, and a couple of years go by, and I still had an LCD television on a cabinet in lieu of my much wanted home theatre system.


Then at university one day I was having morning tea with Alphonso Soosay, the author of this Guide and my good friend, when I told him of my dilemma.   He then advised me on all the options and eventually, some weeks later, suggested that I read his manuscript entitled “Home Theatre Guide” and edit in my free time.


Isn’t life strange?


During this process, to my utter amazement, I not only gained an insight, but some significant knowledge, of the world of home theatres.   I now felt confident enough and even capable, to design my own home theatre, and install it ……….. albeit two years later than intended.


I cannot recommend this Guide highly enough to both those who know little or nothing, as I did, or those who know something but would like to know more about designing and installing their own stunning home theatre, enabling themselves to be totally enthralled and enveloped by a ‘whiz/bang/u-beaut/super-duper ……hang on to your seats’, virtual audio-visual cinematic experience.


John Ross
Ex-academic (Edith Cowan University & Perth Institute of Business & Technology)  Now part-time academic staff.


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