Bass important for
home theater?
January 29, 2004
Exactly how much bass is present in home-theater DVD
soundtracks? I'm trying to decide if I want to add a subwoofer to my NHT speakers (fronts
and surrounds), but I don't know how much use it would get. Am I missing much by not
having a subwoofer?
Eric Parker
Unless your NHT speakers are very capable in the
bass department, you're missing a considerable amount of the impact and dynamics of many
movie soundtracks. It will vary from movie to movie, but I've found that the LFE
(low-frequency effects) channel is used regularly in every movie genre -- not just
action-adventure flicks. Experience Finding Nemo, for example, on a system with
capable bass and you'll hear what I mean. While you have to make the final decision based
on your listening preferences, I've not talked to anyone who regrets adding a dedicated
subwoofer to a home-theater system. The improvement is usually dramatic.
Spiking speakers
January 26, 2004
I've found that spiking my speakers through the carpet
beneath them makes them sound better. I know that others have concluded this too, and most
companies ship their speakers with some form of spike. Why is this so? Spikes have nothing
to do with the drivers or crossover, which is what I suspect makes the sound vary from
product to product.
Richard McCarry
Spikes serve more than one purpose. First, and most
obviously, they anchor a speaker to the floor under them. This allows the speakers'
drivers to fire from a cabinet that is stable -- not rocking to and fro as the drivers
move in and out. If the cabinet is physically moving with the music, the speaker will not
perform optimally. The second reason is that spikes typically allow the user to level the
cabinet. Having the speaker aligned properly with the listener can make a difference in
the sound. If the manufacturer specifies a certain height for the tweeter in relation to
the listener's ear, for example, adjustable spikes are a way to achieve this. So, to sum
up, a stable and level cabinet helps to make good sound.
Best Buy and auditioning... or not
January 23, 2004
It's frustrating to go to Best Buy and not be able to
listen to any of the audio products. They're stacked on the shelves with other equipment
stacked on top like it's all a bunch of cereal boxes at Sam's Club. How do they expect
people to make a decision when they can't even hear the stuff? What happened to the good
audio stores that actually had the equipment set up so that you could make a
determination? Sorry for the rant, but it's like going to a car dealer and not being able
to drive any of the models.
Ralph Purdue
I hear ya, and you're right. Best Buy, are you
listening?
Noisy internal fan
January 21, 2004
I have a Nakamichi RE-10 amp, but the internal fan drives
me crazy! (I have to play music at quite low volumes). Is there any way I can safely
remove or replace with another component? Many thanks.
John
Amplifiers are either cooled via passive methods, such
as heatsinks or certain types of fluids, or active devices such as fans. The cooling
method is part of the design of the component and without it the device would soon
overheat and become damaged. It is possible that you could have the unit modified with a
less noisy "whisper" fan, but that would likely be expensive relative to the
cost of the component when new. You might be better off replacing the Nakamichi, or
finding an area of your home to place it that might be somewhat acoustically isolated from
your listening position.
How to budget?
January 19, 2004
I'm looking at buying my first component system, and before
researching brands and whatnot, I was wondering what proportion of my budget I should
spend on each component. Assuming my budget is $2000, how much should I generally spend on
speakers, amp, and CD player?
Dave Hogan
Generally speaking, I recommend spending the largest
percentage of your budget on the component that makes the most difference in sound quality
-- the speakers. While you can get a great pair of bookshelf speakers for a few hundred
dollars, spending more can accomplish a few things: a fuller-range floorstanding speaker
will sound better with a lot of music, especially tunes that have deep bass; a more robust
speaker can play louder and usually "drive" a room better; lastly, build quality
improves, as well as finish quality, as you spend a bit more money. By choosing the
speaker first, you also have some idea how powerful an amplifier you need. I'd get the amp
second so you can match it to the speaker. Lastly, a good CD or DVD player as a source
will likely cost the least (especially DVD players, which I'd recommend as a source
component even you don't watch movies because the value with these players is so high
these days), so I'd buy it last. So there you have it spend the most on speakers, then the
amp, and lastly the CD/DVD player. And buy them in that order.
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