Acoustics
Are The Acoustics In Your Home Theater Really That Important?
Monday August 07, 2006 | Permalink
Are the acoustics in your home theater really that important? Now try and think about that for a moment. Many of the high-end home theater outlets keep harping that you absolutely must control a room's echo and standing waves or you'll end up with a terrible movie experience. While I agree that a really bad room isn't any fun to watch a movie in, I do think the most important factor of room acoustics is always overlooked; the listener.
I'm not one of those people who believes in "one size fits all".
When I was learning to play golf, I was taught that the correct golf swing grip is to lock your dominant hand's pinky with your other hand's index finger, and point your thumbs straight down the shaft. Though I agree with the thumb idea, I don't find the locking grip to be comfortable. I'm not professing to be a golf expert; my average golf scores can attest to that. But I simply prefer holding the club my way.
So when it came to my own home theater, this general idea really hit home on two occasions. The first time I convinced myself I needed some acoustical treatments was when I was suffering from a cold. Whenever I'd cough in the basement, a really nasty echo could be heard traveling around the corner and into the kids play area. I was actually pretty surprised because it was rather loud. But at least the echo died down quickly. Things didn't really change much after the carpet had been installed. The echo was clearly bouncing off the walls.
I was really happy to see that the problem didn't really appear during regular and loud movie watching. That cheered me up big-time. An old-school audio purist would totally balk at this, but me I'm happy. I'm sure a faint echo is there, but it doesn't stick its ugly head in my way when watching TV or a movie. And thats fine with me.
So when you take a look at your room and the stuff you read in magazines and online tells you you're going to have acoustic problems, just take a step back and judge for yourself. If you like the sound your new room produces, then thats what's really important.
I'm not one of those people who believes in "one size fits all".
When I was learning to play golf, I was taught that the correct golf swing grip is to lock your dominant hand's pinky with your other hand's index finger, and point your thumbs straight down the shaft. Though I agree with the thumb idea, I don't find the locking grip to be comfortable. I'm not professing to be a golf expert; my average golf scores can attest to that. But I simply prefer holding the club my way.
So when it came to my own home theater, this general idea really hit home on two occasions. The first time I convinced myself I needed some acoustical treatments was when I was suffering from a cold. Whenever I'd cough in the basement, a really nasty echo could be heard traveling around the corner and into the kids play area. I was actually pretty surprised because it was rather loud. But at least the echo died down quickly. Things didn't really change much after the carpet had been installed. The echo was clearly bouncing off the walls.
I was really happy to see that the problem didn't really appear during regular and loud movie watching. That cheered me up big-time. An old-school audio purist would totally balk at this, but me I'm happy. I'm sure a faint echo is there, but it doesn't stick its ugly head in my way when watching TV or a movie. And thats fine with me.
So when you take a look at your room and the stuff you read in magazines and online tells you you're going to have acoustic problems, just take a step back and judge for yourself. If you like the sound your new room produces, then thats what's really important.
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