Consumers ready to spend thousands on surround sound

vbimport
#1

I just posted the article Consumers ready to spend thousands on surround sound.

Jupiter research is at it again. This time, they’re tapping the Home Theater audience. According to this report over at Music Industry News, only 24% of American homes are surround sound…

Read the full article here:  [http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/8857-Consumers-ready-to-spend-thousands-on-surround-sound.html](http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/8857-Consumers-ready-to-spend-thousands-on-surround-sound.html)

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#2

“Consumers ready to spend thousands on surround sound” Prepare for prices to be jacked up a notch.

#3

Spent thousands on Surround sound years ago…no need to re-spend for some time I’m afraid…

#4

Surround sound? Get one additional speaker, a small one, for a couple of £/$ from a charity shop. With the (standard stereo) amp switched OFF, connect it as follows: speaker -ve to amp right +ve speaker +ve to amp left + Connect DVD to amp. Place speaker behind you, out of sight. Turn amp on. Play DVD. And that, at it’s most basic, is Surround Sound :g No need to spend £1000s unless you want top of the range, super loud, earth shaking, ear bashing, Dolby Digital.
[edited by Nelly on 10.08.2004 09:23]
[edited by Nelly on 10.08.2004 09:24]

#5

Thousands on surround sound? Let me see - spend thousands on surround sound to achieve mere loud and proud (because that’s all it really is) or spend thousands to achieve detail in music… On the one hand I get to hear a punch sound like a 50 pound sledge hitting a cement wall or a starship sound like a B-52 - and the so-called “home theater audiophiles” (or audiophiles in general) applaud and shrilly scream “reaslism” and “high fidelity”. Sure Jim. Any time now. Basically it’s a PC gaming box on steroids as far as I’m concerned. We won’t even get into the “well thought out, tested and documented” THX nonsense. On the other hand I can spend thousands on a music rig and hear every little detail of material that really IS deserving of high fidelity equipment - not something roaring in my ears that some engineer hopelessly jacked up to produce a fleeting adrenalin and testosterone boost. IMO, a massive HT rig is like the kid with an overamplified car hack (look ma - no trunk space!) that you can hear coming three blocks away - all boom and roar and no sense. Sorry charlie - not for me. YMMV.
[edited by Roj on 10.08.2004 12:49]

#6

Perhaps you’ve never heard a good surround sound setup with a DVD-Audio or SACD disc.

#7

Well I want one! :stuck_out_tongue:

#8

Let’s consider what this article actually says: If 47% of people already planning on buying a surround sound system are spending that much, that means 53% – more than half – are not going to be spending that much. So basically these statistics don’t tell you much of anything… if only 1000 people are going to be buying surround sound (it doesn’t say how many are going to be buying), more than half aren’t spending as much as they say.
[edited by Ixne on 10.08.2004 17:36]

#9

Yeah make those ears really bleed…

#10

Are you talking semantics here?

#11

"Perhaps you’ve never heard a good surround sound setup with a DVD-Audio or SACD disc. " And perhaps I have, specifically Anthem / Adcom / Energy Veritas (we’re talking about over 14K of audio gear here - and it’s quite nice for music, albeit not to my taste. A couple points: SACD is a crock - read the so-called “tech” behind it and have a good laugh. We’re talking typical Sony ripoff here. DVD Audio isn’t home theater. Don’t confuse the two. I have a lot of respect for DVD Audio if the recording was specifically done for it and not retrofitted after the fact. “Remixing” a standard stereo recording for 5.1 is a retroactive abortion right up there with colorizing black and white movies. Home Theater == George Let-Me-Rip-You-Off-With-Phony-THX-Hype Lucas and overengineered loud and utterly unrealistic sound as far as I’m concerned. I’d spend money for a good music audio system or a multichannel system for DVD audio with no qualms whatsoever. I’d never waste the cash on the crap in the Lucas movies. That’s just overengineered noise.
[edited by Roj on 10.08.2004 20:59]

#12

“Are you talking semantics here?” Mark Twain said that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. If you can’t look at statistics and see what they’re really saying, you’re being manipulated. Any article that says that some percentage less than half is doing something, without mentioning that that implies that the majority is doing something else completely, is trying to emphasize a minority and imply it’s actually a majority. That’s called being duped. If that’s semantics for you, I recommend you wander back to the herd.