Watching movies at home has become very popular over the last decade, especially now that people have the ability to setup some very sophisticated home theaters. It doesn’t make much sense to go to the cinema and sit for two hours in an uncomfortable seat with dozens of other people, when you can enjoy the movie in your home in great comfort.

To have a theater experience in your own home is simply a matter of a home movie theater system. Here are a few tips to help you create your own cinema movie experience right in your own home.

• The first step in setting up your home cinema will be to choose an appropriately sized room. The room will have to be large enough to accommodate the size of TV you have, and your seating.
• You will then need to setup the basics for your home theater. The basic components of your theater system will be speakers, a TV or projector, plus a DVD player and a multi-channel amplifier. You will also need cables to hook your components together.
• The next step will be to place your TV in the appropriate place; the dimensions of the room will determine where you will set your television. It should be set up on a TV stand where it will set at eye level while you are seated. You will also need to ensure that it is far enough away from the room’s seating for comfortable viewing. A general rule is that the seating should be about five times the length of the screen from the TV.
• Once you have setup your TV you will next place your speakers. You will place the front speakers first. These speakers should be placed to where they are pointed toward the viewing area. You will also have a center speaker; this should be placed close to the TV screen. The rear speakers to your home theater system will have to be placed at the back of the room, or behind the viewing area. This speaker setup will bring the best stereo sound to your home theater setup.
• The furniture you use in your home cinema should be comfortable and fit nicely in the room. You can use sofas, love seats, and recliners. There is also special furniture for home theater seating if you would like to invest in this type of furniture.
• The lighting in your home cinema is also important. You will want indirect lighting in the room. For this reason you will want to install dim lighting on the walls as apposed to having lighting coming from the ceiling. If the room is too bright, or the lighting is coming from above, this can diminish the viewing quality.
• Decorating your home cinema is a matter of personal taste. Some people prefer that it resemble a normal living room while others like their home theater to resemble an actual cinema.

With some effort and the right equipment, you can create a fantastic home cinema that will actually be more enjoyable than going out to a theatre to watch movies.

Over the years the home stereo system has evolved substantially.  In fact, today it seems like every day there is some new tweak or improvement available in home sound equipment.  It’s hard for the average consumer to know when to buy, what to buy, and how to get the most for their money.  That being said, what most owners of high fidelity sound equipment don’t realise is that without the proper placement and configuration, their home speaker system will not come close to realizing its full sound quality potential.  Hiding a sound system away in a cupboard-like entertainment center hurts the owner and audience in 2 big ways: 1- It takes up the entire den, living room, or entertainment room; 2- It may be eating up the acoustics, and ruining the hi-fi quality of the speakers.  Instead, knowledgeable consumers are looking to speaker stands to bring their speakers out into the open, and maximise sound quality.

What is a speaker stand?  An invention that crept out of the 80’s without great fanfare, people began utilising speaker stands when they realised getting the speakers off the floor made a world of difference in their sound quality and performance.  This quick and easy fix for improving sound has since been extremely popular amongst musicians and high fidelity enthusiasts alike.  The science behind it is that most floors (especially carpet) and common domestic furniture pick up on the vibrations around them, essentially swallowing a portion of all sound produced by the speaker.  Or, vice versa, the speaker can pick up vibrations from other sources like people walking over the floor, causing undesired vibrations and again deadening sound.  In order to counteract this effect, the speaker stand was designed as a sonically dead column, on which speakers could be isolated, lifted and mounted.  Today, there are a range of aesthetically appealing brands and styles of speaker stands available that will optimise speaker performance, without looking like a space age command center was dropped into the living room. 

The first thing to look for in a quality speaker stand is stiffness.  Without a certain amount of rigidity the stand will still be subject to vibrations, and therefore no better than domestic furniture.  If the stand is moving and wobbly, it is obviously less than ideal as the idea is to protect the speaker equipment, not jeopardise a fall.  The best stands will be made of steel, or an equally resilient material like thick glass, and the support tubing will be rectangular, square, or circular in cross-section.  For extra heavy equipment, look for stands that can be filled with another substance, like sand, to increase their own mass and support more speaker weight.  The flat top plate of a speaker stand generally has small pads made of plastic or rubber to support the speaker and minimise vibration.  When mounting the speaker, the listener can choose to apply additional reinforcements to keep the speaker securely atop like top spikes or gel pads. 

Once the speaker stands are being set up in the home, having the speakers and especially the tweeter at the proper height will be of utmost importance.  Ideally, the speakers/tweeter should be placed at ear level for someone in their normal listening position in the room (think about whether the listener will be sitting on a couch, lying on a bed, etc.)  Do some homework and have measurements available as to the desired height of the speaker stands.  Some speaker stands are adjustable in height.  Many simply come in a range of graduated sizes.  Regardless, it’s important to know whether or not the speaker stand has the desired height, or at least has the potential to adjust to the desired height, for the room. 

Rest assured that speaker stands come in a wide variety of shapes and colors, so there will be something to match the existing home décor.  One variety of speaker stand is made of a thick glass tubing that can be filled with any material (besides a liquid) to perfectly coordinate to match the room it’s in.  The base and platform portions of speaker stands come in a range of shapes, as do the column supports.  Keep in mind that part of the idea of the speaker stand is to create some distance between the speakers and thereby improve the sound quality.  The idea is to create almost an equilateral triangle between the listener and the speakers, so sit down in the room and imagine what would compliment the space.  An added benefit is that many speaker stands are equipped to hide unsightly wires and cables that often become a tangled mess sprawled across the living room floor. 

One of the major concerns about speaker stands is the requirement to use spikes to fasten them to the floor.  Many people would rather not cause that type of damage to their home flooring.  However, the fact of the matter is that once the home stereo system has been purchased, it’s going to waste without the proper mounting of the speakers.  Other options include mounting speakers on the walls or ceilings, but this type of damage is going to be far more intrusive, and require a great deal more unsightly material to keep the speakers secure than the floor spikes (not to mention wall mounting is unrealistic for anyone who rents).  The spikes make minimal perforations in the flooring, which can be easily repaired should the speakers need to be moved.  Alternatives to spiking the floor include setting the spikes in blocks of wood, or small metal cups specifically designed for speaker stands. 

Where can speaker stands be found?  The internet is a great resource for finding the widest range of colours, styles, makes and materials.  Anyone with a very specific vision should start here.  Of course as with any internet shopping it can be difficult to know exactly what one is getting without seeing the product in person.  As always, make sure things like return policies, warranties, delivery details and payment security are discussed before making any purchases or giving any information over the internet.  Another option is to try any local audio equipment location where speakers are sold.  These establishments will either have speaker stands in stock, or be able to assist the buyer in finding a nearby vendor.   

At the end of the day, the method of mounting speakers is an individual preference.  Speaker stands are an affordable way to quickly and easily improve the sound quality of a home hi-fi stereo system.  They help the speakers work better by eliminating many common, completely avoidable, complications like picking up vibrations, and poor room and listener-related placement.  Nobody wants those pesky “deleterious colorations” ruining the sound quality on their home stereo system’s speakers.  To start hearing things clearly, give speakers a quick and easy speaker stand makeover. 

If you’re just now considering bringing high-definition entertainment into your home, the decision of which high definition DVD format to go with has already been made for you.

Yes. There was a recent battle of formats to rival that of the VHS and Betamax war back in the early 80’s. This time, however, the battle was between Toshiba’s HD DVD format and Sony’s Blu-Ray disc.

Battle Of The Formats

In this war, Sony’s Blu-Ray disc emerged victorious when Toshiba announced that they would no longer pursue the high definition market in February 2008. Consumer sales were all but stopped by the end of March.

Much like VHS and Betamax, major film producers like Warner Brothers ultimately determined the outcome of the war.

While there didn’t appear to be any real discernible differences in the audio or video quality of either format to the consumer, studios preferred the greater storage capacity and data transfer rate that the Blu-Ray disc offered.

When Warner Brothers made the decision to only release their high definition productions on Blu-Ray in January 2008, retailers like Best Buy and Wal-Mart threw the weight of their support solely in Blu-Ray’s direction as well, marking the end of the road for Toshiba’s HD DVD. Support by major film studios meant a lot more availability of Blu-Ray movie titles to the consumers.

Prior to Toshiba’s announcement to pull their HD DVD from the market, sales of either high definition format were soft. Consumers who were around for the VHS vs. Betamax war, well remember the pain of spending good money on a Beta machine and Beta tapes, only to have the format become extinct before their eyes.

Blu-Ray Emerges Victorious

With Blu-Ray disc firmly established as the king of the high definition format, sales have still remained soft. This, of course, came as a surprise to the industry.

Analysts suggest that this is due to a couple of reasons…

• The state of the economy is limiting the amount of money consumers are willing to spend on upgrading their video equipment. The purchase of a Blu-Ray disc player would require an upgrade to a high definition television, high quality cables, and possibly a surround sound system in order to get the full benefit of the high definition experience.
• While high definition is a beautiful thing to behold, consumers seem to be satisfied with the results that they are getting from their standard DVD players, and upconverting DVD players.

Overall cost is obviously a significant factor in consumer’s buying decisions. Currently, Blu-Ray movies are considerably more expensive than the average DVD movie. The good news is that the cost of the Blu-Ray disc players themselves are on the decline.

Using Standard DVDs In A High Def Format

Many consumers who have built up their collection of standard DVDs may be concerned that they will be unable to continue to use that format in a Blu-Ray disc player. Fortunately, that’s not the case.

If you have a high definition television, then standard DVDs will not only play in a Blu-Ray disc player, the quality of the playback is likely to be near high definition quality.

And likewise, if you wish to start building your Blu-Ray disc movie collection– since they are intended to replace standard DVDs in the future – Blu-Ray movies will play in standard DVD players as well. This is called backwards compatibility.

High Definition DVD Upconverters

High definition DVD upconverters are another option to purchasing a Blu-Ray disc player. They were actually a pretty attractive option several months ago when the cost of Blu-Ray disc players were more expensive.

And, upconverters were an even more attractive option when the battle of the formats were raging and people wanted the high definition experience without the risk of buying into a soon to be defunct format

Back then a smart consumer could pick up an upconverter for about half the cost of a Blu-Ray disc player. Today, however, the cost gap between the high definition upconverter and Blu-Ray disc player is rapidly closing.

So, what are the differences between an upconverter and a Blu-Ray disc player?

Standard DVD players take the digital information from a DVD, convert it to an analog signal, which gets reconverted back to digital once it arrives at to your television set. This process can negatively affect the overall quality of sound and video.

Upconverters, on the other hand, send the digital information from a standard DVD directly to your television without ever converting it to an analog signal. This means that the integrity of the audio and video are maintained.

Upconverters essentially “scale” a standard DVD at 480 pixels up to accommodate the pixels of your high definition television that is either 720, 1080i or 1080p resolution. Thus, “simulating” a high definition quality picture.

Some say, that unless you’re a true audiophile, you probably won’t realize the difference between the “simulated” high definition of a good quality upconverter and the “true” high definition of the Blu-Ray disc player.

Blu-Ray disc players, however, present not just a crisper, cleaner image commensurate with high definition, they also provide increased audio quality by using lossless technology. This is something that an upconverter is unable to do.

Lossless data compression technology essentially means that the sound you hear will most closely resemble the original soundtrack recording. This is different from Lossy compression that only approximates the original soundtrack. This difference may be of particular importance if you are using a home theater surround sound system.

High Definition Internet Television

Finally, high definition Internet television is coming up in the ranks as a potential contender in high definition format. As of September 2008, Apple iTunes online TV store, for instance, started offering viewers the ability to purchase high definition programming from the four major networks.

While it is reported that the quality doesn’t come close to Blu-Ray’s, it is definitely a technology worth keeping your eye on.

If you have recently purchased a Blu-Ray player, why not have a look at our range of video & audio furniture to store & display your equipment in style.

When it comes to understanding what in the world the differences are between the many different kinds of consumer electronics products on the market, some people have a harder time than they would pinning jelly to the wall. The consumer electronics industry hasn’t exactly helped out in this regard, but rather has hidden itself behind a web of many confusing terms, some of which are redundant, others of which are misleading, and even more of which are perfectly legitimate but totally confusing! For example, when it comes to understanding what is so special about HD TV and what all the different varieties are all about, there are too many acronyms and technical terms for the average person to really have the faintest notion of what distinguishes such sets from the two-decade-old tube they’ve got at home already.

Unfortunately, asking the salesman at your local electronics store is not going to help you out in this regard: you will either be fed a bunch of misleading information (so that the salesman can make some commission this month) or you will simply get nothing, as many people working in these stores don’t have an inkling of what they are selling, and may even be less informed than you are, the person in search of answers. The internet has done a much better job than the industry itself or its salesmen in elucidating the distinctions and properties of HD TV, and what it is that makes this technology different than traditional TV.

The biggest and most notable difference between traditional sets and HD TVs is, quite obviously, the superior image resolution of the latter. But why is this so? This difference is in fact the result of multiple differences all neatly rolled up into one. Though many early HD TV products were designed to use analog signals for broadcasting, virtually all HD TVs now operate strictly with digital signal. That is an important difference, and one that doesn’t necessarily have to do with picture quality per se. Remember, however, that even traditional televisions can read and project a digital signal, so it is not exactly something unique to HD TV—rather, the fact that it uses practically exclusively digital signal is unique.

What HD TV does that is different than traditional TV is that it

1) raises the amount of scan lines being interpreted and projected onto your screen, and

2) widens the aspect ratio being projected onto your screen from the common 4:3 that we all have been using for the last 50 years to 16:9.

This significantly wider aspect of HD TV is very notable and doesn’t have to do with image resolution but rather with the presentation of the image, in this case reminding viewers of a more cinematic, theatrical appearance (hence the association of widescreen with the movies). Let’s study these two basic differences of HD TV in a little more depth, so that people can understand where the differences really lie, and what they mean.

The evolution of television in its early years was largely a story of the improvement and increase in the number of scan lines that devices were using. Basically, more scan lines mean a richer, more defined image. If an image is displayed using fewer scan lines, the detail will be negatively affected, and vice versa. Image scanning is the basic technology that makes television possible, and is known technically as rasterization. When a television set receives an electric signal, the signal is captured by a device (usually a rotating mirror-drum scanner or vibrating scanner) and then the scanned image is projected onto a screen. Traditional TVs use a cathode ray tube to then project the image, whereas HD TVs use a video line system.

In old, traditional TVs, the number of lines was set at 480, with the lines being “interlaced,” meaning the odd lines were projected at one moment and the even lines immediately afterwards—a process that takes so little time it is imperceptible to the naked eye. HD TV has taken things to entirely new levels, with 1080 being the current pinnacle and 720 also being available. Truly excellent image quality can be had by eliminating the “interlacing” of the scan lines, showing them on the screen in one fell swoop. When this is the case, instead of an “i” (for “interlaced”) after the number of scan lines—for example, 480i—a “p” (for “progressive”) is put afterwards, such as 720p. The visual effect of the horizontal lines on the screen, which is exacerbated by interlacing the scan lines, is significantly reduced if not altogether eliminated by using progressive scan lines. Hence, when shopping for a television, look for 480p or 720p, or better yet, 1080p.

The “progressive” scan line innovation has added a third category of TV sets, known as Enhanced Definition TV (EDTV), obviously in addition to traditional (or tube) TVs and HD TVs. EDTVs are incredibly crisp and are frequently confused for high definition televisions, even though they have absolutely no high definition technology built into them.

As far as the widening of the image is concerned, this is one of the more highlighted properties of HD TVs that many consumers have found incredibly attractive. The wider viewing really gives a sense of being in the cinema, and in fact helps contribute to the higher definition of the images. HD TVs usually have a wider possible viewing angle than traditional TVs, and are more versatile when it comes to room lighting (aka you can see well in a wider variety of lighting conditions). Furthermore, given their higher resolution, HD TVs reduce the amount and severity of image blur, a truly unpleasant phenomenon that is particularly prevalent when watching sports games and other programs with lots of movement. So, to recap, it is important to understand that there are a variety of technical properties to HD TVs that make them able to provide a higher quality image—not to mention the fact that most HD TVs allow you to connect a wider variety of media, including digital files.

If you are dedicated to getting the most out of your home’s AV equipmet, please visit our website to see our range of speaker stands, TV stands & equipment racks.

Before it is really possible to understand how speakers work, it is first necessary to understand how sound works.

How Sound Works

Humans are able to pick up sound due to a very thin piece of tissue in their ear that is commonly known as the eardrum. When the sound waves reach the eardrum, it vibrates and sends signals to the brain, from there the brain can then interpret the vibration as sound.

Although sound vibrations can travel through liquid and solid objects, it most often travels through air, which is how people experience sound from speakers. The way this works is that the sound waves vibrate air particles; at this point the air particles move particle disturbance through the air. The vibrating air particles send a fluctuating wave of pressure through the atmosphere until it reaches your eardrum. As the eardrum vibrates, it sends the sound signals to your brain.

How Speakers Work

When sound is recorded with a microphone or other recording device, is works much like the eardrum; it picks up the sound vibrations and converts them into electrical signals, and then either records it as data, or sends it to the speaker.

When electrical signals are sent to a speaker, what is happening is that the speaker is converting those electrical signals back into physical vibrations that will create sound waves. If the system is working correctly, the sound that comes out of the speakers will be nearly identical to the sound that went into the microphone or recording.

The speaker translates the electrical signal when it rapidly vibrates a flexible cone, and a signal is sent through the voice coil. To amplify the sound, it is constantly fluctuating the electrical current between a positive and negative charge. This moves the voice coil back and forth, which then vibrates the cone to recreate the sound waves that reach your ears.

Because the different speakers create difference sound frequencies, to recreate high quality sound it is necessary to have different types of speakers; this is why you will find that most good speakers have a woofer and a tweeter, all within the same compartment.

When looking for high quality speakers, it is important to pay attention to the design of the speaker enclosure. The design of the speaker enclosure will influence the final output; you will want an enclosure that provides good quality sound reproduction.

The most popular is the sealed enclosure, which is completely sealed and forces the sound out from the speakers into the room. The disadvantage of the sealed speaker enclosure is that it is not as efficient as some of the other designs, and requires a boost in the electrical signal to produce good sound, as there is no method of equalizing the air pressure.

Other speaker enclosures, such as the bass reflex enclosure, or the passive radiator enclosure are designed to overcome the air pressure by redirecting it out of a small port that is built into the speaker.

At Atacama, we take the idea of ‘audio geek’ up a notch. For a stack of information on audiovisual technology, home cinema equipment, TV racks & speaker stands, please feel free to visit our website.

When it comes to setting up electronics equipment, there is a certain art to the procedure that people in the know can practice with differing results, and there is a science as well that is necessary (and not easy, for some people) to understand in order to accomplish good results.  Knowing how to set up audio equipment is a good example: it is very common for people to buy speaker systems, take them home, and then have absolutely no clue how to properly arrange the speakers, connect them, and configure the most remotely complex audio system—no matter how many times over they read the manual.  Between understanding what the difference between a subwoofer and a tweeter is and comprehending what causes sound interference and what a crossover is, there is a lot to learn for the average person looking to properly configure their home speaker system.

There are a few things that need to be understood about speaker equipment for someone to be able to have the foggiest clue of where to put things and what is necessary.  First of all, if what you’re looking for is truly high fidelity sound with plenty of amplification capacity, you need to go with a 4-way system—and what does that mean?  Sound travels in waves, and in order to reproduce certain bands of frequencies (high, middle, and low) in high fidelity a speaker needs different drivers to do so, each driver specializing in reproducing a certain band of frequency levels.  Hence, a subwoofer is responsible for reproducing very low frequencies, a woofer low frequencies, a mid-range speaker middle frequencies, a tweeter high frequencies, and a supertweeter for extremely high frequencies.  Subwoofers have the largest dimensions (specifically the biggest diameter), and a supertweeter would have the smallest dimensions.  When a cabinet contains two such drivers, it is referred to as a 2-way speaker system.

It is possible to buy a cabinet (structure housing one or several drivers) that houses many if not all of these drivers, or it is possible for each of them to be stand alone units.  Having these different drivers spaced correctly from each other, and creating a rich sound environment in a room is basically the most important aspect of properly setting up a speaker system.  To make sure that your speakers are being used in the most ideal fashion, you need to have a crossover system in place, which is a device that divides the audio input into different frequency bands (which, as we will see, can be exactly configured in certain crossover systems) and routes each of these bands to the driver that is most ideally suited to reproduce that range of frequencies.  Any speaker system using more than one driver has a crossover, though these are usually passive crossovers, which do not require an additional power source and are relatively built-in to the units.  More complicated systems use active crossovers, which do require an external power source and are a often a separate unit: these active crossovers can achieve higher amplitudes (which can break certain drivers of inadequate size or poor construction materials), can be more precisely configured, and separate the audio input into separate frequency bands before amplification, not after as passive crossovers do.  Having an active crossover will allow you to be able to fine tune your system a lot more than a system with a passive crossover, though of course not using an active crossover properly would be worse than simply listening through a passive one…so be careful of what you choose, and be honest with yourself about how much you really are able to do!

Now comes the important part—knowing where to position things.  It is incredible how much frequency interference there can be inside a room, and the best way to avoid this is by having each speaker (or rather, each driver) positioned properly.  First, a few definitions: in the room you will be setting the speakers system up in, the back wall will be the term used for the wall behind the speakers, and the side walls obviously the ones to the left and right of you as you sit there listening.  The optimal set up will inevitably require a significant amount (aka time) of tweaking with the arrangements, the spacing and all, but will be achieved if you are patient enough.  To begin to have an idea of the relation the speakers should have with you in the listening position, imagine yourself and the two spots where you will put your main cabinets (ideally containing a 3- or 4-way speaker system) as the three points of an equilateral triangle.  Make the distance of one side of that imaginary triangle equal roughly six to eight feet.  Now, make sure that the speaker cabinets are positioned at equal distances from their nearest side wall, which is to say that when you look forward at your speakers playing in your direction, the space to the right of the speaker on the right is the same length as the space to the left of the left speaker.  Try to vary the distance between each main speaker cabinet and the back wall, with one of them two feet from the back wall and the other three or four feet from the back wall.  Angle the speakers slightly inwards (i.e. facing slightly in towards each other, not away from each other), more or less pointing at the center point of the room (or wherever it is that your most common listening position will be, like a couch, for example).  Maintaining these general guidelines, fidget with the precise values, changing them a bit every few days and comparing the listening experience between the different orientations.

Generally, try to make sure that tweeters are positioned higher up on shelves or mounted to the wall, and keep subwoofers and woofers lower down to the ground.  Nonetheless, try to keep cabinets elevated to roughly the height you will be in when listening to your system, with tweeters (assuming they are independent units, which they may not be) slightly above the height of your head.  A great way to ensure optimal set up is to invest in some high quality speaker stands.

Entertainment is serious business in today’s world and a home system requires a lot of decisions. Is the flat screen plasma TV worth it? How much sound equipment is needed? What’s the best premium TV provider? There are plenty of other accessories that might make up a media system as well, ranging from a Blu-ray player to a Nintendo Wii. Which room will be the entertainment room? Does it need to be soundproofed? These decisions are important when deciding what sort of media and entertainment system will provide optimal enjoyment.

As important as all those questions are there’s still one more key component to a true home entertainment system. There needs to be some place to put everything. A TV stand or equipment rack is the way to organize all these expensive electronics. One can’t just stack everything in a big pile, which could quickly break or overheat all those parts. Even though an equipment rack or TV stand might seem like a simple choice there are certain important questions to consider.

There are a few essential elements for a media equipment rack. Will it contain all the necessary components? Is a certain amount of extra storage space needed? Does it leave room for expansion? How does it fit into the home? Does it have the aesthetic appeal desired? Taking all of these questions into account will help ensure full satisfaction with both the setup for one’s equipment and will add to the full enjoyment of a home entertainment experience.

The first thing to consider is whether or not the equipment rack fulfills all necessary capacity requirements. If it only needs to contain a television and DVD player, a simple TV stand is all that’s needed. It just needs to be wide enough for the TV with a few inches to spare on either side. However, many people have other requirements. Most people need at least a space for a cable box, some sort of receiver. With all the content available on either cable or satellite TV, including premium channels, movie channels, sports packages, and more; it would be hard to have a complete entertainment setup without either cable or satellite. Most people have either a DVD or Blu-ray player that needs to fit into the equipment rack. There are also video game systems, used by kids and adults alike. A home entertainment center can always benefit from an Xbox 360 or a Nintendo Wii, although if one opts for the Wii they should make sure there’s enough space around for a bit of flailing! Another capacity issue is storage space: does the equipment rack need some sort of cabinet or shelving to contain DVD’s and video games?

There’s also the potential of adding a sound system to the mix. There are lots of different sound components that can contribute to an entertainment system, but can take up space in an equipment rack. There’s usually some sort of receiver to coordinate all sound components and receive radio. Other components can play CD’s, tapes, and MP3s. For the hipsters and for those with a bit of old school style what could be better than a record player?

Speakers are yet another consideration. If installing a speaker system, it most likely won’t need to fit on the entertainment rack and can probably be set up around the room to provide a surround sound experience. A set up like that will make it the most popular room in the house!

A lot of these components are a bit too pricey for most people to take on all at once. Many people accumulate their equipment over time, replacing parts whenever necessary. When purchasing an equipment rack it’s just important that it be versatile enough to accommodate some expansion. If considering a TV upgrade or another purchase, that should be considered when purchasing an equipment rack. Those with kids might want to consider a stand or rack that can be closed and locked in some way in order to protect all that expensive equipment.

Not only does the equipment rack need to fit all the components, it also needs to fit into the home. Will it be situated in a dedicated media room? Or will it go into a basement lounge area or living room? In a media room a big stand-alone rack is possible, but that setup might not fit as well in other rooms. To avoid taking up floor space it’s possible to have an entertainment rack built into a wall or closet. This can keep everything out of the way and out of sight if that’s desired. Certain TV’s, especially those nice plasma flat screens, are designed to be mounted onto a wall. A setup like that would be the perfect accompaniment for a basement lounge or bar area. Wall mounts can also hold up audio components like speakers, keeping them out of the way as well.

The aesthetics of a home equipment rack also need to be considered. Appealing equipment racks or TV stands can be a nice addition to the home. Does a wood or metal stand fit in better with surrounding decor? What sort of color scheme is appropriate?

It seems like a lot to consider when looking for a way to store media components. However, a good equipment rack is not only the best way to be organized but is also the best way to care properly for all these expensive components. Even the aesthetic aspect is a key one. Unattractive TV stands that don’t fit the decor of a house is an eyesore.

Once all this is taken into account, everything is prepared for an ideal media experience. So pull out that Blu-ray box set or put on a season of The Wire. Have a party blasting some new music over the sound system. Since all t

The knowledge involved in properly setting up any of the many different home electronics components is not something that everybody possesses. In fact, most of us need to have a pro (or more savvy elder sibling, or what have you) install our video and audio systems, so as to avoid the frustration that inevitably follows a failed attempt on our own behalf (something which usually takes many more hours than it should). One aspect of a good home entertainment system that many people don’t have the foggiest clue about would have to be the speakers system: where to arrange them, what kinds of stands to use, etc.

Speaker stands are nothing more than physical props upon which to rest a speaker, with the intention of improving the audio dynamics in a given room—that is to say, to reduce destructive interference, achieve better sound depth, balance, and clarity. Speaker stands weren’t always a common item in home entertainment systems or even as part of the stage set up for major musical acts. It wasn’t till roughly the 1980s that musicians began to notice that when they propped their speakers on other items, raising the speakers higher up into the air, the sounds were much, much better. From there, further research and perfection has led to the products that we can easily find today at any audio store.

Professional speaker stands are made out of special materials that deaden vibrations as much as possible, able to resist the vibrations of the sound waves being emitted by the speakers. If this were not the case, the speaker stands would absorb part of the noise being produced by the speakers, and the improvement over having these placed on the floor would be negligible to nonexistent, and we would be back at square one. Hence, whenever buying speaker stands, verify that they are made of non-vibrating material. The need for specialized materials was made evident after experimentation with ordinary home furniture equipment, which proved too susceptible to the vibrations and performed rather poorly. Nonetheless, there are some ordinary household items that have proven to serve fairly well as converted speaker stands, such as the base of an adjustable fan (the adjustability of the height is indeed a key quality that has made this item a popular one among audio enthusiasts).

The alignment of your speakers is crucial, and along with deadening vibrations this is the main function of speaker stands. Research has shown that, for best results, the speakers in a room should be more or less on the ear-level of the person(s) listening—hence, when arranging the speakers for your home theater system, use the level of your ears when you are seated on the couch, or whatever article of furniture you sit on when watching the tube. In particular, the tweeter (the driver in a speaker system that is responsible for reproducing high frequency sounds) should be roughly at, if not slightly above your ear level; tweeters, when built into a multi-driver speaker cabinet, are usually installed in the upper portions of the cabinet (looking at it in the upright position).

All precautions need to be taken to minimize resonance of other surfaces, especially those surfaces close to or in contact with your speakers. Even if your speaker stand equipment says that it deadens vibrations with maximum efficiency, try to take a few extra steps to guarantee that this really is the case. For example, put rubber pads on the bottom of your speaker stands, isolating them from the ground: the rubber will minimize and possible vibration between the speakers themselves and the stands. Always look for the sturdiest possible speaker stands, and feel free to use the reliable “shake test” to verify their quality…if you hear or feel something moving around when you shake them, they aren’t as good as they say they are! In general, thick glass and steel stands will perform above and beyond the quality of most other materials.

When buying your speaker stands, make sure you get enough to really round out your home theater system. Use separate stands for your large and mid-size speakers, your satellite speakers, your center channel speaker, and any other ones you may have. Speaker stands aren’t the only option, of course; there are a variety of wall mounts that can serve your purposes perfectly well.

Knowing where to position speaker stands is perhaps just as important as knowing what to look for in a speaker stand. Read the manual that came with the speakers themselves, and ask at the place you buy your speaker stands from if they have any recommendations on distances and arrangements for optimal sound quality in the room you are setting your system up in. The dimensions of the room (position of the walls and furniture) will be the determining factor in this. Basically, you need to think of yourself and your two principal speakers (or speaker stands, since they occupy the same space) as the three angles of an equilateral triangle; make the distance of one side of that triangle roughly equal to 8 feet, or less if your room isn’t that spacious. Have your speakers pointing towards you (the third angle of the triangle), instead of pointing straight back to the far wall (the one behind you, or in front of the speakers, however you want to look at it). Remember, as said earlier, that your speaker stands should be adjusted so that the speakers themselves are roughly at the level of your ears.

To recap, don’t settle for speaker stands made out of inferior quality materials, like ordinary furniture wood, cheap plastics, or thin metals or glass. Sturdiness means reliability when it comes to speaker stands! And make sure that the contact between speaker and stand, and stand and floor, is such that no resonance is occurring, with contact at the most minimal levels possible. From there, it will take some time experimenting with different positions for your stands to achieve the best arrangement possible—and you will know when you get there.

The steady forward march of television services has been underway since the middle of the twentieth century: first came color TV, then came cable, then came satellite TV, then came VCRs, and today, behold the HD DVR.  What in the name of all that is holy does that stand for?  The acronym HD DVR stands for high definition digital video recorder.  In short, it is a nifty little box that will revolutionize the way anybody watches the TV with the many cool features and functions it has.

An HD DVR allows the customer to record video inputs, generally routed through their cable or satellite TV service, in high definition format (and, of course, standard definition too).  That is the most basic function of an HD DVR.  But the magic comes in exactly how you can do so, and how much you can record!  Having been around on the market for a few years already (previously in the simpler, non-HD capacity), this little box of miracles permits several great features that have completely changed how and when people watch the tube.

First of all, you can set up a calendar of recording events.  Though all of the following details mentioned throughout the article vary from model to model, the better models should contain almost all of these features.  A good model HD DVR ought to permit you to schedule up to an entire week of recording events, and sometimes even more.  Today it is common to find boxes with capacity to store 20 hours of HD video, and around 180 hours of standard definition video.  Of course, you can improve your video capacity with a DVR expander, and some folks have boxes that can record over 50 hours of HD video.  Another great feature is the ability to record two video inputs at the same time: that means that you don’t have to choose between what would otherwise be competing broadcasts…pure bliss!  This is thanks to the presence of dual tuners in the DVR.  And there are even more benefits to having dual tuners: you can watch a show you already recorded while recording two shows now being broadcast, or you can watch one show and record it and another at the same time!  Really, the dual tuner has created some serious changes in TV-viewing habits.  Who knows if multiple tuners won’t form part of the HD DVRs of the future?

The next great benefit of the HD DVR, like any DVR, is the ability to pause live TV.  This is the most popular feature of the box, hands down.  It doesn’t matter if you programmed a recording of the live TV you’re watching in the moment, since the DVR itself records whatever channel is on the screen, no matter what.  How many great sports moments have been lost in the past because somebody walked in front of the screen, or you had to get up and use the restroom or check on the food in the kitchen?  With an HD DVR, you can pause it, and forget about your worries!  And what happens if you paused it a second too late?  You can rewind live TV, too, of course; if it’s being recorded, you can clearly go back and see what came before.  And once the toggle advances further to the right, you can fast forward as well.

The fast forwarding function  has also created a groundswell of change.  Whatever a person has recorded with their HD DVR, they can watch without commercials…that’s right, no annoying advertisements!  With the fast forward button, all your favorite shows and movies will be able to be watched without the bothersome interruption of commercials.  Some people can’t believe that it’s true, since we have all been preconditioned to believe that the whole TV experience revolves around and relies on commercials.  Not so, thanks to this brilliant little box.

The recording options get a little more complicated, and understanding the details can help maximize your use of an HD DVR.  A major tool that comes with virtually all DVRs is the on-screen program guide, which enables the viewer to find out weeks ahead of time what will be on, and assist them in choosing what shows to record.  Then, there are some really cool search options available for identifying what to record.  You can enter your favorite actor’s name, and record all the upcoming movies and shows the he or she will be in.  Or you can search by keyword and find all the results that it’s included in, and narrow your search from there.  You can put in the name of your sports icon, and get all the games that athlete will compete in.  Search by director, producer, title, or just about anything you want.  You can even go ahead and select an entire season of any given show and your HD DVR will automatically record every episode right through the end of the season.  Think of the convenience that means for most people, who leave the home early and get home late and simply don’t have the time to watch their favorite shows when they’re broadcast—and may not even have the time to remember to program the recordings, one by one.  It’s a whole different story when it’s all stored away in a little box on top of your TV, intelligently recording all the favorites you specify.

Really, the HD DVR, like it’s ordinary DVR ancestor, is all about breaking with useless, obsolete TV traditions, in favor of a more flexible and comfortable TV experience.  It’s about following your own rhythm and choosing according to your own interests.  Why, if you can get all of your favorite programming stowed away and ready for you at any time, commercial free, would you ever want to go back to being a slave of the regular TV experience?  Most people today seem to be pretty keen on getting a DVR if they don’t already have one, and the whole marketing strategy behind the TV industry seems set for some pretty serious changes.  And if you can have it all in HD, why not?  

Please visit our TV stands page to see the products we offer that compliment HD-DVR technology.

How many people out there do you know that have really sweet audio set ups and a full array of cool gadgets, yet absolutely no idea how any of them work, what the meanings to all the confusing words are, etc. etc.?  Probably a lot.  That’s because the world of audio terminology is for pros—roadies, musicians, recording producers, system installers.  The average person doesn’t have the need to know exactly what the difference between mono and stereo is, as long as the tunes sound good coming out of the speakers.  Speaking of which, what’s the tiny speaker for, and what’s the big one for, you may ask?  Again, as long as they produce a clean, pleasant sound, most customers don’t really care.  For those who do, however, and want to reach a slightly more nuanced understanding of the audio terms that so constantly perplex them, let’s go over a few basics which pop up all the time, and therefore extend beyond the realm of the professionally trained and qualified.

A good start for anyone looking to polish their understanding of audio terminology is to take a high school physics class: that’s where almost all the basic ideas get explained.  Was that too long ago for you?  Oh well…perhaps some of the basic ideas lingered on in your mind.  We’ll focus more on the meanings, and not worry too much about getting into the nitty gritty details of how things work, and so on—let’s leave science lessons to the real teachers.

For starters, how about mono and stereo?  They sound like sidekicks on a cartoon show; so, what are we dealing with here.  Before the early 1950s, all recordings were in mono.  The meaning of mono—not just in audio terminology, but in its general etymological sense—is “single,” as in monotheistic (believing in only one god), monopoly (only one business dominating a market), or monogamy (only having one spouse).  Hence, when music was played in mono, all speakers to which it was routed were playing back the same channel, which results in a duller sound format.  The great innovation in music recording and playback (that came in the 1950s, as stated) was to introduce stereo playbacks, meaning that two separate channels, with similar but not identical sounds, are being routed to the amplifier or speakers.  The result of this innovation was the perception that the sounds were more dynamic, and much more enjoyable.  For example, on any given recording, certain instruments/noises may be more pronounced on one side compared to the other (what is referred to as panning left or right), and therefore when played back gives the listener the perception that certain sounds are originating from one side of the listening area, and other sounds from the other side.  Sounds confusing?  Just remember, stereo is about left and right—though today, with advances in digital music technology, multi-channel music is where the future lies.

Moving on from what’s being sent to the speakers to the speakers themselves: why do we have those dinky little one’s up top, and those bulky one’s down below?  And why do they seem to be playing the same music very differently?  That’s because they are!  A woofer, which would be the larger variety of speaker, is a low-frequency playing device, and gets all the bass tones of a song or voice; conversely, a tweeter, the little one, plays high-frequencies of a given song or sound.  What exactly are frequencies, you may be wondering?  All sound is made up of waves, and the frequency is the measure of how many cycles that wave completes in a second, and is measured in Hertz (Hz in its abbreviated form).  The lower frequencies produce low, bass sounds, whereas the higher frequencies produce crisp, shrill sounds.  A good audio set up includes both woofers and tweeters, because neither one of them is able to produce both ranges of frequencies (though they both play a certain amount of middle frequencies, though that’s not important).  Think about the difference between a stand-up bass and a ukulele: the noises they create are vastly different.  That’s because the technology needed to produce low frequency sounds and high frequency sounds is not one and the same.  It’s always obvious if somebody has got an audio configuration with only one of these two types of speakers, and not the other.  Only having tweeters will give you dry, piercing sounds (really annoying), and only having woofers will give you a muffled, creamy variety of the song (less annoying, but still annoying).  What’s important to know about them in the end?  Have both.

Or how about amplitude?  This word brings us back to our sound waves: think of the X an Y axis of a graph (X is the horizontal axis, Y the vertical axis).  If frequency represents a measure along the X axis, then amplitude represents a measure along the Y axis—how “tall” it is when observed on a graph.  Amplitude, therefore, is literally the volume of a sound.  Amplifiers, therefore, take quiet sounds and make them louder, by stretching the sound wave on its Y axis (messing with a sound wave’s X axis would change the pitch of a sound, say from a C to a D).  A lot less complicated than the other two sections.

Hopefully these explanations have helped the average music listener appreciate their audio set up just a little bit more, and understand the technology going in to reproducing all your favorite tunes.  Keep listening!

Please visit our speaker stands and equipment racks pages to see all of the products we have that compliment audio technology.