Home > Podcast > AV Rant #384: Not Making it Easy

AV Rant #384: Not Making it Easy

May 28th, 2014

This week we have Niels, JS, and Shannon to thank for supporting the podcast. The AV Rant Race Team is on the road and doing well. With a brand new car, we’ve seen a 3rd and a 2nd so far! Go Team Rant! Jack has some questions about his new Outlaw Audio LFM-1 Plus sub including placement, volume, and what that bass extension/max output switch is for. He’s also interested in whether or not those LEDs people put behind their flat panels are a gimmick. John linked us up to a graduate-level course on acoustics. If you have the prerequisites, it’s free. Abby has a recommendation on inexpensive, high quality headphones for those in the recording industry. Jonathan has some questions about car audio, Alexandru about those extra-expensive seats at the Canadian theaters, and Andy links us up to a new Harman study that suggests we don’t really want a flat frequency response. Rob and Tom weren’t surprised. Bill is a new listener and wants to know what we think of Vandersteens, Jay is doing a reno and needs help on receiver choices and whether 6.1 would be worth it, and John is building a new home and needs help choosing and placing in-ceiling speakers. Lastly, Gary has some questions about contrast (in displays) and Abby wants to use her sub without disturbing her downstairs neighbors. Thanks for listening. Now, don't forget to:

  • Check out the AV Rant YouTube channel to watch our show videos.
  • Download Tom’s FREE superhero-themed ebook Bob Moore: No Hero.
  • Visit Tom's website for download links as well as links for the two full-length follow-ups -  Bob Moore: Desperate Times and Bob Moore: Hostile Territory.
  • Check out AVGadgets.com where Tom is the new Editor-in-Chief!
  • Download Tom's NEWEST book, Touch of Pain from Amazon now!

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  1. Rob H
    May 29th, 2014 at 11:05 | #1
    Reply | Quote

    AV Rant Listener Jack C. —

    asked about bias lights. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a bias light is just a light that you put behind your TV so that you can have some ambient light in your room without any worries about reflections or glare. Having some ambient light improves your perception of deep black levels and higher contrast, so it can definitely help to make the image on your flat screen look a little more pleasing.

    A great place to get a bias light that is both physically suitable for mounting behind a flat panel display but also casts a nice, neutral shade of white light that won’t alter your perception of the colours coming from your TV is over at CinemaQuest Inc. Their Ideal Lume lights are reasonably priced – starting at around $65. So check ’em out!

    http://www.cinemaquestinc.com/ideal_lumesb.htm

  2. Rob H
    May 29th, 2014 at 11:06 | #2
    Reply | Quote

    AV Rant Listener Jon C. —

    sent us a link to a free online education course over at Coursera called Intro to Acoustics. The name of the course is a little bit misleading, though! This is a graduate-level course that requires existing knowledge of mechanics and calculus. But if you’re up to the task and the prerequisites, it looks like a very interesting program:

    https://www.coursera.org/course/acoustics1

  3. Rob H
    May 29th, 2014 at 11:06 | #3
    Reply | Quote

    AV Rant Listener Abby —

    is a professional Sound Editor and she swears by the Audio Technica ATH-A700X headphones. They’re affordable, comfortable, durable, and offer the extended frequency response and detail that a professional will be looking for. So definitely add these to the list from last week for headphones! Thanks, Abby!

    http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-ATH-A700X-Headphones/dp/B000E9VKUQ/ref=pd_sim_sbs_e_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1Z7WH7GAW967DEBAWGD6

  4. Rob H
    May 29th, 2014 at 11:07 | #4
    Reply | Quote

    AV Rant Listener Andy —

    pointed us to Harman’s presentation of their room correction study in which they concluded that flat in-room frequency response was not the ideal target curve.

    Tom and Rob really enjoyed discussing this on the podcast, so have a look at the data for yourself and see what you think!

    https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B97zTRsdcJTfY2U4ODhiZmUtNDEyNC00ZDcyLWEzZTAtMGJiODQ1ZTUxMGQ4/edit?pli=1&hl=en

  5. Rob H
    May 29th, 2014 at 11:07 | #5
    Reply | Quote

    AV Rant Listener Bill —

    left us a Google Voice message (yay! Google Voice number still works!)

    He’s owned and enjoyed his Vandersteen speakers and subwoofer for many years, and he just wanted to hear our opinions of the brand since we really haven’t talked about them before.

    Vandersteen has been around since 1977 and uses some rather unique designs. So have a look at their lineup to see their approach to speaker design:

    http://vandersteen.com/vandersteen_001.htm

  6. Rob H
    May 29th, 2014 at 11:08 | #6
    Reply | Quote

    AV Rant Listener John S. —

    is concerned about being able to hear his in-ceiling speakers through the floor in the room above his theater area. This solution is to block the back wave that would normally be bouncing around the air cavity in the floor joists with a backer box.

    Many manufacturers offer optional backer boxes for their in-ceiling and in-wall speakers. But if you want to build a really sound deadening box, the good folks over at the Sound Proofing Company have got you covered!

    Here are their designs for very soundproof backer boxes that can be installed behind any device in your home that would otherwise create a hole in your wall or ceiling where sound might leak through:

    http://www.soundproofingcompany.com/soundproofing-installation-manuals/sim-backer-box/

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