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Oh HTiB, How I Hate You…

October 29th, 2007

So I get this message from my wife today:

Any thoughts on this?

—–Original Message—–
From: Dude she works with
Sent: Friday, October 26, 2007 11:18 AM
To: My Wife
Subject: Surround Sound

I’m looking for a not too expensive, but good surround sound system. What does your man say about this?

Thanks,
Dude

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link
attachments:

Shortcut to:
http://www.overstock.com/Electronics/Yamaha-900-watt-Home-Theater-System/2524483/product.html

Oh yeah, I’ve got thoughts. My first thought is why would someone that knows that I work with audio for a living send me a link to a $200 POS system that he must at least suspect is junk. Is he looking for validation? Does he expect me to say, “Oh MAN!!! What a STEAL!!! I’m buying 3 for myself right NOW!!!” Yeah, not happening. It’s like asking your friend that deals Mercedes what they think of your impending Yugo purchase. Ummm… bad idea?

Here’s my well thought out and politically correct response:

Here’s the problem with HTiB (Home Theater in a Box) systems – the speakers are useless, the sub is crappy, and they aren’t really all that upgradeable. When you buy a HTiB you need to realize that the speakers are like the “and if you take advantage of this special TV offer, we’ll send you this” offers on late night TV. They are just sitting around in a warehouse waiting for someone to give them away. You’re really paying for the electronics. If you want to go the HTiB way, you need look for a decent stand alone receiver (not a combo receiver/DVD player/VHS player thing) and a speaker set that plugs directly into the back of the receiver. That way, if you want to get an upconverting DVD player for your HD TV, you can. If you want to upgrade your speakers, you can. If the speakers are all hooked into the subwoofer or if they use a proprietary connection (instead of bare wire), you can’t just replace the one (or ones) you want, you have to replace the whole set. Personally, for a few hundred more you can get a good receiver, decent speakers, and an upconverting DVD player that will outperform any HTiB at any price.

First of all, is it just me or does that entry level Denon have two HDMI inputs, 7.1 analogue inputs, and decode nearly every non-HD audio format on the block? All for under $350? My first receiver cost more than that and all it did was ProLogic. And people complain about HT prices. The Oppo is just crazy at that price (though I’m not sure how good the deinterlacing will be). I’m not a huge fan of those speakers but at that price you’re looking at a ton of speaker (and a real sub to boot) for the money. But dollars to donuts says he purchases the POS HTiB and thinks I’m crazy for suggesting otherwise. Oh well.

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  1. October 29th, 2007 at 11:19 | #1

    Take a look at the bottom of that Overstock page – People who buy this often buy… other speakers! That should tell you something right there!

  2. AustinM
    October 29th, 2007 at 12:52 | #2

    I only spent $2100 on my SVS SBS-01 system and Denon 2807, but people look at me like I’m crazy for spending so much money. They all agree that is sounds awesome, but they almost walk away when I tell them it is really only entry-level gear. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to convince “Joe Schmo” and his wife that they should spend what I did just to get started, let alone more for mid-range gear.

  3. October 29th, 2007 at 17:29 | #3

    That’s actually quite thoughtful of you… I often just nod my head and smile. The conversations I MOST enjoy, though, are the ones that go something like this:

    “Oh, you do home theater stuff? I’m thinking about getting me some speakers. I’ve been looking at those Bose things – something like that, they sound awesome and they’re supposed to be the best.”

    Notice two things here:

    1) He didn’t ask me a question.
    2) He already thinks that a set of speakers he’s never heard sound the best based on absolutely nothing other than residual thoughts left over from late night television advertisements.

    I have learned very quickly that this type of person NEEDS to buy Bose. He simply isn’t interested in learning or getting good audio.

    One time someone actually started arguing with me that they sounded great and were better than anything else he’s listened to… Arguing with me is OK. But when I know for the fact (after asking) that he’s never heard any speakers outside of a Bose demo and what he walks past at Circuit City or Costco, well, that’s a person who I tend to leave alone with their own opinions.

  4. October 29th, 2007 at 18:13 | #4

    HTIB First Looks?? *Jim is crying softly to himself*

  5. October 29th, 2007 at 22:21 | #5

    agreed with Clint, hey at least they are trying to get into hometheater and not just listening to their TV speakers. Instead they are listening to 5 identical speakers of lesser quality than their 2 TV speakers 🙂

  6. AustinM
    October 30th, 2007 at 08:21 | #6

    I had a guy at work tell me that his uncle bought a Bose system with his winnings from the race track. My co-worker said, “In my opinion, Bose are the best things out there.” I really, really wanted to ask him what he based his opinion on, but rather than making him mad, I just nodded and walked away.

  7. October 30th, 2007 at 14:17 | #7

    wow. That’s all I can say….

  8. October 30th, 2007 at 21:43 | #8

    Far too many people base their opinions on what they see on HGTV. In about 5 years people will finally figure out that all those lame designers that thought putting a flat panel above a fireplace was a good idea had never actually used a TV in that way. Chiropractors all over the world are thanking them though.

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