Home Theater Geeks 511 Transcript
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Scott Wilkinson [00:00:00]:
In this episode of Home Theater Geeks, I answer questions from the chat room in real time. So stay tuned.
Scott Wilkinson [00:00:10]:
Podcasts you love from people you trust. This is TWiT.
Scott Wilkinson [00:00:26]:
Hey there, Scott Wilkinson here, the home theater geek. In this episode, I'm going to be answering questions from the chat room in real time. So stick around and let's see who's going to ask us a question. 222 ain't says. Nice to see Scott. Thanks, I appreciate it. Hopefully we've got some folks in the chat room who have got some home theater or AV questions for me. I used to love to do this when I filled in for Leo on his radio show.
Scott Wilkinson [00:01:01]:
Remember when he had his radio show and I was honored to fill in for him a number of times and it was great, great fun. So I am looking forward to it here too. While people are lining up their questions, I thought I would share with you something that I just learned recently, which is that there's a movie coming out next year called The Odyssey, filmed by Christopher Nolan, and he's going to film it. This, I think, is a first. He's going to film it entirely, or did already, in fact, shoot all the footage entirely on IMAX cameras.
Scott Wilkinson [00:01:43]:
In fact, he had to create some new equipment, specifically sound isolation containers. He calls them blimps, because the IMAX cameras, film cameras are pretty loud. And he was. He's been using them since the Dark Knight to shoot action scenes, but to shoot close ups of actors having intimate conversations, they. They couldn't use them because they were too loud. Now, obviously, Christopher Nolan really likes to use on set sound. You could always dub in the dialogue later, along with, you know, foley and other sound effects and whatever, and you wouldn't have to worry about the camera sound. But apparently he likes to use onset sound.
Scott Wilkinson [00:02:32]:
So he needed to find a way to damp the sound of the IMAX camera with its film and its reels and its moving physical film around.
Scott Wilkinson [00:02:46]:
So this apparently is able to do it. He says he's able to to shoot actors from a foot away and get their sound, get their dialogue and use that in the movie. So this is going to be one that I'm going to travel over the hill to see in imax. I don't think I'll see it in a film imax. I'm not sure there's even one near me. But even if there is, I just, I don't like film. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I don't like the jitteriness of Film.
Scott Wilkinson [00:03:21]:
You know that Christopher Nolan is one of those directors that really loves film. He thinks that's the way to go. But I will go to a digital IMAX and see it there, the one with a large screen, a 1.9 to one screen. There's one over in Santa Clara near San Jose that I went and saw.
Scott Wilkinson [00:03:33]:
You know that Christopher Nolan is one of those directors that really loves film. He thinks that's the way to go. But I will go to a digital IMAX and see it there, the one with a large screen, a 1.9 to one screen. There's one over in Santa Clara near San Jose that I went and saw.
Scott Wilkinson [00:03:56]:
What did I just go see there? It'll come to me anyway and it's a great theater. But. Oh, Tron, Tron Ares, which One of my podcast episodes. I talked about going to see that movie and I'm sure I'll go see The Odyssey there too.
Scott Wilkinson [00:04:16]:
You know, I just don't like film. Like I said, just like I'm not a big fan of vinyl records and I know a lot of people will disagree with me strongly about that. But I prefer good high quality digital audio. Not highly compressed MP3s, but high res audio on a good system or a good pair of headphones. That is my go to. He said, I found this article and he said he used 3 million 2 million feet of film. 2 million feet of film. According to Kodak, a foot of 65 millimeter film costs a buck 50, which means that it cost him $3 million just in film.
Scott Wilkinson [00:05:03]:
So that's pretty amazing.
Scott Wilkinson [00:05:08]:
Okay, looks like we have some questions here now. So Mike Rin says I have a timely question as my wife is watching the CMA Awards right now on our hisense TV and sound bar.
Scott Wilkinson [00:05:22]:
On this and any award show, the narrator sounds fine, but the volume of any music performances are very low. Tried all the soundbar settings, the presets, movie music, news, night surround, on, off, but no luck. Any ideas?
Scott Wilkinson [00:05:40]:
Sad to say, I have noticed this too. The mix. The audio mix from most awards shows is terrible. Even the Grammys. I make it a point to watch the Grammys every year. And the sound mix, the audio mix from the performances is usually dreadful and there's nothing you can do about it because it has to do. It's at the source. How they manage to do that, I don't know.
Scott Wilkinson [00:06:12]:
I find the same thing often on Saturday Night Live. Mostly I watch Saturday Night Live for the music performances and Weekend Update. Their skits don't really interest me too much anymore. They're kind of one trick ponies, you know, one little idea stretched to five minutes. It's like no thanks. But I do watch the music performances most of These artists I don't know. But I want to keep up to date and I want to see what the kids are watching and listening to.
Scott Wilkinson [00:06:38]:
But the mix from that show is also often terrible. And those vocals in particular are way down in the mix. Why is that? They're the most important thing and I can't understand a word they're saying. Sometimes it's the fault of the singer, but as often as not it's the fault of the mix. So I'm sorry to say I don't think there's much you can do about it. If your sound bar has a center channel boost level control that's separate for the center channel, you could certainly increase that because that's where the vocals are. If it has a center channel EQ.
Scott Wilkinson [00:07:23]:
You could boost the high mids in the 2 to 6k range, roughly because that's where most vocal intelligibility rests. If, if you have that capability in your sound bar. Many sound bars don't. Only the sort of more expensive higher end ones do. Maybe. So those are the two things that I could suggest, but it's not going to do much because it's coming from the source and they're. They. Why don't they mix things better? It really bugs me.
Scott Wilkinson [00:07:58]:
Really bugs me. Jammer B. Here's Jammer B, my good friend. I got a Vizio sound bar with wireless rear speakers and sub for my sister and it works pretty well. I'm considering wireless rear speakers too for my 5.1 in my new home. Can you recommend a 5.1 system between $2,000 and $3,000? Now most systems with wireless surround speakers are going to be sound bar based. Say that three times fast. That is, they're going to have a sound bar in front and then wireless surrounds and probably a wireless sub in the rear.
Scott Wilkinson [00:08:41]:
I don't know of any 5.1 surround systems with separate speakers in the front that have wireless surrounds. So there are a few I want to mention. There's Vizio, of course. They're famous for their sound bars and they have the Elevate SE.
Scott Wilkinson [00:09:01]:
Which is a 5.1.2. It has a sound bar in front with front, left, right and center and two up firing speakers that bounce the Atmos channels off the ceiling. And they also have two surrounds and a wireless sub. In this case, the surrounds actually connect to the sub with wires and then the sub connects wirelessly to the sound bar. So you'd need to put the sub in the back of the room and connect the surround speakers to it.
Scott Wilkinson [00:09:39]:
There's and that is about 400 bucks, that system. There's the TCL Q85H which is about 650 bucks. That's a 7.1.4 system.
Scott Wilkinson [00:09:55]:
And it has wireless surrounds. Actually wireless surrounds, you need to plug any wireless speaker into the wall, into the ac, you know, power, because they have an amplifier built in and they have a wireless transceiver built in. So and that's all got to get powered. But the TCL Q85H does have wireless surrounds. Now if you want to really go high end, you can go with the Samsung Q series. The HW Q930D is about 1200 bucks and that's 9.1.4 for surround channels or overhead channels. Atmos channels.
Scott Wilkinson [00:10:40]:
With the surround speakers also firing upwards. The TCL that I just mentioned has that as well. And those surrounds are wireless as well. And if you want to go really whole hog, you can go with the Samsung HW Q990F which is $1700 but it's 11.
Scott Wilkinson [00:11:03]:
With 11 channels around you and four Atmos channels overhead firing upwards from the sound bar and the surround speakers. And those surrounds are also wireless. So that's the best way to get wireless surrounds is to buy a system, a sound bar based system with wireless surrounds. Let's see who else would be good.
Scott Wilkinson [00:11:28]:
BMW is probably too expensive.
Scott Wilkinson [00:11:31]:
Let me just see if I can do a quick search here and see 5.1 speaker systems.
Scott Wilkinson [00:11:42]:
And see what I can find here.
Scott Wilkinson [00:11:49]:
What Hi-Fi is a pretty good brand. A pretty good source of, of information. Oh, ELAC would be another one to look at. I don't know. Make five point wireless surrounds.
Scott Wilkinson [00:12:06]:
B and W says best speaker pack. They say best speaker package but if I check Amazon.
Scott Wilkinson [00:12:16]:
Oh KEF. Here we go. KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 system.
Scott Wilkinson [00:12:22]:
I'm not sure that they.
Scott Wilkinson [00:12:26]:
They have wireless.
Scott Wilkinson [00:12:29]:
Rear speakers, but.
Scott Wilkinson [00:12:33]:
That would be, that would be one place to look as well as svs. Oh, sound bars. You weren't, you weren't really looking at sound bars. Klipsch makes some really good ones. Their speakers tend to be kind of bright sounding. Here's the Klipsch Reference Theater Pack. 5.1 know if their surrounds are wireless or not.
Scott Wilkinson [00:12:58]:
But that would be another one to look at.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:06]:
So anyway I would look at ELAC. Let's see if ELAC has any.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:12]:
Any wireless surrounds. I bet they do.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:16]:
ELAC.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:19]:
And.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:21]:
No, not East Los Angeles College.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:25]:
There we go. Audio file speakers. Elac.com.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:30]:
Home Theater. And.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:35]:
Let'S see. Well they've got a huge huge number of products.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:44]:
And so I would definitely look there. I don't know, maybe you want on wall or in wall.
Scott Wilkinson [00:13:53]:
Huh. That's interesting. They don't have surround speakers separated out. Okay.
Scott Wilkinson [00:14:00]:
Anyway, Lava being, yes, the mix could be better. Probably. Almost certainly.
Scott Wilkinson [00:14:08]:
Yeah. They managed to do it badly by not hiring good people. Yeah.
Scott Wilkinson [00:14:17]:
Lava being saying, I wonder if live music performances are mixed so that very little goes through the center channel. That's a good question. You know, I used to go to the Grammys and get a backstage tour and stuff and they were mixing for 5.1. I assume they were mixing into the center channel. I didn't ask that specifically.
Scott Wilkinson [00:14:37]:
Aunt Nielsen says upgraded from a Vizio Soundbar 5.1 system to the Sony Bravia Home Theater quad. Really happy about it. Yeah, Sony makes great stuff. Glad to know you. You were satisfied with that? I would be. I'm sure. Sony, I love their Sony stuff.
Scott Wilkinson [00:14:56]:
Chamber B says, news that you like high resolution audio files. How do you play high res audio files? Years ago I asked how do audio files listen? How to audio files? P H I L E S listen to audio files. Fil.
Scott Wilkinson [00:15:13]:
He'S got a Raspberry PI that runs digital transport to send files to the dac.
Scott Wilkinson [00:15:20]:
I normally listen to high res audio files on headphones.
Scott Wilkinson [00:15:25]:
And I've got a lot to say about high res audio files on a speaker system. And the core of it is there aren't very many speaker systems that can reproduce higher than 20 kilohertz. And high res audio files typically can go beyond that and often do have information above that.
Scott Wilkinson [00:15:50]:
And headphones often can. High quality headphones. I have a pair of focal.
Scott Wilkinson [00:15:57]:
Headphones that are very, very good. And when I want to really listen to high resolution audio, that's what I use. My speakers are rated to 20k in my. In my home theater they probably will go above that. They're Grimanis, but they're Grimani. Tony Grimani is very conservative in his rating, so he doesn't say they go above 20, 20 kilohertz, but I'm sure they do.
Scott Wilkinson [00:16:24]:
Then you need amplification that reproduces more than 20 kilohertz. And that's not cheap either. The point is, if you're going to listen on speakers to high resolution audio and you want to hear the full experience of high resolution audio, you have to spend some money, some real money to get a system that will reproduce it. Because if it doesn't reproduce it, what's the point? There is no point. You might as well just listen to CDs which are fine, by the way. I think CDs are perfectly fine. A lot of people say, oh, they're cold and they're brittle and they're clinical.
Scott Wilkinson [00:17:05]:
I don't find them that way at all. That's why they like vinyl. These people who say they prefer vinyl over CDs because it's warm.
Scott Wilkinson [00:17:14]:
Yes, but that to me means distorted. It's not accurate, it's not flat, it's not what the producer intended. People are going to push back on that really hard, and they always do. I've said it for years, throughout most of my career. That's what it that's how I feel about it.
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Leo Laporte [00:19:02]:
I'm looking forward to telling our qualified audience about your great product.
Scott Wilkinson [00:19:09]:
So let's see. Hey Wizardling, good to see you.
Scott Wilkinson [00:19:14]:
I really like to. Let's see. Dms7362 I really like to watch movies with Spatial Audio on my AirPods Max through my Apple TV. Spatial Audio doesn't work with my 4K UHD movie discs. Any way to get Spatial Audio from UHD discs.
Scott Wilkinson [00:19:34]:
Into the headphones. I'm not 100% sure about that. And by Spatial Audio I assume you mean immersive audio like Atmos and what have you. I thought the AirPods Max had a Spatial Audio up mixer. I'm not sure about that.
Scott Wilkinson [00:19:58]:
And probably if you're playing a disc.
Scott Wilkinson [00:20:04]:
And it's got and it's and it's Atmos and you maybe plug or are you using Wi fi or a Bluetooth?
Scott Wilkinson [00:20:14]:
Depends on which codec you're using. Some of the later ones might have spatial audio in them but it depends on whether or not your.
Scott Wilkinson [00:20:26]:
The device that is sending the Bluetooth is able to up mix it into Spatial Audio or send it as Spatial Audio. In the case of a UHD Blu-ray 4K UHD movie discs they will often have Atmos. A lot of them do. So can that be translated into Spatial Audio for the AirPods Max would depend. If you're playing a disk it's going to go into a receiver and I assume you're going to get the Bluetooth from the receiver or the preamp processor and that depends on whether or not it will upscale or up mix I should say into immersive audio or transmit it if it's already there over Bluetooth. In fact, let me just quickly look and see here if.
Scott Wilkinson [00:21:23]:
Bluetooth Atmos. Let's see if any of the I don't remember whether Bluetooth talking about Atmos Bluetooth speakers but I'm talking I don't see anything about Atmos 2 headphones.
Scott Wilkinson [00:21:46]:
That's a, that's a question I'll have to spend a little more time researching because it depends on whether the Bluetooth codec carries that information or not.
Scott Wilkinson [00:22:03]:
Shreen.
Scott Wilkinson [00:22:06]:
Sometimes I have trouble with these screen names. Shreen Compter KEF would be a good option. Yes, KEF is a great speaker company. Do they make wireless surrounds? I'm not 100% sure. Jammer B. Andrew Jones Wireless at ELAC, Andrew Jones hasn't been at ELAC for a while, several years.
Scott Wilkinson [00:22:27]:
So they wouldn't be Andrew Jones. I don't think he ever designed any wireless surrounds. So whoever's there now, maybe they've started doing wireless. It's a good question.
Scott Wilkinson [00:22:45]:
Wizardling says what is my Recommendation for compact 2.0 speaker system.
Scott Wilkinson [00:22:52]:
That still has bass that isn't MIA don't expect miracles, just something that has a decent setup for built in speakers. So I guess what that means is you don't want A subwoofer. And that is going to be tricky. My question, my follow up question for you is what's your budget and what's your size limitation? Can you have big floor standing speakers? Can you spend a lot of money? Because if you can, then yes, you can get a 2.0 system with good bass.
Scott Wilkinson [00:23:25]:
But if, if you have to have small ones and they have to be cheap, I would say not. I don't think so.
Scott Wilkinson [00:23:35]:
Donnie Murdoch says yes. I love FLAC. FLAC, which is one of the lossless audio codecs, which is what I use to listen to high res audio streaming from a company called Qobuz. Q O B U Z. It's very much like TIDAL. T I D A L in that they stream high resolution, losslessly compressed audio.
Scott Wilkinson [00:24:05]:
I chose Qobuz. I used to have both of them but I ended up dropping TIDAL and just using Qobuz because they tell you on each track what is the resolution. And TIDAL didn't. And when I was doing a lot of reviews I wanted to know what's the resolution of this track? Is it 4896, I mean sorry, 9624 or 4824 or CD quality or what? And Qobuz gave me that information. So I kept them and dropped TIDAL. Wizardling is saying think Thinking for portability. 2.0 for less cables. 2.0 for less Cables.
Scott Wilkinson [00:24:45]:
Less hassle. Moving, but not wireless. No need for that. Okay, good.
Scott Wilkinson [00:24:52]:
Move. Meaning you want to move this system from room to room.
Scott Wilkinson [00:24:57]:
I don't assume you mean like move, you know, oh, I'm going to move from this city to that city.
Scott Wilkinson [00:25:03]:
Probably means more moving than once every few years or whatever. So that's what I'm guessing that you are meaning. So when you tell me what kind of budget you have, I can maybe make some recommendations. Berserk says I have used Sony Home AV amps for the last 20 years. They all have 5.1 sound. Can you use speakers you have or buy? And I mean you can use speakers you have. And I mean any. The Sony amps let you configure the speaker loudness and placement to easily set up any group of speakers.
Scott Wilkinson [00:25:42]:
You could easily do this for $2,000.
Scott Wilkinson [00:25:47]:
One thing that comes to mind when you're mentioning that is.
Scott Wilkinson [00:25:53]:
You can configure the speakers. You can use speakers you want. Any, any speakers. It depends on the impedance, the nominal impedance of the speaker and whether or not the amp can drive it. Most speakers, most sort of mid range speakers have a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, maybe 4 ohms. Most amplifiers can drive that. But if the speaker dips into the 2 ohm range, you have to have a pretty special amp to be able to drive that without causing problems, maybe even damaging the amp.
Scott Wilkinson [00:26:35]:
So when you say any, I have to ask about the speaker impedance.
Scott Wilkinson [00:26:42]:
The Sony amps let you configure speaker for configure the speaker loudness and placement to easily set up any group of speakers you're talking about. I think probably relatively recent models that let you put speakers in various places and then compensate for that with correction algorithms that make it seem like they are where they're supposed to be, that is front, right and left at about 60 degrees or so, surrounds at 110 degrees center in the middle.
Scott Wilkinson [00:27:19]:
So if the Sony amps let you do that, and as I recall, they, they started doing that a few years ago, you know, that's really good. But you want to make sure that the impedance of your speakers matches the impedance output of the amps. I should say the output impedance of the amps. In most cases it'll be fine, but in some more esoteric cases it might not. And Lava being says assuming the room has carpet and can hang drapes. Yes. You don't want a room with hardwood floors and, and lots of glass walls. That's going to be too reverberant.
Scott Wilkinson [00:27:57]:
Wizardling says we used egg cartons back in the day. Yeah, I remember those days well. And you know, they provide some measure of acoustic damping and help if the room is too reverberant.
Scott Wilkinson [00:28:13]:
And Wizardling says draping cheap curtains over the walls and using rugs for bare wood floors works and is cheap. It's true. Gobek says you talk about high def recordings and listening to them. Being elderly, wonder if listening to recordings that can reproduce the high frequencies is of any value. Great question. Really great question. Because being elderly, I will admit to that I am now elderly. I am a senior citizen, I get my senior discounts and I take advantage of as many as I can.
Scott Wilkinson [00:28:51]:
And you're exactly right. As we age all humans, our high frequency perception drops, no question about it. And so what's the value of listening to high res audio?
Scott Wilkinson [00:29:08]:
And the answer is there may not be any.
Scott Wilkinson [00:29:12]:
You certainly no one can hear above 20 kilohertz even if there's information up there. But there are arguments to say that that information up in the ultrasonic range.
Scott Wilkinson [00:29:26]:
Affects what we can hear. There are what are called difference tones or combination tones, which are combinations of the ultrasonic frequencies that manifest in the audible range. And if there are things up there and they cause these difference tones down in the audible range so you'll hear them.
Scott Wilkinson [00:29:49]:
There's also a theory that I read somewhere recently that ultra high frequencies coming out of speakers, this doesn't apply to headphones, but coming out of speakers actually have an effect on your skin. And so it's not hearing that you're here, hearing that perceives it, but, but a tactile sensation almost. It's not high volumes and you know, rippling on your skin because the sound waves are so loud. It's, it's a theory. I, I don't really know if I believe that or not. I have to do more research on it. But there are mechanisms apparently by which ultrasonic frequencies can have a perceptible effect.
Scott Wilkinson [00:30:34]:
So now listening to high, listening to high res audio on headphones. Yeah, that's probably not. Except for this, these combination tones, difference tones that may have some effect in headphones that even I'd be able to hear.
Scott Wilkinson [00:30:52]:
Interestingly, I did. I, I've had multiple audiograms taken of my hearing and there is a dip in the.
Scott Wilkinson [00:31:04]:
I'd say, I guess, 2 to 6 kilohertz range, probably due to playing in rock bands as a youngster and big bands, big, you know, jazz orchestras, where I'm in the trombone section and the trumpets are right behind me, blasting right into my ears.
Scott Wilkinson [00:31:24]:
I did that for many, many years and I played in a few rock bands in college and those can get really loud, really loud. So.
Scott Wilkinson [00:31:36]:
That is, that has probably caused the notch in my hearing.
Scott Wilkinson [00:31:43]:
But interestingly, the audiogram, I go to an audiologist, they're rare, but I found one whose audiometer, that is the device that tests your hearing goes all the way to 20 kilohertz. Most audiologists have audiometers that only go to 8 kilohertz because all they're really concerned about is whether or not you can understand speech.
Scott Wilkinson [00:32:06]:
But there are a few who cater to musicians and they want to hear all the way to 20K. My audiogram. Actually, after the dip, I got back up to 20k. I could perceive 20k. I was astonished. Not that it's, you know, important really, but.
Scott Wilkinson [00:32:27]:
Even at my age, I couldn't believe it. But there it was in an audiogram. Unbelievable.
Scott Wilkinson [00:32:37]:
Wizard link. Everybody's hearing degrades at different rates. That's also true if you have not been subjected to really loud sounds for over long periods of time, over your life. Not, I mean constantly, but you know, repeatedly. Then if you haven't been exposed to that, then your hearing is going to degrade much differently than those of us who have. Now. Youngsters love to go to concerts and concerts are really, really loud. I think I've told this story before at ces.
Scott Wilkinson [00:33:14]:
One year, some years ago, JBL put on a concert with KISS.
Scott Wilkinson [00:33:22]:
In a hotel ballroom. And I went and I wore hearing protection and I brought my sound meter during each of their songs. It was in the 120 decibel range. It was like, oh my God.
Scott Wilkinson [00:33:41]:
So yeah, you go to enough of those concerts, you're gonna lose some hearing easily. No question. And it's not going to be immediate. That's. This is the pernicious thing about it. It's going to be over time. It's going to be delayed. You're going to go to that concert, you're going to come out with your ears ringing.
Scott Wilkinson [00:33:59]:
Maybe temporary, maybe not, but you're going to go, oh man, that was loud. But then two or three days later you go, oh, okay, I'm fine. 20 years later.
Scott Wilkinson [00:34:10]:
You’re going to have permanent hearing loss. So please, please, please protect your hearing when you go to these really loud concerts. You're gonna thank me 20 years from now. So Wizardling says he can spend about $500 for a pair of speakers. Okay, so $500 for a pair of speakers that have some.
Scott Wilkinson [00:34:35]:
Some bass in them. So we're talking really bookshelves. ELAC debut reference is 800 bucks. JBL Studio 630 is 87769. Wharfedale Diamond 12.0. Bookshelf speakers 329. That, that's pretty good. Wolf Shelf is Wharfedale.
Scott Wilkinson [00:35:00]:
Sorry. Is quite good. You don't want to. Let's see. Here we go. New York Times. Wire cutter. I like wire cutter.
Scott Wilkinson [00:35:10]:
Brent Butterworth is my fit. One of my favorite speaker reviewers.
Scott Wilkinson [00:35:16]:
Top pick. Sony SS CS5M2. 178 bucks on Amazon. Is that for the pair? Wow. Well that, that would certainly be good. Triangle Borea BR03. Don't know that brand. 500 bucks a pair.
Scott Wilkinson [00:35:41]:
Looks like the Sony's. The Sonys might be each 178 each. Still, that's well within your budget.
Scott Wilkinson [00:35:52]:
Triangle Borea. I'd never heard of those guys. That's kind of interesting.
Scott Wilkinson [00:36:00]:
Let's see if he's got any others. Polk Signature Elite ES15.
Scott Wilkinson [00:36:09]:
But those Sonys. Let me go quickly. Look at the Sonys.
Scott Wilkinson [00:36:13]:
Is that a piece? No, it's for a pair. Wow. Three way speakers, I would say. Look at those. Absolutely. Save a lot of money that way. Okay, let's see here. Yeah.
Scott Wilkinson [00:36:32]:
Okay. Wants to take them between rooms. Too many parts, too many cables, it's going to be annoying. You're right about that. Now the speakers I've been talking about are passive, which means they need an external amplifier or receiver. So that's not going to be that easy to move around from room to room.
Scott Wilkinson [00:36:53]:
So later on in Brent's article on Wire Cutter, he talks about powered speakers, bookshelf speakers. And these are what I think are going to be the most applicable to your situation because they don't need an amplifier or receiver. They have their own built in. You got to plug them in as with any powered speaker, because the amplifier that's built in needs power. But they are relatively easy to move around. I've got a couple of them in my house and they make it really nice to move the speaker from one room to another. So if you scroll down in Brent's article, you will see his picks for powered bookshelf speakers. And these are pairs of speakers.
Scott Wilkinson [00:37:41]:
So you're going to do stereo in this case.
Scott Wilkinson [00:37:44]:
And since you wanted to be in the 500 range, budget wise, I'm going to stick with that. So there are a couple that Brent recommends and I think I trust his recommendations implicitly. So I would definitely look into these. There's the Victrola Tempo VPS 400, which is a pair of speakers. It's only $200 at Crutchfield and Amazon, so that's well under your budget. And if Brent likes them, I bet they're really good.
Scott Wilkinson [00:38:19]:
If you want to go a little more upscale, ELAC has a pair that I think are really good. The debut Connect DCB41 and that Connect is C O N N E C T.
Scott Wilkinson [00:38:35]:
And these are on the ELAC website for 524 bucks, down from 700. I don't know how long that sale is going to last, but as of this recording, they're just slightly above your budgetary range. I would add two more. I love Audioengine speakers and they make a bunch of powered, basically desktop speakers. Speakers that are intended to be used with your computer, but they sound really, really good. The Audioengine A5 Plus is a really good choice. You can get them without Bluetooth for 400 to 470 bucks depending on the finish. Come in a wood finish or white or a couple other colors, or 500 to 570 bucks including the ability to stream Bluetooth audio to them using the APTX codec, which is a high quality codec.
Scott Wilkinson [00:39:38]:
APTX HD actually.
Scott Wilkinson [00:39:41]:
So those would be great. I would really be happy with those. And the company SVS makes a pair that I think would be really, really good as well. They're called the Prime Wireless Pro. Now those are a little over your budget. They're $700 on sale, down from 900 as of this recording. So they might be a little over your budget, even on sale, but they certainly are worth considering. But the Audioengine or the ELAC would also be great choices.
Scott Wilkinson [00:40:12]:
And the Victrola, if you want to save some serious money, that would be my recommendation for speakers that you could more easily move around from room to room.
Scott Wilkinson [00:40:23]:
Okay, so. Well, we got a lot more questions and I'm really sorry that we're already out of time.
Scott Wilkinson [00:40:34]:
Lava being for paid cinemas, is there any way to find screens or cinemas that don't play movies too loud? I have been looking for that my whole career. Every movie that I've measured recently, including Tron, which got pretty loud. Overall, the average level they kept right under a whisker under the defined limit which is 85 decibels a weighted over the length of the movie.
Scott Wilkinson [00:41:04]:
As Tron was 84.6 I think, you know, and it reached peaks of of over a hundred. But all the movies that I've been to actually stay within the specified boundaries for. For movies doesn't mean it's not too loud. It is in my opinion, but.
Scott Wilkinson [00:41:29]:
Oh no wizardling. I avoided too much loud music as a young person and then Covid went and gave me tinnitus Anyway. Damn, I'm so sorry to hear that. What a pain.
Scott Wilkinson [00:41:41]:
Okay.
Scott Wilkinson [00:41:44]:
Let'S see here. Oh, Zoic says I have separate tweeters that I can point directly towards where I'm sitting. Helps my old ears. True. That would be good if you have aimable tweeters. Excellent.
Scott Wilkinson [00:41:57]:
Okay, well, we've come to the end of another session much too quickly, I'm sorry to say, but I'm going to do these regularly. So stick, stick, stick around, stay tuned. Every couple of months I'm going to do one of these and I do love interacting with the chat room in real time. So thanks a lot for being here and being part of the show. Now I also answer questions on my regular episodes, so if you have one for me, send it along to TWiT TV and I'll answer as many as I can right here on the show. And if you have a home theater, I would love to hear about it. Send me some pictures and a sentence or two about what makes it special for you.
Scott Wilkinson [00:42:47]:
I want to start featuring listener home theaters on my monthly Home Theater of the Month show, the episode of Home Theater Geeks. You could even be on the show.
Scott Wilkinson [00:43:00]:
And that would be really fun if you're up for it. So again, send me some photos to Htgwit tv and I look forward to hearing from you.
Scott Wilkinson [00:43:12]:
Until next time, geek out.
Scott Wilkinson [00:43:27]:
Berserk says the sound levels are usually garbage. Most places I often go tell the manager to turn it down at the movies. Yeah, but they won't do it. Just. Just as a side note, I went to a concert, a live concert of one of my favorite artists, a guy named Jai Utah here in Santa Cruz. And it was so loud that I walked out and the producer or the promoter was in the lobby, and I said, hey, just want to let you know I'm leaving because it's too damn loud. And he said, oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Was he going to go turn it down? No, not a chance.
Scott Wilkinson [00:44:05]:
Not a chance.
