By Brent Butterworth

Everyone’s heard loud bass, but very few people have ever heard good bass. Good bass reproduction demands that every note in the bass range be reproduced evenly, with no notes emphasized. Fortunately, recent research has shown us for the first time a way to get even bass response in almost any room. The result is the most natural, accurate, and impactful bass reproduction that’s ever been achieved in the home.

Here’s the technical background: At bass frequencies (below about 200 Hz), a room acts as a resonator, much the way an empty Coke bottle does when you blow across the top. With certain notes, the room resonates, amplifying the note so it sticks out. Meanwhile, some other notes may disappear almost entirely.
Fixing this problem isn’t as simple as plugging in a graphic equalizer and adjusting a few knobs. That’s because the way the room affects the bass depends on where you are in the room. Move from one side of the couch to the other, and you’ll probably hear huge differences in the sound of the bass.
Harman International—parent company of numerous professional and consumer audio brands—recently devoted a great deal of research to finding ways to fix the bass problem. The solution they came up with is multiple subwoofers. Using two instead of one gives a big improvement. Using four instead of two gives an even bigger improvement. A Harman engineer gave me a full four-sub demo in my house a couple of years ago, and since then I’ve tried this trick with numerous subwoofers and it always delivers remarkably consistent bass response no matter where on my couch I sit.

Don’t let the thought of four subwoofers scare you. Instead of one big 15- or 18-inch model, you can use four small 10-inch models. And placement is easy: Just put the subs in the corners.

If you’re planning a new home theater or media room, talk with your installer about the merits of multiple subwoofers. If you equate bass with that annoying, boomy sound you hear when a hopped-up Honda Civic passes you, you’re in for a nice surprise.

By John Sciacca

It’s not often that you get the chance to listen to a true luminary and industry pioneer speak. Even less often when you get the opportunity to do it for free. But that’s exactly what’s being offered by Audyssey in their next Webinar, where you can hear the true Jedi Master of surround sound discuss “The History and Future of Surround Sound.”

For those unfamiliar with Tomlinson (Tom) Holman, his biography reads like the history of modern surround sound. He is credited for naming 5.1, the most commonly used surround speaker set-up today. He was also Chief Engineer at Lucasfilm where he developed a set of standards in 1982 for “Return of the Jedi.” The standards insured that theatrical playback matched what was heard in the mixing room and were called THX. In fact, he is often referred to as being the “T” and “H,” as in the “Tom Holman eXperiment.”

Holman also developed the world’s first 10.2 channel surround system – front left, top front left, front right, top front right, surround left, top surround left, surround right, top surround right, center, top center above the screen, and front and back subwoofers – which completely envelopes listeners.

In 2001, he won an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement. And recently, he co-founded Audyssey, where he continues as Chief Scientist. Audyssey’s MultEQ technology is widely used for sophisticated room correction and equalization in many home theater receivers and processors. Most recently, Audyssey has introduced Dynamic Volume to tame wild swings between loud and soft passages, Dynamic EQ to deliver consistent bass response, tonal balance and surround levels regardless of volume level, and DSX which adds height and/or width channels. (See Brent Butterworth’s impression of DSX by clicking here: http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/newproducts/3250/first-listen-audyssey-dsx.html)

Holman is currently a professor of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California (USC), and his book Sound for Film and Television is considered required reading for any film majors. I’ve had the opportunity to hear Holman speak, and it is always incredibly entertaining and enlightening.

The Webinar is being held on Friday, December 18th, from 11 AM to 1 PM PST. To reserve your spot, sign up now by clicking this link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/424560306?utm_source=Audyssey+Master+List&utm_campaign=b30e8ec3df-emailblast20091119&utm_medium=email

Author Sciacca with Han

by John Sciacca

Like every male born around 1970, Star Wars was a cultural, life-shaping event for me. I can remember seeing the original, Episode IV, in a small theater in Carmel, California. Since Return of the Jedi came out in 1983, I have seen every Wars film in the theater on opening day. I’ve purchased the movies on every format possible: Beta, VHS, Laser Disc and DVD. I’ve even visited Lucas Ranch, THX and ILM a few times. I believe this all qualifies me as a fan.

This past weekend, I enjoyed an entirely different Star Wars experience in the form of Star Wars in Concert. This was such a terrific blending of music, film, lasers and spectacle that I thought I would share my experience in hopes of convincing readers to seek out a show near them.

The Concert brings together the 86-piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and a giant high-def LED screen, measuring some 60-feet wide by 30-feet tall, for a 2-hour performance of music spanning all six films. Far from detracting from the orchestra, the video is a perfect accompaniment, like watching a giant live, orchestral music video. The pacing and timing of the images to the score was even approved by John Williams.

The show opens with the THX “Deep Note,” a sound so familiar to home theater fans, and then goes into the 20th Century Fox fanfare. After a pregnant pause, the huge, opening notes of the Star Wars main theme burst from the orchestra, along with the title scrawl on the giant HD screen. Hearing and watching the music played live by such a huge, talented orchestra was phenomenal, giving me chills multiple times throughout the evening. Seeing the dozens of violinists and cellists sawing away in perfect sync to produce music that is so thoroughly entrenched in our zeitgeist was absolutely thrilling.

C3PO, Anthony Daniels

The performance is interspersed with live narration by Anthony “C3PO” Daniels who sets up each movement. His delivery is slightly over-the-top, but Daniels is one of only two cast members that were in all 6 films (the other was R2-D2, Kenny Baker), so it was a treat to see and hear him in person.

While every piece was terrific, and every favorite number was included, one of my favorites was “The Duel of the Fates” from Episode I. This featured the full choir backing the intense musical arrangement, along with well-timed pyrotechnics. Other high points included “The Imperial March” and “The Victory Song,” which concluded the evening.

Also on hand are quite a few original costumes and props from the films including Yoda, Vader, Han in carbonite, and Chewbacca.

The crowd was packed with fans of all ages, from very young – many kids under 5 – to quite old. And, if you feel the urge to go dressed as your favorite Jedi, Sith, Bounty Hunter or other, you will be in good company. Highly recommended! Performance dates and venues can be found here: starwarsinconcert.com

How video calibration works – and why you want it

by Brent Butterworth

I’ve spoken with many people who are shocked to learn they have to spend hundreds of dollars extra to have their theater’s video projector professionally calibrated. I can sympathize. After all, who among us hasn’t brought a brand-new TV home, plugged it in, turned it on, and never once touched the picture adjustments?

I can’t tell you a fancy calibration process is going to make The Biggest Loser any more captivating. But when you’re watching movies, accurate color reproduction and crisp detail draw really help draw you into the story, especially with a projection system. Achieving this level of performance is an incredibly complicated process for which most amateurs are no more qualified than they would be to do a brake job on their car.

The very first thing a calibration technician does is make sure your system is hooked up correctly. There’s a huge benefit here that doesn’t often get discussed—you can be sure all of your devices (Blu-ray player, cable box, etc.) are set for the optimum resolution for your projector. The tech’s also going to make sure the proper cables are used and that they’re all installed correctly. You can rest assured knowing you’re not one of the millions of people watching standard-definition video when they could be getting high definition.

Then the tech will check the physical installation of the TV, making sure that the screen is level and unobstructed. If it’s a projection system, the tech will check to see that the image is properly zoomed, centered, and focused.

Next, the tech will make basic adjustments to such controls as brightness, contrast, and sharpness, using either a special test DVD or a video signal generator.

Now comes the complicated part, where the tech adjusts the grayscale of the display. Grayscale is actually a function of the mix of red, green, and blue in the display. Get the mix right and you’ll get a perfectly neutral gray (or black or white), and all your other colors should fall into line, too. Get the mix wrong and the blacks, grays, and whites might look blue. Or they might look red. Or the blacks might look greenish while the whites look purple. This process takes anywhere from about 30 minutes to 2 hours, depending on how bad the TV looks at the start, and it involves test equipment costing $5,000 to $15,000.

On many newer TVs and projectors, the tech will be able to adjust the specific colors of red, green, and blue, to assure that the TV’s delivering the full range of color of which it’s capable.

There are other steps, too, and the more features manufacturers add to their TVs and projectors every year, the more things the calibration technician needs to check.

I’ve been through the calibration training program run by the Imaging Science Foundation three times, and I review projectors on a regular basis, yet I still find the calibration process complicated and challenging. Sure, if you’re really tech-savvy and wanted to invest in the necessary test gear, you could do the job yourself. But by the time you get good at it, you’ll probably be ready to buy a whole new display.

by John Sciacca

Being green is all the rage right now. In fact, you can barely attend any event or read about any product without hearing about some benefit that’s designed to keep the globe spinning a bit longer. The problem is, there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to what Green is and many companies seem to be just jumping on the hype wagon to make some green…or whatever color Chinese money is.

Many companies profess to being Green, but what does this mean? Are they Green because their products are packed in a smaller carton with less material? Are they more Green if that carton is recycled from other cartons? Are they Green if their device draws less “Vampire power” when it’s turned off? (The Department of Energy claims that stand-by power can account for up to 20% of a home’s electrical use, and a 1998 Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study estimated that this totals more than $3 billion in annual costs. Yikes!)

While all of these issues are sorted out and a real definition of what makes a product Green is defined, I think most people are really looking to make a smart buying decision that fulfills their needs while being as environmentally friendly as possible.

As I write this, I am staying in an absolutely amazing home on St. John in the US Virgin Islands, helping the homeowner install some audio and a couple of surround sound systems. As much as I’d love to center this blog on how amazing this place is, something the homeowner asked about was too perfect a topic to pass up.

She mentioned that electricity costs on the island were staggeringly expensive, and that some of her friends had monthly bills exceeding $7000! Because of this she asked if I would be sure to turn off my room’s thermostat whenever leaving.

This immediately gave me an idea. Why not tie occupancy/motion sensors into the HVAC system? If the person leaving the room presses a handy off button it can automatically turn the A/C off. But if they forgot to press the button, the system can turn it off after a set number of minutes of non-movement. Easy-breezy!

“But what about at night, when people are sleeping and not moving?” she asked. Since nearly all automation controllers feature an astronomic time clock, that’s easily overcome by programming the system to leave the cooling system running from say 9 PM to 8 AM whether there is movement or not.

This is the perfect example of real-world automation coming to the rescue. Helping the client to be Green by using less energy and actually save some real green (US dollars on St. John) at the same time. It also offered the perfect opportunity for me to secure a second visit to the home. But I only thought of that later, promise.

by Brent Butterworth

When you still need to run wire in a wireless age

We’re definitely in the wireless age. At the recent CEDIA Expo in Atlanta, numerous audio, video, and home automation companies showed off new wireless gear. Wireless networks now transmit all sorts of home entertainment all over our homes. Wireless lighting and HVAC control are making home automation systems easy to install even in historical homes where running wires can be a nightmare.

However, there are some situations where running wires through the walls is still your best option. And for one relatively new application, it’s essential.

The advantage of a hard connection

Anyone who uses a laptop at home through a Wi-Fi network knows that wireless isn’t perfect. As robust and reliable as much of today’s wireless gear can be, it’s still susceptible to slowdowns and service breaks caused by interference. The interference could be coming from other wireless devices in your home, such as cordless phones. Worse, it could be coming from devices in a neighbor’s home.

In comparison, a properly specified wire, competently installed, will give you a perfect connection for many years to come.

While wireless technology is catching up to wired speeds, the wire still has a performance advantage. A typical wired home network runs at 100 megabits per second, while a typical wireless Ethernet bridge runs at a maximum of 54 megabits per second under the best conditions. In some situations, that doubling (at least) of speed can make a huge difference.

Where you always want a wire—and where you might not

All that said, wireless works beautifully in many applications where speed isn’t a big issue, such as home automation and audio streaming. But there is one application where I strongly recommend running a wire if at all possible: video streaming.

If you’re planning on adding a video server such as Kaleidescape, or using an Internet video streaming device such as Roku or Apple TV, you need a wire connection to ensure the best picture quality. The Netflix video streaming available through Roku and several Blu-ray Disc players will still run on a fairly lousy network connection, but the faster the connection the better the picture Netflix will give you.

Even in retrofit situations where running wire may be costly, it’s worth it to pay your installer to run those wires to your video streaming device. Every time you watch a movie over that wire, you’ll be glad you made the investment.