WEBVTT - Home Theatre 103 - Components and Cables 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.200 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.360 --> 0:00:18.360 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.040 and I love all things techno. And we are back 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:26.480 with our series about home theaters after a brief intermission. 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.960 But hey, that happens sometimes with theaters, right anyway, So far, 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:34.239 we have covered the basics of visuals with a breakdown 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:39.880 of stuff like resolution, high dynamic range or HDR, oh 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:43.839 LED versus l e D versus q LED, home projectors, 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:47.000 and more. We also talked about surround sound and the 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.120 basic variations that you can have with surround sound. But 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:51.879 then I ran out of time before I could get 0:00:51.880 --> 0:00:54.760 to the next bit, which is sub waffers. And I 0:00:54.840 --> 0:00:57.320 talked about them a little in the last episode in 0:00:57.320 --> 0:00:59.600 this series, but I didn't really explain what it is 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.360 they do and why they're so important for home theater setups. 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:08.640 All right, let's talk about subwhiffers really quickly. Now, the 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.120 job of any speaker is to project out a certain 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:16.760 band of sound frequencies, which we you know, experience as 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:20.559 different pitches. Right. Higher frequencies are higher pitches. Lower frequencies 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.800 are much lower pitches. But how do speakers do this? Well, 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:27.960 if you remember our rabbit hole of what sound is 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:31.759 from earlier in this series, you know that sound is vibration, 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.560 and that typically we hear sound as it moves through 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:37.720 the air. The vibration in this case becomes a series 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:41.920 of fluctuating changes in air pressure which propagate outward from 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.160 the source of the sound. And when these fluctuations encounter 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.280 the ear drums inside our ears, they cause our ear 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:52.720 drums to vibrate. Those vibrations transferred to our inner ear 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:57.360 thanks to some very tiny bones, and then through a 0:01:57.400 --> 0:01:58.960 couple of other steps that I'm not going to go 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:02.880 to hear because I've covered this before, our brains eventually 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.840 pick up signals from our inner ear and then interpret 0:02:05.920 --> 0:02:10.040 that as sound. Now, the reason I even said any 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.120 of that is that a speaker creates sound kind of 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:17.160 in a reverse process from how our ears pick up sound. 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:20.520 So you've got an electric signal, and this is the 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:24.720 signal that carries the sound information in it. We've encoded 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.240 sound into an electric signal, and then we're gonna decode 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:32.880 the electric signal to recreate the sound. Typically, this signal 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.120 goes to an electro magnet, which is essentially a driver 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:40.280 that can pull and push depending on how or if 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.079 current is flowing through the electro magnet. This is inside 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.760 the speaker. It's usually attached to the speaker cone itself, 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:52.240 and there is a diaphragm covering the speaker cone the 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:54.720 end of the cone. This is the part that you 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:56.360 see when you look at the front of a speaker, 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:59.640 those big round things. That's the diaphragm on the end 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:05.239 of the own um. Then you've got this part of 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:07.640 the back of the speaker where there's a permanent magnet. 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.520 That's your typical way. You could have it the other way, 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:12.800 where the permanent magnet is on the cone and the 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:15.160 electro magnets in the back of the speaker. But more 0:03:15.200 --> 0:03:19.040 frequently the voice coil as it's called, is attached to 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.360 the code itself. So when the polarity of the electro 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:27.120 magnet changes, it exerts a magnetic force that then interacts 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:31.000 with the magnetic field of the permanent magnet. So if 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:36.800 those polarities match right, if the electro magnets magnetic field 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:40.680 has a north pole pointed toward the permanent magnets north pole, 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:46.200 then they repel each other right, Because like magnetic charge repels, 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:49.800 So the cone gets pushed away from the permanent magnet 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:53.680 and it's pushed forward out from the speaker. If the 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:56.800 polarities are the opposite of each other, like one's north 0:03:56.800 --> 0:03:59.680 pole and one south pole, the electro magnet is pulled 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:03.640 back toward the permanent magnet inside. Now the permanent magnet, 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.600 it's magnetic field is not going to change because it's permanent. 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:12.400 It's it's in a stationary position. But by reversing the 0:04:12.400 --> 0:04:15.600 the flow of electricity through the coil, you can change 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.560 the direction of the magnetic field on the coil in 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.359 the electro magnet and thus have this interaction. So the 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.880 result is that the speaker's diaphragm gets moved in and out, 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:31.640 and this happens really really fast. Now, the diaphragm consequently 0:04:31.960 --> 0:04:35.200 causes air to move, and it creates those fluctuations in 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:38.880 air pressure. As the diaphragm pushes outward, it compresses the 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.160 air directly in front of the speaker. If it moves inward, 0:04:42.279 --> 0:04:44.520 it pulls on the air. So you get these little 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.800 fluctuations of air pressure that when they encounter our ears 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:52.160 we experience as sound. To me, is so cool that 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:56.200 we can take sound. We can transmit sound through a microphone, 0:04:56.200 --> 0:04:58.320 which is, by the way, the exact same thing but 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.680 in reverse, and in be able to play it out 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:05.360 on a speaker this way and just have this material, 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.640 this diaphragm material. Just through that vibration, we can recreate 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.279 any sound that humans can hear. That still blows my 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:15.279 mind anyway. That's a really high level way of how 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:20.840 speakers work. So most speakers can replicate a fairly decent 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.800 range of frequencies, but the lower end stuff gets pretty 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.760 challenging because it requires a larger diaphragm in the speaker 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:34.760 to produce good, powerful low frequency effects and more power 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:38.320 to move that big diaphragm. So larger diaphragms will have 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:40.920 more mass. That means it takes more energy to get 0:05:40.960 --> 0:05:44.080 them to move, particularly to move enough air to make 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:46.280 the effects you want to make. So it might need 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:50.160 so much energy that you could even require an extra 0:05:50.240 --> 0:05:53.920 plug to plug the speaker into, say an external source 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:56.719 like a like a power outlet. In order to get 0:05:56.839 --> 0:06:00.320 the power, you need to to actually run the sub offer. 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:04.800 So a good sound system needs a subworffer that is 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.520 specifically a type of speaker specifically dedicated to replicating the 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:13.000 lower frequency sounds, those really deep bass sounds that sometimes 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.560 you can actually feel more than you can hear. Now, 0:06:16.600 --> 0:06:19.039 remember I said that sound is a vibration. Well, a 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:23.640 good subwoffer will create vibrations that you can physically feel. 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.560 They might be below the threshold for human hearing, which 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:31.880 is typically defined as anything between twenty hurts to twenty 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.559 thousand hurts in frequencies. They can also handle the lower 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:40.159 frequencies that, while not sternham shaking, are lower than what 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.520 your typical speaker can handle, and thus they fill out 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.479 the sound that you will hear. Otherwise you would be 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:51.280 missing all those low low ends. This is important not 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:54.400 just for movies and television, but also for music. If 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:56.279 you've ever listened to music on a cheap pair of 0:06:56.320 --> 0:07:00.160 headphones and thought, wow, this doesn't sound really that good, well, 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.680 chances are one of the issues that that those cheap 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:06.159 headphones have is that they're not reproducing all the frequencies 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.200 that are actually present in the music, so it's like 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.440 you're getting a narrow slice of what the music is, 0:07:13.120 --> 0:07:17.560 not the full audio experience. Now, subliffers don't need to 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:20.560 be as directional as other speakers, so you don't have 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:23.360 to have them sitting in a very specific spot in 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:25.960 your setup the way you do with like your front 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.120 left and front right and center speakers and all that 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:31.760 kind of stuff. However, depending upon the size and shape 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.320 of your home theater space, you might actually need more 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.560 than one sub wiffer to create the effects you want. 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.680 Otherwise you could find out that the base distribution in 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:43.760 your home theater set up isn't quite up to par 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:47.040 and that there are some maybe some dead spots in 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:51.280 that space. Now, I've looked at a lot of surround 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.240 sound speaker setups, and many of the higher end ones 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:58.600 have two sub wiffers. And I should add that these 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:02.640 are well outside my ice range and probably outside most 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.360 people's price range unless you got like ten or twelve grand, 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:08.960 just burning a hole in your very very large pockets. 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:12.920 But you can see things like you know, nine point 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:16.280 two point two, and you know, these crazy systems that 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:19.440 get to a point where you're thinking, how many speakers 0:08:19.440 --> 0:08:23.000 do you actually need? Apparently for some home theater enthusiasts, 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.440 it's going to always be there will never be enough speakers. 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:28.680 Now I think of anything, this discussion really shows that 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:32.560 your physical space matters a lot when it comes to 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.040 building out your home theater. If you want surround sound, 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.520 you need the space to be able to do it, 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:41.839 and you need to set up speakers according to which 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:45.360 version of surround sound you're going with. That also means 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:49.000 figuring out stuff like cable management. Now there are wireless 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:52.040 home theater systems where you've got like wireless speakers. Some 0:08:52.160 --> 0:08:55.000 of them are really really good. When they first came out, 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:58.520 wireless speakers were kind of looked down upon because the 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.000 thought was that if you didn't have a physical wire 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:05.600 connecting your components, it could not possibly deliver the same 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:08.000 level of experience. But we've gotten a lot better with 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:12.080 those over the years. However, you know some systems still 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.320 just use physical wires to connect everything like speakers back 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.720 to the mixer. Then you know, sub whiffers might need 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:21.480 their own power cable and everything. So whichever set up 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.199 you go with, you need to take all this into consideration. 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:27.480 Cable management becomes a real high priority as you don't 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.480 want to trip over cables or have unsightly wires all 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:34.199 over the place. So that you know, one more thing 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.800 for you to keep in mind. Now you might also 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.800 think that seven point one, where you've got seven speakers 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.320 plus a sub wiffer like Dolby Atmos, is one of 0:09:44.320 --> 0:09:46.560 those kind of levels, although they sometimes call it five 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:50.000 point one point two, because you've got the five speakers 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.240 of your typical surround sound set up, you've got your subwhiffer, 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.720 that's the one, and then you've got to atmost speakers 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.840 that are projecting above you. That's the point to. Anyway, 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:01.760 you might think that a seven point one set up 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.360 is inherently superior to a five point one set up, 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.680 which is far more common, but that is not necessarily 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.200 the case. The quality of the tech, as in how 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.559 good your mixer and receiver are, how good the speakers are, 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.000 and to some degree the cables. All of that matters. 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:22.160 But that cables thing is a huge caveat because there 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.560 are companies out there that market high end cables that 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:28.760 really don't deliver any perceptible benefit to the experience. We'll 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.960 talk a lot more about it later on. In fact, 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:33.760 really when it comes to cables, the rule of thumb 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:37.120 is that super cheap cables aren't great. They tend to 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.080 have bad insulation, and we'll talk more about that a 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.320 bit later too, But anything else is pretty much okay, 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:45.640 unless you're just having to run miles of cable, in 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:47.800 which case you might need to think more carefully about 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:51.160 your options. Also, I should add that in the world 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:56.440 of audio, there's this obsessive pursuit among audio files about 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.880 going after the most pure or true replication of sound, 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.560 and I get that, but I also get that a 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.959 lot of that comes down to stuff that is beyond 0:11:06.080 --> 0:11:10.040 human perception and comes down to personal preference and psychology. 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:13.480 It's subjective in other words, like if you walked into 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:16.920 a room and you were told that this room was 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.600 outfitted with a high end, extremely expensive system, and it 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:23.640 turned out that really, in the background it was just 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.240 a good system, but not like a super crazy one, 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:29.720 well you might walk away thinking it was a life 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.000 changing experience, like you might come away from it saying wow, 0:11:33.320 --> 0:11:35.960 that really makes a difference. Likewise, if you were to 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:38.760 walk into a space that had a really super high 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:41.560 end audio system, but you were told that you were 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.120 going to be listening to a budget model, you might 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:49.000 just think it's just okay. So typically, double blind studies 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.520 where neither the person experiencing a test nor the person 0:11:53.559 --> 0:11:57.040 administering the test actually knows what kind of system is 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.600 being used. A lot of those show that beyond a 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:04.839 certain level of quality, our ability to discern different distinctions 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:08.800 diminishes quickly. So while a system might at least by 0:12:08.920 --> 0:12:12.720 you know, finally tuned measurements and specifications say it's better, 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:16.079 you might not ever notice it because of the limitations 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:20.400 of human perception. So, in other words, don't buy the malarkey, 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.080 is what I'm saying. I guess. Oh, and like stereo, 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:28.520 your ability to enjoy surround sound depends upon what you're consuming. 0:12:28.800 --> 0:12:30.920 So let's say you've picked up a Blu ray of 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.920 your favorite film and you see it supports Dolby five 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.040 point one surround sound, and you've got a five point 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:39.080 one system that supports Dolby. Well, that should be a 0:12:39.080 --> 0:12:42.000 pretty good experience. It should sound great. But what I 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.720 You've got a seven point one system, but the media 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:48.480 you're looking at doesn't support seven point one. It's five 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.280 point one. Well, through technologies like Dolby pro Logic too 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:56.160 X or digital sound processing, which a lot of these 0:12:56.200 --> 0:13:00.480 systems have built into them, whether it's your receiver or 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:05.040 your media player or whatever, well, then your system can 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.439 expand five point one soundtracks to meet the seven point 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:11.280 one channels, and to go into how all that works 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.480 would probably require a full episode, and let me just 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.040 be straight with you guys, it would also require an 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:20.080 expert on the subject matter because it quickly goes beyond 0:13:20.120 --> 0:13:23.439 my own understanding. But in a way, it's kind of 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:26.800 like how four K and eight K television's upscale video 0:13:26.840 --> 0:13:32.880 sources that aren't natively in ultra high definition. Now, one 0:13:32.920 --> 0:13:36.800 thing I have not covered is sound bars. So these 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.040 are those wide, horizontal speakers you find in a lot 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.680 of sound setups these days. Are usually pretty short, and 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:46.200 they can typically fit directly in front of and underneath 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.439 a TV screen. So if you've got your TV screen 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.400 on the stand, this is that bar that would sit 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.960 in front of the TV and and act as a 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.640 very large or very wide speaker. And it's it's an 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.679 attempt to replicate the experience of surround sound through one 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.800 array of speakers inside a bar, instead of having a 0:14:05.800 --> 0:14:09.079 bunch of separate units mounted around a seating space. So 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:14.040 within a sound bar are multiple speaker drivers, and some 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:16.679 of these might be pointed so that they push sound 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:19.480 out at an angle from the viewers, So instead of 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:22.960 it just being like an array of speakers all pointed 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.640 directly at you. Some of them might be pointed off 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.240 at an angle, with the idea being that the sound 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.720 is supposed to bounce off the walls to either side 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.000 of you and then come at you from a different 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:38.640 direction to simulate surround sound that way, So instead of 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:41.760 mounting a speaker you know a certain number of degrees 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.360 off to your right and to your left, you're using 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.360 the sound bar to bounce sound off walls so that 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:50.800 it comes to you that way anyway, So the channel 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:52.640 that might be meant for the front left, for example, 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:55.480 can beam off to the left of the viewer, hit 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:58.440 a wall, bounce back, and hit you at the right angle. 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:00.760 Of course, we all know that the law of reflection 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.440 tells us that the angle the sound will take after 0:15:03.520 --> 0:15:07.400 the bounce is equal to the incoming angle, which means 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.080 that the distance between the sound bar and your walls 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.600 will matter. So if your television happens to be closer 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.440 to one side of the room than the other, like 0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:17.160 if it's a little closer to the right than it 0:15:17.240 --> 0:15:19.640 is to the left, well, that means that the channels 0:15:19.680 --> 0:15:21.400 from the left and right are going to be bouncing 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.840 off at slightly different points on their respective walls, so 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.840 you might not get a really immersive surround sound effect 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:32.080 like I have a sound bar in my setup, but 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:36.280 my setup also my living room's weird, y'all. It is 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:41.080 open to the dining room and kitchen on the left side, 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.080 and the right side ends at a wall with windows 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:46.840 on it, so that means that you know, stuff can 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.680 bounce off to the right and hit that wall, But 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:51.600 if it goes off to the left, it's going all 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.440 the way towards the dining room and kitchen, so there's 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:56.400 no there's no wall for it to bounce off off, 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.520 so I don't get that effect. In addition, some sound 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:01.680 bars even come with speakers that aim at an angle 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.400 up towards the ceiling to get you that Dollby Atmos effects, 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:08.040 so the sound reflects off your ceiling and back down 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.320 towards where you're sitting. And generally speaking, sound bars are 0:16:11.400 --> 0:16:13.560 much easier to set up because I mean, there's usually 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:16.640 only two components to the system. There's the sound bar 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.840 and there's a subwhiffer. Some somewhoffers also serve as receivers, 0:16:21.840 --> 0:16:24.800 which will talk more about in a bit, so like 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:28.560 my system is that way. My subwhiffer is also my receiver, 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.080 and so I just have two units and that makes 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:34.920 it really simple. They can provide much better sound than 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.000 just a television alone can by itself, and in the 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.440 right room, it can be a really immersive experience. Not 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.720 so much for mine, but you know it's okay. Um, 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:46.960 if you aren't lucky enough to have a symmetrical space 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:50.000 perfectly set up for a home theater, then they don't 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:53.800 deliver quite that surround sound experience you might be hoping for. 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:56.560 So again, the space you are in is going to 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.280 have a big impact on your experience, and it's really 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:02.280 worth taking a good look at what you're working with 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:05.359 before you go on a very expensive shopping spree. I 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.880 would recommend getting someone from a company that builds out 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.960 home theater systems to consult with you on it. However, 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:17.040 I hesitate to make that just a blanket recommendation because 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:19.840 I mean, you also need to do your own research, 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.720 because I'm not saying that everyone out there is going 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.399 to try and steer you toward the most expensive system 0:17:26.440 --> 0:17:29.560 you could possibly buy because they happen to work on commission. 0:17:31.160 --> 0:17:34.720 But it's a possibility and it's good to be aware 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:36.600 of it. Now. I think that's a pretty good stopping 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.480 point for audio in general, although we'll obviously touch on 0:17:39.520 --> 0:17:42.840 it some more later. So we're gonna talk about receivers 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:54.119 after we come back from this quick break. So a 0:17:54.160 --> 0:17:57.440 lot of home theater setups include at a V receiver 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:00.959 and audio video receiver, and the receiver really has a 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.919 couple of big jobs. One of those is that it 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.640 acts as an amplifier, So it takes audio signals from 0:18:07.840 --> 0:18:13.320 various media sources and it boosts those signals. It amplifies 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.439 them before sending them onto the appropriate speakers. Uh, the 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:21.320 output of audio signals from a media source might not 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:25.719 be strong enough to really power the speakers sufficiently, so 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:30.480 that's why you need an amplifier. But there's another really 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:34.760 important job that the receiver does, and that's that it 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.480 acts kind of like a media switch. So if you 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:41.119 have a lot of components connecting to your home theater system, 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:46.080 Let's say you've got an antenna and maybe a cable connection, 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:50.320 and maybe video game console and perhaps a different type 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:53.639 of set top box that's providing content. Maybe it's a 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.960 Blu ray player or something um or maybe it's you know, 0:18:58.040 --> 0:19:03.080 a streaming service box or something. Then this can act 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.160 as like the switch between all those different sources so 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.760 that you can have the right stuff being sent to 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:12.840 your television screen and to all your speakers. So the 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:15.160 a V receiver kind of acts like a nexus point 0:19:15.240 --> 0:19:18.200 for all of that stuff. You would plug all the 0:19:18.240 --> 0:19:22.480 inputs into the a V receiver and then you would 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.399 use a single connection to connect your a V receiver 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:28.480 to something like your television or a different one to 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.679 connect to your speakers. That way, when you want to 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.480 watch say a U h D Blu Ray, you switch 0:19:35.560 --> 0:19:39.000 the a V receiver to that setting to whatever you 0:19:39.040 --> 0:19:42.440 know input devices you're using to watch that Blue ray on, 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:46.760 and the receiver essentially makes all the proper connections between 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:51.840 your Blu ray player and your television and speakers. Or 0:19:51.920 --> 0:19:53.920 let's say you want to watch cable TV, while you 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:56.320 would switch to that setting on your a V receiver, 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:00.280 and then the cable feed would be what's going to 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:03.320 your television and to your speakers. And one big benefit 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.320 to this, and it sounds small, but trust me, it's 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:09.480 really nice, is that the a V receiver will plug 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:14.119 into one port in your television, one input typically you 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.760 do this using an HDMI cable, which we will talk 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:19.600 about a little bit later. And so let's say you 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:22.199 plug your a V receiver into h d M I 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:26.000 port number one on your television, and everything else is 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:29.399 going through your a V receiver to your TV. That 0:20:29.440 --> 0:20:31.879 means when you switch from Blu ray to cable on 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:34.480 your a V receiver, you don't also have to switch 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:39.040 the input on your television. Now, I know that sounds small, 0:20:39.200 --> 0:20:42.199 but trust me, I have seen so many situations in 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:45.000 which someone was not using an a V receiver, so 0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:47.920 they had all of their different components connecting to their 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:51.040 television directly, and then they have to fuss around with 0:20:51.040 --> 0:20:53.560 a remote control and try to figure out which input 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.560 on their television they needed to select in order to 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.120 make something specific happen. Like let's say they switched from 0:20:59.119 --> 0:21:02.240 playing a video game and now they want to connect 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.280 to like a Roku or something. They would have to 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.360 go through and choose the correct input setting in order 0:21:08.400 --> 0:21:11.320 to do that. Because they had each of these things 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:16.400 connecting to their television's directly, that can get a little frustrating. 0:21:16.680 --> 0:21:19.480 It gets a little clunky. So reducing the number of 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:22.120 times you have to switch inputs on your television is 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:26.840 a pretty nice thing. Also, receivers tend to have radio tuners. 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:29.320 I mean they are receivers, they have radio tuners in them, 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:33.400 and sometimes they have satellite radio tuners. So either way 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:35.959 you have an added benefit there. You've got a device 0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:38.920 that can pick up radio signals and you can listen 0:21:39.000 --> 0:21:41.560 to radio on your home theater, you know, in case 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.200 you ever want to do that. A V receivers also 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:47.719 decode the surround sound signal formats that are on various 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.680 forms of media, and then that's how they make sure 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:54.320 that the right speakers are playing the right sounds. That 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:56.560 way you're getting, you know, the front left channel is 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:58.639 going to the front left speaker and it's not like 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:01.840 suddenly going to the center's speaker or something. That's another 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:05.000 important job receivers do. Now, there are some folks who 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:08.119 do forego the a V receiver. Typically they don't have 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:10.960 surround sound setups. As a result, they might have, you know, 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:14.440 simple stereo speakers hooked up to their television. So it's 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:17.760 not like an a V receiver is an absolute requirement, 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.840 but for a lot of serious home theater enthusiasts, they 0:22:20.880 --> 0:22:25.320 consider it a critical component of their setup. Now let's 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.800 switch over and talk about media sources. So you've got 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:31.960 your television or your projector and screen, you've got your 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:34.760 sound system, you've got your a V receiver ready to 0:22:34.800 --> 0:22:38.359 connect to everything to you know those other components. So 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:40.960 what are you putting on this thing? Like, how are 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:45.920 you getting the actual media to consume? Well, the good 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:49.199 news is you have way more options today than you 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:52.960 did when ultra high definition was first becoming a thing. Um, 0:22:53.080 --> 0:22:56.320