****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Home Theatre for Everyone? Well, maybe. I didn't like the fact that the author ignored the reality that most "home theaters" are actually dual-purpose living rooms, family rooms or bedrooms, and are not dedicated rooms that can be set up according to exact specifications. In this sense, the book is less than "A Practical Guide."This book did not include discussion of using direct-radiating speakers (normal speakers) as surround speakers rather than dipolar or bipolar speakers. I'm quite certain that most home theaters are using direct-radiating speakers as surrounds, but this is not addressed and is not shown in the speaker setup diagrams.I also found it extremely annoying that the author would say things about how certain speaker or component companies produce inferior products, but then refuse to mention names! Example from 'Build and Sound Quality: How to Spot Overpriced Underachievers': "The company that makes Speaker A is marketing-driven. They don't care what the speaker sounds like, only that it offers perceived value and sells in large quantities." And in that same section: "Speaker B is made by a company founded by dedicated enthusiasts who strive to create the best-sounding speaker possible at a given price level." Now how is that helpful? I'm guessing that the Speaker A company is an advertiser in Robert Harley's home theater magazine and he doesn't want to [make them mad]. This book would be so much more valuable to someone new to the hobby if they were told which brands to avoid and why (but I guess that wasn't the author's objective).One last problem I found was that the author would quote very specific prices or price ranges for certain components, but not mention that this was "as of December 1999" or even "2000 prices." Someone reading this book in a few years (or even now) could be very misled by this. Example from 'How to Choose a DVD Player': "Budget machines start at about $200, with most players falling in the $400-$600 range." Obviously, a mass-market electronics product such as a DVD player is going to fall in price over time, and in fact budget players now go for $99.99, with most players falling in the $150-$300 range.Despite the few flaws mentioned above, this book is actually a very good, detailed introduction to the world of home theater. I was especially impressed with the descriptions of the various audio formats that exist (which can be confusing), and also with the discussion of front projector technology.Note that this is the 2000 edition which is probably fine to buy through the year 2001 or so (since relatively recent technologies such as progressive scan DVD players and DLP projectors are discussed), but the book will probably be showing its age and due for an update by 2002.
