Entertainment Centers: Scourge of Good Sound Systems!

S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
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There is a class of furniture that we all know which has a variety of names and can be found in most homes today in developed nations across the globe. The function of this furniture is mainly to hold and store entertainment electronics such as televisions, receivers, gaming consoles, and so on. In their simpler, benign incarnation, they are just a TV shelf stand and do not take up a lot of space nor are they of elaborate construction. However, in their malignant form, they are ‘entertainment centers,’ extravagant monstrosities that devour innocent audio/video systems and spit them out as a pale shadow of what could have been a nice entertainment system. Let’s talk about how entertainment centers destroy good audio and video presentation and should be repudiated by civilization as a whole...

READ: Entertainment Centers: Scourge of Good Sound Systems!
 
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nathan_h

nathan_h

Audioholic
I kind of like them and they meet the needs of most people in a clean and tidy fashion.

Sure there are bad ones, but there are just as many bad setups outside of entertainment centers. In fact, probably more bad setups outside of them, since people are forced by an entertainment center to at least put a their TV in a moderately sensible location (eg, not over the fireplace) and speakers in moderately sensible locations (eg, not piled on top of the TV table or on the floor). So they almost force a basic modicum of a decent setup by forcing some basic geometry that people left to their own devices get wrong.

Give the average person a blank slate, and they really really really get it wrong, so very very wrong, so very very often. The entertainment center is like training wheels for such people. It also greatly increases the ever important spousal acceptance factor when starting out. (Look honey I'm not crazy. The builder even put spaces for all this stuff into our home for a neat look!)

On there other hand, the entertainment centers don't tend to be a problem for people wanting better quality, if they are smart about it:

As long as one understands acoustics, SBIR, diffraction, baffles, viewing angles, wire management, bass management, ventilation, and so on, and uses that knowledge in how one approaches the entertainment center, the centers are quite workable and don't have to limit one.

Not enough space for a TV? Pop a electric screen in front. No budget for wire management and installation services? Just use the wire management in the center, itself. Etc.

Now, I know that sounds like a lot of engineering in order to get it right but let's face it, you would have to know lots of science of sound and vision to get it right with or without an entertainment center, so there's not much difference there.
 
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ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Come on guys! Grab your pitchforks, axes, torches and flamethrowers: we must rid the planet of this scourge! Let us March door to door and free all such enslaved audio equipment from the shackles of cramped nooks and cubbies!
We will leave no door unopened in this righteous quest to free all audio equipment from he malign shackles of wicked oppressors! We will leave a smoldering trail of wreckage in our path! A warning of any who come after:
Cramp not thine audio gear. Thou shall not stuff Speakers in cubbies. Thou shall allow adequate ventilation to your Amps and Processors.
Onward my audio warriors, we march to save the world!

o_O:confused:

:eek::eek::oops:

:rolleyes:

:p:p:cool:
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
Come on guys! Grab your pitchforks, axes, torches and flamethrowers: we must rid the planet of this scourge! Let us March door to door and free all such enslaved audio equipment from the shackles of cramped nooks and cubbies!
We will leave no door unopened in this righteous quest to free all audio equipment from he malign shackles of wicked oppressors! We will leave a smoldering trail of wreckage in our path! A warning of any who come after:
Cramp not thine audio gear. Thou shall not stuff Speakers in cubbies. Thou shall allow adequate ventilation to your Amps and Processors.
Onward my audio warriors, we march to save the world!

o_O:confused:

:eek::eek::oops:

:rolleyes:

:p:p:cool:
This is not the What are you drinking now thread :p
 
ryanosaur

ryanosaur

Audioholic Overlord
Who said anything about drinking? Hell, I just got up about 30 minutes ago. All I had was some slightly flat sparkling water leftover from yesterday. :D
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
... TV in a moderately sensible location (eg, not over the fireplace[bold added])
Why the f*ck do Americans put a fireplace, of all things, in newly built houses, apart from some misguided aesthetics that is hindering a sensible layout of furniture?

I've seen so many threads here and there where the effing, generally unused, fireplace causes so many problems.

[/rant ]
 
nathan_h

nathan_h

Audioholic
Why the f*ck do Americans put a fireplace, of all things, in newly built houses, apart from some misguided aesthetics that is hindering a sensible layout of furniture?

I've seen so many threads here and there where the effing, generally unused, fireplace causes so many problems.

[/rant ]
I tend to agree. I like a little fire as much as the next guy but it seems like in most homes they are an affectation, and not good for one's health if used, anyway.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
At first glance at the thread title was thinking more of one of these but I suppose they're more called consoles and few had the tv in there as well.....

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