Why don't people think?

[hemiram]

I had a friend of mine call me a couple days ago to come over and help him wire up and set up his receiver and speakers, etc. So I go over there, and walk in, and there's his new TV, WAYYYYY up on the wall, like the bottom part of the TV is about even with my neck, and I'm 6' tall. I said, "Hey, the TV is way too high!" He looked like I had told him his puppy died. He said, "Why does everyone say that?". "Because IT'S WAY TOO high!!!" He got these very nice, and expensive theater seats, but even if you recline them all the way back, the TV is still too high. I remembered when he helped me put my TV up on the wall, he kept asking me why it's so low, and I said "Because when I sit in the chair I normally sit in, I don't want to have to lift my head up!" This didn't sink in, so he put it way up there, even though his wife and kids protested.

So he calls me today, and asked me to come back over and help him move it down to where it should be, his neck was killing him . He has to patch up and repaint the wall where the mount originally was, but we got the TV down where it should be now. Now if I could get him to back off on the treble, I wouldn't mind going over there to watch a movie. He's got the high end hot as hell, and I get tired out after 15 minutes of listening to it. It's not as bad as a friend's truck with ear bleeding highs, but it's pretty obnoxious. His wife and kids are complaining. I never knew he had such a bad hearing loss.

 

[Alex2507]

So he calls me today, and asked me to come back over and help him move it down to where it should be, his neck was killing him .

I love it. You must have been in 'I Told You So' heaven.

 

[lsiberian]

Wow that's hilarious.

 

[FirstReflection]

I recently helped a co-worker set up his new TV and surround sound. He couldn't get his surround sound working, which was the reason that he asked me over, but he was pretty happy with his TV already and didn't think he needed any help with that.

I couldn't do much to improve his speaker placement - they were already mounted with the speaker wire run through the walls. I would have positioned them much better, but I was just there to get it "working" - so that is what I did

Then I told him I needed about 20 minutes alone to calibrate everything. Little did he know that what I REALLY wanted to do was calibrate his TV! lol I had mentioned that I could make it look the way it is supposed to look, but he had said that he was happy with it and "didn't want to go mucking around with it".

When he came back into the room, he immediately saw the TV and said, "Wow! What the heck did you DO to it?" I said, "I calibrated it. Now you can see what you are supposed to be able to see - like the details in a dark scene and proper colours and such"

He's been raving about it ever since. And just today, he found me at work and said, "so hey...what were you saying about my speakers again? Something about how the front speakers should be lower, but the back speakers should be up high?"

It's just so lovely to see them learning...

 

[Alex2507]

It's just so lovely to see them learning...

That's probably because it's so rare. I don't know what it is but I find most people resistive to help. They talked to the BB chump for 5 minutes and based on that one encounter they are smarter than me. F^%&, at this point I am telling them to get the Bose system with the extended warranty.

 

[3db]

That's probably because it's so rare. I don't know what it is but I find most people resistive to help. They talked to the BB chump for 5 minutes and based on that one encounter they are smarter than me. F^%&, at this point I am telling them to get the Bose system with the extended warranty.

ohhhhhhhhhh thats mean but funny

 

[FirstReflection]

That's probably because it's so rare. I don't know what it is but I find most people resistive to help.

Well, I think it's a trust thing. Like, just imagine that some guy you don't really know all the well comes up to you and says, "hey, you should let me poke around in your car engine and change a few things because I can make it run much better and get better fuel economy." I mean, hey, the guy sounds like he's trying to help. But if you don't know a whole lot about cars and you don't really know this guy, are you really going to be all gung-ho about letting him mess with the factory engine?

So I think that's all it is. Most people don't know much about A/V, so they just want to go with the defaults and leave it alone! Sure, someone might know a whole heck of a lot and be able to change things around and get much better performance. But if you don't really know that person, it's natural to feel uncomfortable! Not only that, but there ARE a lot of people who TALK like they know what they're doing, but in reality, they're just making things even worse!

So folks have to make a leap of faith when they let us calibrate and set up their systems. But once they see and hear the results (provided, of course, that we've actually done things correctly!), they're usually much more willing to listen and learn and let us help them. It's all about trust and getting them to make that leap. But once you start to build a reputation - one that is built on actual results - it gets easier and easier as word spreads

 

[MatthewB.]

Working in a hospital, I have installed alot of the Dr's systems (they have more money than sense) but I love the ones who take my recommendations in all seriousness. I tend to help them for free with any issues they have later on.

So anyway yesterday I get a call from one of the docs, who tells me he just bought a Sony 55" LCD because his 2 year old DLP (he bought I did not recommend, died on him) I said what went wrong and he goes, "oh the light burnt out so I thought I should just buy a new TV" and he did. Again more money than common sense. Anyway I told him I could get his TV up and working with a new bulb for about 100.00 and five minutes of my time and he was in shock. He thought the TV was just dead and he should toss out.

I had told him two years earlier not to buy the DLP because of bulb issues (knowing he has a house full of kids who would leave the TV on all the time) anyway. I'm set to go over as soon as his replacement bulb comes in and "heal thy television" which he's gonna give to one of his kids.

I swear I should've stayed in school and gotten my doctorate, so I can have more money than common sense and just buy a 55" LCD because my 2 year old TV blew a simple to replace bulb.

My favorite story is a co-worker who tells me he bougt a new Sony LCD TV the night before for like 1,200 but he had the chance to buy a NIB Pioneer Kuro (last years model) that had been sitting in the store room for get this 200.00 more. After the initial shock of knowing this brain dead co-worker couldve gotten a 50" Pioneer Kuro brand new for 1399.00 and he turned it down, I spent the next hour explaining to him that men do stupid things all the time.

1. Get Married
2. Get caught
3. Sleep with a fat chick and your best friend finds out
4. Get a tattoo with some chicks name
5. and finally passing up a Pioneer Kuro for a lower model Sony.

Anyway after showing him online reviews, he takes the Sony back and gets the Pioneer and managed to get a five year warranty tossed in because it was last years model they were selling and have them knock off an additional 10% off the closeout price. Man I wish I had the duckets at the time to buy that one.

He still thanks me for how much better the picture looks than the Sony.

 

[Amherst]

F^%&, at this point I am telling them to get the Bose system with the extended warranty.

I hope these people realize at some point you were being overly kind, you could have directed them to the mall parking lot for some white van speakers.

 

[Alex2507]

... you could have directed them to the mall parking lot for some white van speakers.

I've sold them white van speakers in the mall parking lot.

 

[sawzalot]

It is funny the whole flat panel too high thing, I have built quite a few fireplace surround with shelves incorporated along side and above and always got the same request, lets not go any higher than five foot six to about six foot because we plan on putting our new flat panel up there too. What are you kidding, no really I just learned to keep quiet and go along with the homeowner/builders design why make waves and lose my side work.I have been back to some of these set-ups and the first thing I notice when I go inside is, no body is watching the panel in the main room that is mounted so high but you will find the family and or kids in the family room watching a crt on a regular tv stand about 28 inches off the ground.

 

[hemiram]

It is funny the whole flat panel too high thing, I have built quite a few fireplace surround with shelves incorporated along side and above and always got the same request, lets not go any higher than five foot six to about six foot because we plan on putting our new flat panel up there too. What are you kidding, no really I just learned to keep quiet and go along with the homeowner/builders design why make waves and lose my side work.I have been back to some of these set-ups and the first thing I notice when I go inside is, no body is watching the panel in the main room that is mounted so high but you will find the family and or kids in the family room watching a crt on a regular tv stand about 28 inches off the ground.

Why do they think there aren't 6' high TV stands all over the place? I managed to talk another friend of mine out of doing it with his new TV a while back and he was another one who asked me why I wanted my TV so low when he saw it. I guess that empty space up on the wall just begs them to fill it up with something, and they can't resist. I just thought about this goofy wrought iron TV stand thing my mom bought about 40 years ago, "because it looked nice!". It was heavy as hell, and was made to look like it belonged in a museum with the stuff from the Greek or Roman empires. It was a huge pedestal thing with what looked like a handle on top to hold a portable TV (A lot of them back then had very strong handles) about 6 feet off the ground. My dad started complaining almost instantly about the TV in their bedroom being too high, and even my mom had to admit it was, so the old TV cart I had put in the basement came out, and the wrought iron thing went down into the basement instead. I sold it for $50 at a garage sale about 10 years later, ignoring the woman who bought it's comment: "Oh, we can put our bedroom TV on this, it will be great!" Oh yeah? I bet her neck said something different.

I bought a TV today, and I bet the first thing out of my friend's mouth when he sees where it's going to go is, "It's too low!". He's watching a horrible old SD rear projector set that's about a foot too high. I don't know how they can stand it. There's nothing good about it, sounds bad, looks bad, too high, it's all not there.