Audio

I must confess I am a bit of an audio snob. I went to school for music and video production, so I care about sound and picture quality. I want all of my customers to have the best sound & picture they can afford. The past decade has seen people so enamored with flat screen TV’s they’ve purchased ANYTHING regardless of quality, payed no attention to audio and convince themselves they are content with the sound from the TV. Now that that’s off my chest, why is audio so important and why do I say convince?

The simple answer: Audio is where the emotion of a film or musical piece is. The higher the quality audio the more engrossed in the film or music you become. The more engrossed you become the more enjoyable the performance. Audio should be even more important now because all new flat screen TV’s have horrible, awful, dreadfully bad, woefully inadequate, astoundingly crappy speakers. Did I forget to say they don’t sound good at all. The reason the current TV’s don’t sound good is space. The TV’s are so thin there is nowhere to place a speaker than can offer any kind of decent performance.

Imagine going to the movies and the sound was coming from an AM radio. Would you enjoy it? Would it be worth whatever your local theater charges? NO. The number 1 thing that makes going to the movies enjoyable is the sound. The audio can’t make an awful movie great but it can make a great movie exceptional. A small image with big sound is more impressive than a huge image with tiny sound. I prefer balance. When the balance is right, magic happens and the unbelievable becomes believable.

Am I trying to save the world from bad hi-fi? Sometimes, sort of. I’m passionate about it because I understand how a great sound system can help you unwind from a rough day at work or pump you up before a night out on the town. I know that sometimes the best thing to do is watch a movie and escape to another time or place. Can you do this with any sound system? Sure, you but there is a difference. The higher the quality equipment you have the more disconnected from reality you become while watching/listening to your favorite film or band. Why wouldn’t this be fun or worth it?

Lastly, regarding audio and especially speakers. They will last longer than any other part of your system! Why spend $2500 on a TV that your aren’t going to want in 5 years because the new TV’s are so much better, brighter, slimmer etc? A $2500 pair of speakers you’re likely to have for 20 years! If you take care of them the speakers should sound as good 20 years later as they did the day you bought them.
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