| Editorial April 2004
Disappointment
Have you ever been disappointed with a large purchase? Most
of us have, whether it was a car, computer, camera, or watch. When you pay a high price
for something, your expectations for it are usually equally high. Most times, when you buy
something expensive, you feel a hint of trepidation -- the fear of those expectations not
being met, of wasting your money. Over the long term, will your purchase have been worth
it, or will you end up replacing it sooner than you expected? And what will you do if you
don’t like it?
The fact is, you never really know how anything will
work out, until -- well, until you’ve seen how it works out.
Home-theater components are especially susceptible to such
anxiety. Although there’s not supposed to be a downside to this relaxing hobby,
sometimes there is. A new set of speakers or an amp is not a refrigerator or washer-dryer
-- it’s a luxury item that’s supposed to make your life more fun.
I recently worked with a friend on updating his home
theater. We set out to get that last iota of resolution from his system by improving his
main-channel amplification. His system sees double duty as a home theater and music system
-- both two- and multichannel -- and already sounded darn good. Still, he felt that itch
to switch that is the impetus for an upgrade. What we found was that bettering something
that was already very good was more difficult than we’d expected.
In fact, when the power amplifier he was replacing left his
system and the better amp was moved in, things got not better, but worse. I felt my
friend’s disappointment as if it were my own system: After all, I had advised him
about this upgrade, which had cost him several thousand dollars, and the result was worse
sound than before.
Fortunately, our disappointment was short-lived. The
problem that we initially heard turned out to be a mismatch between connector types and an
adapter used between his processor and the new amp. Once that technical snafu was
resolved, things did improve significantly, and the excitement and hope that had
inspired the upgrade returned in full. His system now sounded better -- much better
-- and we both felt the improvement was well worth the money. A happy ending.
It’s doesn’t always turn out that way. Nothing
can quell your enthusiasm for a hobby quicker than the feeling that you’ve wasted
your time and your money. On the other hand, a wise upgrade that heightens your enjoyment
of your home-theater system -- which, after all, is there only to give you
enjoyment -- is satisfying.
The moral: Next time the itch to switch strikes, don’t
make rash decisions that could dampen your love of home theater over the long term.
Research your purchases thoroughly. A satisfying upgrade will keep your enthusiasm for the
hobby alive and well.
...Jeff Fritz
editor@hometheatersound.com |
