| Editorial June 2004
We’re Not Becoming a Custom-Installation
Showcase
There’s been a growing trend of late for publications
covering the home-theater industry to concentrate their efforts toward custom
installations. You’ve seen them: the large glossy spreads showing a mansion with a
six-figure home-theater system along with a whole-house audio/video network. Those
megabuck setups are fun to look at and to read about, but how useful are the articles? To
some people, they could be very useful. If you’re building a new house or renovating
your present residence and wish to install a system that can be set-it-and-forget-it easy,
then some useful information can be gleaned from such publications. It’s like buying
one of those magazines with hundreds of house plans inside. It’s great for ideas and
general knowledge, but not a lot of specifics are provided.
But if a publication’s primary purpose is to showcase
those types of homes and systems, what’s missing? With many of the systems I read
about within those magazines, I get the impression that the owner just plunked down a big
check and said, "What will this get me?" In other instances, looking at the
equipment lists for various installations over several issues, it appears as though the
components are the same ones over and over, with very little variety present or new ground
broken. In any case, it’s rare that you’ll hear about the differences between
several home-theater speaker systems -- auditioned with similar ancillary equipment within
the same room by the same experienced listener. Actually, you rarely hear about how any
component performs in such an exposé, especially in comparison to competitors in the
marketplace. But that’s what we’re here for, and it’s a fundamentally
different mission than that of the other publications.
If the magazines I’m describing are tantamount to the
house-plan catalogs, Home Theater & Sound is the equivalent of a
get-your-hands-dirty woodworking magazine; the one that actually discusses how to build
the bar, what materials to use, and which tools are best for the job. Our job is to
uncover the best-performing home-theater components. In other words, we get down to the nitty
gritty. Might you need both types of publication? Sure. Just understand the difference
between the two.
Anyone who has ever auditioned equipment, looking for that
one specific component that fits best with their needs and wants, can attest to the
sometimes arduous process involved. There needs to be comparisons made, listening and
viewing tests conducted, the tires kicked, and consideration given to where that
particular component fits in the large scheme of things. This type of assessment takes
time; our reviewers spend, on average, eight weeks living with and gathering information
about each product under review. A reviewer’s system is not, by necessity, a hidden
away custom installation. Our writers must have access to every component within their
system; in that respect a reviewer’s home is far more like the woodworker’s shop
than an architect’s showroom.
So don’t expect Home Theater & Sound to
transform itself into a custom-installation showcase anytime soon. It’s not our
mission. Do expect us to continue to cover home-entertainment products that you might like
to go out and audition. Do expect us to offer information that will enhance your pleasure
when experiencing movies at home. And lastly: Do expect us to get our hands dirty while
uncovering the best in audio/video products. We’re enthusiasts just like you, and
this is an enthusiast publication.
...Jeff Fritz
editor@hometheatersound.com |
