Yamahas capable of subwoofing?

August 20, 2009

I have a set of Yamaha speakers that are from the mid ‘90s. They are quite large and each speaker has a 12" woofer. I think they are a three-way design because each speaker has three drivers. They weigh about 80 pounds each and have always sounded good to me. I am considering using them for a new home theater in our den and am wondering if I still need a subwoofer, or if a large speaker like the Yamaha can handle all the bass. Thanks for your advice.

Ron Pasquale

Your Yamaha speakers are certainly more capable of producing the bass contained in a film soundtrack than any of the common micro speakers on the market today. A 12" woofer in a speaker from a reputable company like Yamaha will likely reproduce most of the bass in the left and right channels, as well a portion of the bass in the low-frequency-effects channel. However, if you’re looking for the full experience of super-low bass that is contained in many of the film soundtracks today, especially the Blu-ray Discs that are now the de facto video standard in home theaters, then you’ll need a separate subwoofer. Models from companies such as Aperion and Paradigm are good places to start looking. . . . Jeff Fritz

Build your Man Cave, but also . . .

August 7, 2009

To Randall Smith,

I enjoyed reading your current article "I’m Dedicated to a Dedicated Room . . . or Maybe Not." I’m in a slightly different situation -- I’m already married, so for better or for worse, my wife is stuck with me!

I live in Singapore and when we moved from an apartment to a house, my wife asked me what was important to me (after she provided the laundry list of things she wanted). My wife is an amazing woman, so when I told her I wanted to have a dedicated home-theater room, she just said, "Okay, we’ll have to look for a four-bedroom place then!" We were very blessed to find a six-bedroom place, so my home-theater room now inhabits one of the rooms on the third floor. This in itself is a bit of a hassle (and most undoubtedly would be for you) because each floor is about 20’ high, so I have not enjoyed moving my Verity Audio Parsifal Ovations or JL Audio f113 up the two loooong spiral staircases to the third floor (26 steps to each landing). However, I can take solace in the fact that I move speakers once a decade or so, not multiple times a year!

When we were preparing to move to our house, the man who has sold me all of my primary gear since I have lived in Singapore (Arcam, B&W, AudioQuest, and now Verity, Simaudio, Mitsubishi, Stewart, and Audioplan) gave me the best audio advice I have ever received: Never sacrifice your relationship and time with your wife to sit in front of really expensive metal and MDF boxes. One is worth keeping, the other will ultimately pale in comparison and probably won’t live as long (nor will it care for you when you are old). Needless to say, there is a reason I buy everything from this man -- he provides sage advice!

I do have a dedicated room, but I also have a secondary system on the ground floor. This lesser system (Samsung 46" 7 Series, Pioneer DVR, Squeezebox, second-hand Legacy Signature IIIs, Musical Fidelity E2000 preamp, and A.324 DAC) is where my daughter watches High 5, my wife and I watch Friends reruns over dinner and American Idol when it is on, and provides background music for everything done in our living room.

Once the baby goes to sleep (in her partially sound-proofed room), my wife and I go upstairs to the third floor to watch movies or listen to music. When my wife turns in for the evening at 10 p.m., I have another hour to listen to or watch what I want in the dedicated room.

Perhaps what I am going to say next borders on relationship counselling, but I’ll say it anyway: I think couples have stronger relationships if they support one another in pursuing their respective passions. You can try to justify your dedicated room as required for work, but then I don’t write for a website, so why would I have one? Perhaps it’s better to focus on your need to embrace your passion for music and hi-fi. If your girlfriend is going to try and take that away from you, you may be able to accept it now, but long term, it will lead to resentment! Have a room where you can watch some TV together (your living room), but also have a place you can escape to (and when you do, she can go shopping or whatever it is she does without you) and also conduct your research for reviews.

I don’t think what I am saying is anything profound or new. Separation for the sake of letting niggling annoyances with one’s significant one subside is healthy and usually makes us appreciate them much more when we re-emerge or reappear. It’s why our ancestors went hunting (maybe even to war), why some go golfing, and my father tinkered around outside in our garage (and according to my mother, never actually got anything fixed!).

Build your Man Cave (or dedicated room if that’s what you want to call it), just be aware that you should limit the amount of time you disappear into it. For me, that’s mostly an hour on weeknights, and perhaps the length of a movie per day on weekends. When you do this, make sure you encourage your girlfriend to do her thing at the same time.

And use that other room for testing out family friendly equipment for people that don’t have as understanding significant others as we do!

Cheers,

Greg Steiniger

Timeless Woody

August 4, 2009

To Wes Marshall,

I read your article on Woody Allen's Manhattan and was intrigued by the five films you consider "timeless." In my opinion, there's a recent Woody Allen film that had a so-so theater run, but is doing very well on video largely due to word-of-mouth recommendations: Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Penélope Cruz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Maria Elena. What's interesting is that within my own circle of friends, I find that women are recommending it the most, which isn't the way it usually is with Woody Allen's movies.

This film doesn't have nearly the depth that Match Point has, but I find that it holds up during multiple viewings and may well be as enjoyable to watch in a decade or two as it is now. Have you watched it? If so, any thoughts?

Doug Schneider

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is certainly one of Allen’s finest creations. I’d gladly rank it in his Top Ten.

On the side of its timelessness, we have a movie that starts as a simple sex-farce and morphs into something compelling with the introduction of Ms. Cruz as the hot-blooded wife of Javier Bardem. The trio of lovers change from a vaguely excited ménage à trois to a passionate and crazed quartet totally confused about who loves who, which, of course, turns out to be the same person the audience falls in love with. Against its timelessness? Nothing, unless our sexual customs get taken over by the Christian Coalition of America.

I think all of Allen’s films warrant repeated watching if for no other reason than the fact that his dialogue goes by so quickly.

I’m with Woody in the not-very-politically-correct belief that comprehending women’s motivations is really outside men’s meager abilities. If I had to guess about your friends, I would posit something along the lines of sexual experimentation without (too many) bad consequences combined with honest passion and the gorgeous backdrop of Spain.

Of course, one delightful town will always love Vicky Cristina Barcelona: Oviedo, Spain, where you will find a statue of Allen built as thanks for featuring their town in the film. . . . Wes Marshall

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