Home Theatre Handbook: recommended download

[Woochifer]

Polk Audio posts a free home theatre handbook on their website. Surprisingly, it's a fairly comprehensive guide to selecting and setting up home theatre components, and there's little in the way of marketing propaganda. (Occasional mentions of Polk products, but nothing gratuitous) The handbook has a very easy-to-understand summary of all the various surround formats, and there's a minimum of jargon and subjective extremism (for example, no discussion of cables). In other words, it explains audio concepts without going beyond common sense.

Some points in the handbook that I particularly like:

- excellent explanation of the various ways to hook up a subwoofer
- useful pointers on how to interpret a power output specification (i.e. why a specification using a 20Hz-20kHz 8 ohm test with all channels driven is not the same as a specification using a 1 kHz test with one channel driven)
- well reasoned advantages and disadvantages on different speaker configurations
- good explanation of what THX means
- the need for balance and timbre matching in a home theatre speaker system
- excellent section on the importance of room acoustics and room treatments
- recommendation on SPL meter usage

Some things that I throught needed improvement:

- recommendation to "listen" to subwoofers, without explaining how different they can sound depending on the room and settings
- neglected to mention equalization as a means by which to address room acoustics problems
- sometimes not enough discussion on approaches to avoid
- could use an explanation of what "7.1" really means

All in all though, a very good reference guide. I see no glaring problems with the handbook, and I think it's a great read for anyone who's putting together a home theatre system or needs some explanation of what various features mean or pointers on how to set up their system. And it's free to download from Polk's website.

http://www.polkaudio.com/home/library/downloads/hthandbook.pdf

[Smokey]

Yes, there are alot of good informations on Polk site which I see they gather in one handbook. Their article about speaker and sub location was the best I have seen, and easy to follow.

And I am not biased toward Polk since I own a pair of their speakers :D

[joel2762]

That book looked really good so I decided to get a free copy mailed to me....More than a month later I am still without my book! I was not aware that this was available online. Maybe I'll check it out there because I don't think i'll ever be getting it in the mail. In addition to this book, I found the Polk website to be very good. I recieved my first Polk newsletter the other day, It was very interesting, I found something else too that they could mail to me as well. I wonder if that will show up? Polk is doing a great job! :cool:

[Woochifer]

In addition to this book, I found the Polk website to be very good. I recieved my first Polk newsletter the other day, It was very interesting, I found something else too that they could mail to me as well. I wonder if that will show up? Polk is doing a great job! :cool:

I agree. I appreciate that the info that appears on Polk's website has a fair amount of common sense information on setup and positioning. Not a whole lot of extremism, and though they do tout the virtues of biwiring and higher quality cabling, it's not heavy-handed like I've seen at some other sites.

[audiodude]

and it said that if a receiver does not list the wattage that it puts out into a 4 ohm load that the reciever probably can't drive a 4 ohm speaker. Well, my Denon 2802 only lists wattage for a 6 ohm load but I have 4 ohm speakers (dynaudio audience 52). I haven't noticed any serious problems soundwise but could my receiver damage my speakers or are there any other things that I might want to be concerned about? How can I tell if my Denon is actually able to drive my speakers?
Excellent hanbook by the way. Thanks Woochifer.

[Woochifer]

and it said that if a receiver does not list the wattage that it puts out into a 4 ohm load that the reciever probably can't drive a 4 ohm speaker. Well, my Denon 2802 only lists wattage for a 6 ohm load but I have 4 ohm speakers (dynaudio audience 52). I haven't noticed any serious problems soundwise but could my receiver damage my speakers or are there any other things that I might want to be concerned about? How can I tell if my Denon is actually able to drive my speakers?
Excellent hanbook by the way. Thanks Woochifer.

Yeah, that's kind of an odd paragraph. Only a few receiver manufacturers post 4 ohm output specs, but that doesn't necessarily mean that others cannot drive into a 4 ohm load. You can tell that your Denon can drive those speakers because you're enjoying them right now! If the Danes' load is really causing problems with your receiver, I have a feeling that your receiver would go into protection mode before any damage to the amp occurs. And with the speakers, so long as the sound's not getting harsh and distorted, you're probably fine. With some low impedance speakers that I've tried with receivers, you can audibly hear the sound changing once it hits moderately high volumes.