Home Entertainment Systems

Michael Holigan: We've gotten a number of cards and letters requesting information for Surround Sound and home entertainment systems. We've got a specialist with us today. We've got Richard Gustine, Gus for short, with Home Entertainment, good to have you here. It looks like the house is still in the rough-in stage right now, and you started running your wire. What do we need to consider when we're getting ready for a home entertainment center?

Richard Gustine: Well, what we're doing with this house is pre-wiring for a number of options. One of the things you need to consider is your sources. Is it going to be cable, a TV antenna, is it going to be digital satellite, or a satellite system? We're also pre-wiring this house for speaker wire and in wall speakers.

M.H.: Okay.

R.G.: For the rear speakers and for other rooms in the house.

M.H.: How about the telephone line, what's that here for?

R.G.: What we've done is run a telephone wire here, because certain systems out there now-a-days actually have modems in them, and so anytime you're designing your system, where equipment is going to be, you should really run a phone wire.

M.H.: Here, it looks like you've doubled up some big wire. What is this for?

R.G.: We're actually running two sets of dual cable. And what a single dual cable will allow us to do is run for cable, or for an antenna, or whatever source. We ran two down to the main headend so that we could redistribute some of the video sources that are here to the rest of the house.

M.H.: Why's it shielded?

R.G.: To protect the signal that's in the wire. You have 110 volt electrical wire running nearby, often, and it can ingress some noise into the signal.

M.H.: Cause some static?

R.G.: Yes.

M.H.: So you need to know to plan ahead with wire like this, and that's something I wouldn't have thought of. I guess you need to get with a specialist when you're working on a home entertainment center and have it designed properly?

R.G.: It really is recommended to use a specialist, because there are so many options out there that you might not think of.

M.H.: One I wouldn't know is speaker placement. Like this house. We're open to the kitchen, we have a bank of windows right behind us, how do you plan where the speakers are going to go in a home like this?

R.G.: Room acoustics is real important, so one of the things you need to consider is the room itself, you know, the shape of the room and where the windows are and placement of the speakers because of all those elements.

M.H.: Well take me and show me one that's finished and how it should work.

R.G.: Okay.

M.H.: Gus, I like this style, with the built-in cabinets. You're seeing more and more of this now days?

R.G.: Yes sir.

M.H.: This looks good. Pocket doors, I like that a lot. Get them out of the way of the children. You've got a big TV here. How big is this screen?

R.G.: That's a 35 inch television.

M.H.: Okay. Two speakers below. What are they? Which is which?

R.G.: This is the center channel. That's where all the voices come out when you're watching a movie. It needs to be as close to the TV as possible so that it makes sense when you're watching a movie.

M.H.: Okay. How about the big speaker?

R.G.: That's the sub-woofer and that creates all the bass sounds, all the explosions, deep sounds like that.

M.H.: And what is this here? It looks like an infrared receiver.

R.G.: Yes it is. It's an infrared receiver and what it allows you to do is to control the equipment behind the cabinet doors without having the doors open.

M.H.: Okay.

R.G.: Aesthetically it's more pleasing.

M.H.: So we don't have to have glass doors or anything like that?

R.G.: Exactly.

M.H.: Okay. You got quite a few components in here. Can you tell us what you really need when you're doing a surround sound system?

R.G.: Actually, the heart of the system is the surround sound receiver. What it does is it takes the signal from the sources and sends it out to each of the speakers.

M.H.: How about the rest of our components?

R.G.: We have a C.D. player so that they can listen to just stereo. And then we have other video source components, like the VCR.

M.H.: How about the DSS?

R.G.: That's a Digital Satellite System and that's a wonderful source for video.

M.H.: You still need an antenna for your local stations, is that correct?

R.G.: Yes that is. You still have to get your local channels from an antenna.

M.H.: Well on the other system you were running it throughout the house. Let's go take a look at one other room while we're here.

R.G.: Okay.

M.H.: Gus, this is one thing I really like. And that's just having a volume control in each room.

R.G.: Exactly. We sell the volume control in every room where there's a pair of speakers. That way they can independently control the volume in each room.

M.H.: Seems like a great system and I know that prices are going to depend on what components they use and how many speakers and how many rooms and how much wiring, but is there any base to start at and build up from?

R.G.: Really, for all the components including the television, you want to start around a $2,500 price range.

M.H.: So expect to spend that much...

R.G.: And then the sky is the limit.

M.H.: Just however good you want to get.

R.G.: Exactly.

M.H.: Well thanks for explaining it to us.

R.G.: All right. Thank you sir.

Episode 022 1995 - 96 Season

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