Daily Blog – Ross Jones – March 13, 2008: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET HOME THEATER ADVICE FROM A TV SHOW?

I was flipping channels the other night, and stumbled across a program about DIY projects gone awry (which proves that I really will watch anything in HD). The particular episode dealt with a homeowner who tried to create his own theater space, complete with front projector and drop-down screen. Although I missed the beginning of the show, I saw the show’s hosts patch drywall and demonstrate how to stain molding.

The program went off the reservation for me when the hosts fixed up the ceiling height, wall-to-wall shelving that the homeowner had installed to house the components and the front speakers. By the time the experts were done, the shelf was completely enclosed, with no noticeable ventilation. The three front speakers were all mounted – laying on their sides – in the front shelf, at ceiling height, and pointed straight ahead. I surmise that the sound from those speakers flew above the listeners’ heads (except for first reflections bouncing off of the ceiling).

I’ll concede that the hosts were dealing with a difficult installation; the homeowner had installed a drop-down screen that lowered over a large opening between the dining room and living room. So there really wasn’t a front wall for speakers, but for goodness sakes, why not put the speakers on swivel-mounts pointed towards the prime listening spot? Or use rotating in-ceiling speakers? In other words, what the hosts did was clean up the visual appearance of the room, while arguably taking a poor A/V setup and making it worse. It was on a par with the proverbial “put the flat screen above the fireplace” mistake. But it sure looks nice, doesn’t it?