Matthew J Poes
AV Addict
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- Joined
- Oct 18, 2017
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One of the neat parts about this job has been recent opportunities to meet and talk with historical greats in the home theater world. One such meeting was a 90 minute phone conversation with Peter Tribeman, a true luminary in home theater. For those who don't know, Peter is (in his words) a serial founder of home theater manufacturers. Having founded or managed legendary brands such as NAD America, Atlantic Technology, Proton, and Outlaw Audio, we've all felt his influence in one way or another. While this 90 minute conversation ran the gamut of topics, I think the most interesting was our discussion of how to setup a home theater. As an old school guy who has been setting up home theaters longer than most of us can even imagine, his method relies on the way we all used to do it. Mostly by ear, and I imagine he is really good at it. He was most intrigued by my knowledge of REW and use of programs like REW to setup and optimize a home theater. He commented that one of the perpetual problems he finds with home theaters is that people have set the surrounds and center by ear and turned them up far too loud to compensate for problems in the gear (or likely personal taste). I too have tweaked a system or two with this problem, and admittedly, in my younger years, had done the same thing.
This got me to thinking just how much things have changed. I had my first 5.1 surround system in the Dolby Surround (matrix/non-discrete) and VHS tape days. I was in high school and had it setup in my bedroom. I remember saving up some money so I could buy a radio shack SPL meter. I wanted the greatest precision I could get so I bought the digital model. Little did I know how inaccurate that thing was, but of course, it was reliable and that's all that matters for level setting. I would use the built in pink noise generator or a stereophile test disc I had purchased to set levels, through the receiver. That was, for me, a major step up from setting levels by ear, and was probably my first step into my current precision approach using REW.
Of course since then things have changed so much. In the beginning there were no built in tone generators and no average person could afford an SPL meter. Then Radio Shack introduced affordable SPL meters and receivers began to include these pink noise generators. By the early 2000's automatic setup became common place. Now we have very sophisticated automated setup systems, auto room correction systems, you name it. And of course...our wonderful free REW software which, when mated to a fairly inexpensive microphone, allows a level of setup previously requiring a highly paid professional. Yet in the end, is there anything so wrong with Peter's method? People tweak the levels to taste all the time suggesting absolute accuracy isn't so important. There was something humbling and nostalgic to hearing Peter describe his approach. I still occasionally setup surround systems by ear, and every time I do it, I'm reminded of those days of my high school bedroom home theater.
How about you guys.
This got me to thinking just how much things have changed. I had my first 5.1 surround system in the Dolby Surround (matrix/non-discrete) and VHS tape days. I was in high school and had it setup in my bedroom. I remember saving up some money so I could buy a radio shack SPL meter. I wanted the greatest precision I could get so I bought the digital model. Little did I know how inaccurate that thing was, but of course, it was reliable and that's all that matters for level setting. I would use the built in pink noise generator or a stereophile test disc I had purchased to set levels, through the receiver. That was, for me, a major step up from setting levels by ear, and was probably my first step into my current precision approach using REW.
Of course since then things have changed so much. In the beginning there were no built in tone generators and no average person could afford an SPL meter. Then Radio Shack introduced affordable SPL meters and receivers began to include these pink noise generators. By the early 2000's automatic setup became common place. Now we have very sophisticated automated setup systems, auto room correction systems, you name it. And of course...our wonderful free REW software which, when mated to a fairly inexpensive microphone, allows a level of setup previously requiring a highly paid professional. Yet in the end, is there anything so wrong with Peter's method? People tweak the levels to taste all the time suggesting absolute accuracy isn't so important. There was something humbling and nostalgic to hearing Peter describe his approach. I still occasionally setup surround systems by ear, and every time I do it, I'm reminded of those days of my high school bedroom home theater.
How about you guys.
