August 8, 2000

rain dead. It is my only excuse. I'm not sure what it was that I couldn't figure out the other night when setting up the system for Suz, but it may have been that I'm pretty much brain dead (those of you have met me knows that this matches my physical state too:)). I think the problem was that the receiver needed to be set up prior to receiving a signal (although the manual didn't give any clue, one way or the other). All I know is that I tested the cable here at home, and it worked on my machine fine, so I took my DVD player over to Suz's to try my DVD and cable and see if there was an opportunity to diagnose exactly what wasn't working. As usual, however, I didn't do just one thing and test, I did several before testing. Lo and behold, it worked fine with my DVD and my cable.... so I plugged my cable into Suz's DVD, and it worked there too. The only thing I can figure is that I configured before providing input. Wish I knew, but I'm delighted to read Suz's entry for today where she shares my opinion about quality sound. I was amazed last year when I replaced my old Dolby Pro Logic receiver with a newer Dolby Digital system, and I'm happy that it just isn't me. I tend to be more particular about some things than other people (I hear gasps of amazement all over the place!) It is, in my most humble opinion, a worthwhile investment, when you can afford it.

Of course the investment isn't as cheap as it could be. It requires several peaces of equipment, not just one. You need the receiver, a center channel speaker, the normal two front speakers, and then a powered subwoofer, and two back channel speakers. If you're already running a Dolby Pro Logic system, it's likely that you have all, or almost all of these speakers already (I did... most of my speakers have come from Cambridge Soundworks, a company now owned by Creative Labs, the people who do a lot of sound cards for PCs. You can find their website here.) However, if you only have a regular stereo, you'll need to add the 4 additional speakers (3 if you already have the subwoofer). This can get expensive. I was pleased when Suz pointed out the "system in a box" thread on the forum, and the more I looked at it, the more it made sense for many people. Granted, the system she purchased isn't "the top of the line" or anything... but it's pretty much the same as mine (different manufacturers, but they both work great) and it sounds tremendous. Now, if she was building one of those $40K home theater rooms with a marble floored lobby and regular cinema popcorn maker, I'd have recommended better quality, but for a living room setup, this is actually outstanding (and priced fairly reasonably). We saw a slightly different version of the same thing (80 watts versus 100 watts) at Sams Club the other day, but I felt strongly enough about "more power" that I suggested she not buy it. I think she'll be happier with the 100 watt version.

So, once again, it makes me happy to make my friends happy. Of course, I gave up my lunch hour to make it work... but I was happy to get it finished sooner. It had been bothering me since I had failed the previous night. I take pride in the few skills I have, and I should have been able to fix this up front.

This is an excuse, however, to make a plug for Monster Cable. The salesman had sold her an RCA digital audio light cable. This is basically just a fiber optic cable that carries light data from one machine to the next. Unfortunately, this cable just slipped into the slot. It didn't seem to "lock" in at all... just slipped in. Like a limp handshake. Now, I've used Monster Cables on my system forever, and I was accustomed to it clicking in, and "locking" onto the port. So, I left her my Monster Cable, and she'll replace it today when we go to Best Buy. I'm a bit befuddled given that RCA really isn't a bad company, but it looked like the cable they sold her was really designed to be used in MD players, with the extra adapters they provided, which did hold on securely. Of course, this cable was half the cost of the Monster TOSLINK 250, but I guess sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

Off to work, and fondue. Have a wonderful weekend!