Home THX is a feature. It changes the final equalization of the sound (drop on the HF to compensate the loss of the screen plus more that I do not remember now).
More, THX EX is theater's "dolby ex".

Gordon and Brad, this battle between cables is not over.I have some backup and you should see some data soon

But can anyone tell me more about the ISO curve to be used in an Home Theater setup?

Antonio,In my opinion you dont need equalization on a home system.Your sound will be very good as long as you use good equipment. I hear this from all kinds of dealers especially the THX dealers. The problem with home equalization is that it often ruins your sound more than it helps it. Home equalizers are NOT made like the equalizers are in a cinema processor. These consumer versions create more distortion and when you boost a signal on them, your just adding more distortion thus ruining your sound quality. A good speaker will sound very flat in most any home enviorment. The only 2 kinds of equalizers I would personally even halfway consider are the ones made by RANE and Audio Control ( they are built better than your average equalizer ) but most people i talk to who use those products are using it because of acoustic problems within their rooms, they dont use them just to boost sound quality from speakers.

I have talked to quite a few people who often get home theater principals confused with professional cinema principals and lot of those people happen to be young projectionists and car stereo nuts. Alot of people just dont understand why the cinema systems are as complicated as they are and why home systems are as simple as they are.When you try to make a simple system as compicated as a cinema system you defeat the goals of a good home system and ruin your systems preformance and loose alot of cash in the process. Home systems were never intended to work like a commercial system.

Antonio, i have seen both sides of the fence so to say and i see faults on both sides. My advice to you would be to keep the equalizers in the professional domain and stick with good components for home use.

The subject of cable that is being debated on this thread is a issue that can benefit both worlds "the consumer and professional". This is what im trying to convince to Brad and Gordon.

I do not completely agree with you!

First, I will build my home theater with QSC amplifier, so it will be "a bit" professional
Then, I saw behringer equalizer that I think are a good piece of equipment behringer equalizer

I agree with you that in a home theater the need of equalization is not critical as in a theater. However home speakers are not "professional" and they often sounds like the builder has decised to make them sounds. In other words a professional speaker will be designed to meet ISO curve, a home speaker not. With my RTA I had to make great adjustments to the "bass/treble" knobs on my amp to achieve at best the ISO curve.

I wand to buy good speakers but then I want to have them sound as standards say. Only then, I will adjust the whole system as my ears say!

More: an equalizer on the subwoofer will be critical also in the home field.

A couple of the equalizer shown before will be not affected the cost of the entire HT.

Opinions?

Bye
Antonio

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Antonio, Brad, and Gordon, I respect your opinions and I respect you all just as much but I must say that their are many really good sounding speakers on the market that sound very good and/or sound remarkably flat. B&W, M&K, SNELL, MARTIN LOGAN, ATLANTIC TECHNOLOGY, McINTOSH,and BOSTON ACOUSTICS just to name a few. You cant go into a Best Buy or Circuit City for example and expect to get good quality sound( they relly dont sell good quality products either ). Everything is hooked up to switch boards and that kills any good sound quality from any speaker.

Gordan and Brad, Have you been to a home THX dealership and sat in on some of the demos. I have a sneaky suspicion you have only been to stores like Best Buy and Circuit City and stores of the like.

I remember sitting in on a demo at a hi-end dealership ( this one was not a THX dealership ) that used KRELL processing equipment and amps and B&W speakers. The only words I could say were "My God"!! The speakers didnt even exist during the demo. The walls in the room disappeared and everything sounded so natural and real. I was "IN" the movie for as long as the demo lasted. Needles to say this system put my stuff to total shit and they used kimber cable for the setup aswell.

As for equalizers, I just dont see many people using them on good equipment. I personally would never cross professional cinema gear with consumer gear. Your consumer gear does not have the same quality build as the professional gear has (depending on what kind of consumer gear your using ). Their are many great sounding amps on the market. SNELL, MARANTZ, BRYSTON, LEXICON, ROTEL,and DENON are some of the few I can name off hand and most i mentioned sport XLR inputs.

I Humbly suggest that you e-mail todd@kimber.com he can answer alot of the cable questions about kimber you guys think is a gimmick. He knows what up on this debate we are having here. All i ask you to do is e-mail him and talk with the guy. It doesnt cost you anything and you would be doing me a nice favor.

I still think you guys are "AWESOME" people and we can only learn more on what we allready know. I dont want you guys to have anything against because of these debates.

No problem, this is a Forum, each member has its own opinion, we are here to share them!

Brad,

I was in Hi-Fi store just few times and, really, I was not so impressed each time.

Justin,

I mean to install equalizer in my future home theater. Then the way I'll use them will bring to very different results of course. I do not agree with "hi-fi" men that equalizers are death. I believe that if used correctly, equalizers can be a good part of your equipment.

And, I repet, on very low end I believe that equalizers are absolutely needed.

What do you think about the behringer I've posted?

Just remember you are on a CINEMA forum, and not one for "home theater" when you start insinuating that the techs on this forum do not know what they are doing. I know of no one in the cinema industry that is impressed with "home theater" setups and equipment. The replies are already starting to show that. In fact, the only home theater systems I have ever been impressed with were made from cinema grade equipment. Your questions and plugging for Kimber belong on a more appropriate forum than Film-Tech.

Now run down to the Rat Shack and buy you a $20 roll of cheap 16 gauge zip cord and do your own comparisons with what you think is the best wire on the planet vs. what would probably be considered the worst wire on the planet. In a home theater setup with a small room, there will be no audible difference. Don't let people bullshit you into thinking that there is. And more importantly, please don't spread that nonsense here. If you really think you can hear a difference (and you have conducted your own A/B tests and had no idea at which point you were listening to A and which point you were listening to B), then please feel free to post your findings here. Opinions are welcome, but do make sure you are clearly stating them as your own opinions when it comes to scams like this. Some people will believe anything they read.

I am often amazed when I browse the magazine racks and see the Hi Fi Audiopile magazine covers. They almost always picture home theater setups where the room is completely open to the rest of the house and the "theater" has hardwood floors and like a 17 foot high arched ceiling! I don't care what anyone says, a room like that is gonna sound like crap.

I experimented with various speaker & interconnect cables: Radio Shack, Monster, Kimber-cable, AudioQuest, and the cheap ones given away with new mass-market audio equipment. I was hard-pressed to tell any difference among any of the different cables, and believe me, I WANTED to hear a difference. I was into The Absolute Sound magazine, read all the stuff their reviewers said about how this or that cable enhanced or degraded the sound of their systems. But I could not tell any difference.

The story was different with electronics though. I could EASILY hear differences between different amps and preamps. Audiophiles shunned any kind of tone controls or equalizers at that time, claiming that the more "stuff" in line with the signal, the less "pure" the signal will be. My system didn't have tone controls or equalization. One time though I got a dealer to let me borrow an expensive Soundcraftsmen equalizer and the sound quality of my system was noticeably degraded by it.

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Antonio, Gordon, and David, I think you are the most sane and understanding people on this thread.I was wondering when more people would join in on the debate. Brad and Joe, I never said that you guys didnt know what you are doing.

Joe, your right about saying that cables dont know how big your room is and they do nothing to improve acoustics but im willing to say that your speakers do Speakers can often tell you if you have good or bad acoustics and depending on the room size they can tell you how much power they need. Cable's only maintain the quality of your components from point A to point B.Its really just boils down to length from point A and B. Cables do add fidelity to your sound.I cant explain the science of cables, I dont have the knowledge. See where my arguement is about cable. Talk to todd@kimber.com He is a nice guy.

Brad, if this is a cinema forum then why did Antonio post a home theater topic?

Gordon, many people I have talked to and have been to their houses who are sreious about audio have a dedicated room for movies and music. These rooms are very acoustic meaning the rooms were made for sound systems. I do agree that alot of people use the worst rooms possible and I also see it all the time on the covers of magazines.I hardly ever pic up a stereo magazine. Its all pretty much bullshit in those books. The people who write those books work for companies to so its all about advertisement in stereo books.

Brad, notice that in some of those hi-end home theater stores you go to have the worst room acoustics. The most of the ones I go to have acoustics in mind when they demo( call it lucky ). Im not going to comment on your "now go off and run to your ratshack stores and test your cable" I wouldnt spend 10,000 on any one piece of stereo equipment and I have never seen a 20,000 dollar turntable either. That shit is for people who have money to burn.

I have never said equalizers were a total taboo.I said most people I talk to who use them use them for acoustic problems. A good home system with good acoustics in mind will most likely never need any equalization. I do agree with the equalization of low frequencies. A good sub is hard to find and I do hear from some home theater owners who use equalizers for the sub. I still stand by my opinion on on equalization of main speakers. I really believe your going to do more harm than good on a good system thats really not going to benefit from it. I will tell ya a little secret about home equalization. The biggest problem ( beleive it or not ) is in the midrange. I see some equalizers that only focus on the frequencies from 80 to 800 for the mains.

I have heard from some techs say that the ISO curv ( for the commercial cinema) doesnt exactly give you the best results. I dont know if thats true or not. I currently have never heard a flat sounding commercial sound system where I watch movies.

I still respect all of you guys a great deal and "YOU" most of all Brad. I think all you you guys are very skilled in your profession but it seems that you could see things from a different perspective than how you see things now.