I wanted to install some speakers in the kids upstairs “playroom”, because until now any music they wanted to listen to was from their ipods and portable stereos. Having written about our in-ceiling speakers a few times, I knew it was time I had some installed. As they were being installed, I thought that I’d just insert myself into the process and take some photos so you can see how it’s done.
Speaker spikes, also known as isolation cones, are little cone shaped devices that can be secured to the base of your floor speakers. There has been a lot of conjecture over time about what they are good for, and what the benefits of using them are. Ultimately it is personal preference, however there are certainly some circumstances that you may find their benefits invaluable.
New to the Selby stable is a range of the popular Optoma Home Theatre Projectors. With excellent brightness and contrast, they also support 3D from a range of devices such as your blu-ray player, Xbox, PS3 and other gaming consoles. Each of the six Optoma packages available from Selby include two pair of 3D glasses so you can get started straight away.
With a lot of Hollywood clout due to his recent writing and directing successes with films like Iron Man and various TV series including The Office, Jon Favreau combines a few of his mates into his new feel good movie Chef. Robert Downey Jnr, Dustin Hoffman, Scarlett Johannsen and Sofia Vergara all join Favreau who leads the cast.
Are you the night owl in your house? Are you afraid of waking up your family when you are listening to your favourite tunes or watching an action packed movie after the kids’ bedtime? You may have noticed that you will hear the voices at just the right level, then suddenly the sound effects will explode at a level that sees you quickly adjust the volume. Now you can’t hear the dialogue. It’s pretty annoying and impractical to keep adjusting the levels.
Fingerprints, food and who knows what else always find their way onto your TV screens. When you’ve finally had enough of watching your favourite show through smudges, you know it’s time to get cleaning. In years gone by you could spray almost anything directly onto the glass screen of your television and rub it off with newspaper or a paper towel. Not anymore.
Do you need to use component video cables (red, green, blue) between your devices which are farther apart than your typical few metres? Did you know that you can extend your composite video signal by using Cat5 or Cat6 LAN network cable? Perfect for when your device and screen are rooms away, extender kits connect the Cat5/6 cable to the component via some handy little black boxes.
If someone presumed what you wanted in your speaker set up, it would be a sure way to make you unhappy. The best way to know what is right for you, is by turning the question around and ask yourself what you want from your speakers. Then you can build the set up around YOUR needs. There is no point buying a hulking great set of speakers which take up your entire room, when all you want them for is to play some background music during dinner parties.
