Teach Me EVERYTHING

[Berserk87]

I recently got a job at best buy, but they didn't need any more people in the computer departments, so I got put into the home theater section, problem is they need a audio guy.

Talking to a bunch of the guys in the dept. theres a few people that know a decent amount about audio to sell but wouldn't consider them selfs knowledgeable about audio stuff.

I know tons about tvs but i would put myself somewhere in the intermediate level as far as audio knowledge and i think there looking for someone with expert knowledge.

where do i start? ive just been doing google searches and picking up various facts.

[Xilo]

I always thought being an audio guy = knowing which plug goes where, watts, amps, dbs, and positioning...

[acnpt]

Have a browse on AVForums.com.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

read some AV forums :D

forums are a good source of information, even if it is conflicting sometime :p

[lnmnky]

I'll list as many random things as I can think of to do with audio systems, good and bad. (So if I was to walk into your shop, would you be able to deal with anything I said.... I'm no expert)

Speaker wire gauge: is 16 ok, or is 12 better. My speaker wires are 15 metres around the walls.

sub woofer position, should I put it by my sofa or TV?

Rear speaker position on a 50 watt speaker? How high from the floor?

Rear speaker position on a 150 watt speaker? How high?

Optical out, can this go to my tv?

Can I plug in my PC? I don't know what inputs it needs.

Dolby Digital only? Is this good?

This decodes DTS, is that good?

Pass through sound or picture to TV

Does this unit upscale from the HDMI?

HDMI audio out

Phono red and white leads are only giving me front sound.

150 watts RMS. What is this?

I coil up my spare speaker cable. Is this ok?

What's trunking?

How wide should I put my front speakers?

My TV is in a corner, where should I put my speakers?

My room is 5m*5m, is this 200watt 2.1 system enough?

How can I hide my cables?

What connections do I need for a PS3 / xbox?

[Berserk87]

I'll list as many random things as I can think of to do with audio systems, good and bad. (So if I was to walk into your shop, would you be able to deal with anything I said.... I'm no expert)

Speaker wire gauge: is 16 ok, or is 12 better. My speaker wires are 15 metres around the walls.

sub woofer position, should I put it by my sofa or TV?

Rear speaker position on a 50 watt speaker? How high from the floor?

Rear speaker position on a 150 watt speaker? How high?

Optical out, can this go to my tv?

Can I plug in my PC? I don't know what inputs it needs.

Dolby Digital only? Is this good?

This decodes DTS, is that good?

Pass through sound or picture to TV

Does this unit upscale from the HDMI?

HDMI audio out

Phono red and white leads are only giving me front sound.

150 watts RMS. What is this?

I coil up my spare speaker cable. Is this ok?

What's trunking?

How wide should I put my front speakers?

My TV is in a corner, where should I put my speakers?

My room is 5m*5m, is this 200watt 2.1 system enough?

How can I hide my cables?

What connections do I need for a PS3 / xbox?

well the majority of those questions i cant answer...=\

i know 150 watts RMS is how many watts it can take sustained, a lot of the speakers show things like 200W speakers but can only do that for a couple seconds.

coiling up speaker wire will create emi, like background static etc...

for the most part you shouldnt have extra wire for audio connections, the longer it is the higher the induced interference, and the higher the internal resistance = needs more power.

ps3/xbox can do hdmi (unless you have an older xbox)

i dont know much about wire gauges, the lower the gauge the fatter the wire is, and the fatter it is the higher internal resistance it'll have, but if its to thin it wont be able to carry very much power.

[The Teej]

I also work in an electronics store and while I do have knowledge in some areas, my AV equipment knowledge isn't top notch either. So, if nobody minds, may I have a shot at these questions too? I'm always looking to expand my knowledge to give the best customer service possible.

Speaker wire gauge: is 16 ok, or is 12 better. My speaker wires are 15 metres around the walls.

Unsure, but I'm thinking 12 is better. Unsure why.

sub woofer position, should I put it by my sofa or TV?

Sofa, as you'd want the bass response to be closer to you

Rear speaker position on a 50 watt speaker? How high from the floor?

I'd say around your height, due it being lower wattage

Rear speaker position on a 150 watt speaker? How high?

Near the ceiling, as the higher wattage will (typically) allow a higher dB and thus doesn't need to be around your head height to get the sound closest to you as possible

Optical out, can this go to my tv?

Providing your TV has an Optical in, yes.

Can I plug in my PC? I don't know what inputs it needs.

Depends on your sound card. You'd need an Optical port or S/PDIF port on your sound card.

Dolby Digital only? Is this good?

No, as it means the more commonly used headphone jack or phono jacks are unuseable. Plus, other digital audio solutions out there like DTS are unuseable.

This decodes DTS, is that good?

Yeah, if you're using digital connections like digi-coax or optical tos

Pass through sound or picture to TV

(Unsure what this question exactly is?) For a proper HT solution, connect the speakers through the amp, and the device(s) to the amp for sound. Connect the picture straight to the TV.

Does this unit upscale from the HDMI?

HDMI obviously allows for HD resolutions, but it's the unit itself which does the upscaling

HDMI audio out

(What about it?) Yeah, HDMI does audio out. On a lot of systems, it can also be replaced by optical tos or digi-coax if you wish

Phono red and white leads are only giving me front sound.

That's because phono red and white leads are designed for stereo audio. Refer to Dolby Digital or DTS for trying to set up a surround sound system.

150 watts RMS. What is this?

Unsure tbh.

I coil up my spare speaker cable. Is this ok?

It's not great as constant coiling and uncoiling can lead to wear and tear especially in cheap speaker cable, plus I believe it can lead to a higher latency when coiled, but it's okay to do.

What's trunking?

The outside tubing protecting the inner wiring.

How wide should I put my front speakers?

One either side of the room

My TV is in a corner, where should I put my speakers?

front speakers adjacent of each other by about a 3 or 4 metres (although this depends on the room), central back in the other corner, side back speakers adjacent to those at the same distance of the front speakers from the TV

My room is 5m*5m, is this 200watt 2.1 system enough?

It's a tad overkill, but yeah it's fine. Just make sure if you're running it through an amp you actually have 600watt or more capable amp, otherwise you won't get the full use of your speakers.

How can I hide my cables?

Cable ties, cable boxes.

What connections do I need for a PS3 / xbox?

360 - For SD, the cables supplied in the box. For HD, either the official component cables for 360 or any HDMI cable will work.

PS3 - For SD, the cables supplied in the box. For HD, an HDMI cable is best and far easier to obtain. PS3 has Optical TOS support if you prefer the audio to go through optical.

[lnmnky]

I don't know if all the answers are correct. :p I was just having a brain spillage.

I think BangBang is your sound guy on Neowin. Or maybe he was TVs... Don';t PM him. If he stops by then great, otherwise leave him be.

[Joel]

sub woofer position, should I put it by my sofa or TV?

Sofa, as you'd want the bass response to be closer to you

If you really don't want to have your sub sound good, sure. Do that. And your reason for doing it is so wrong, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

I'll come back to the rest of what you said later, because the sub issue is not your only misinformation.

[Timelimit]

+1 for AVforums :)

[Ridlas]

Woofer should be put on the right side of ur tv.

[surrealvortex]

i dont know much about wire gauges, the lower the gauge the fatter the wire is, and the fatter it is the higher internal resistance it'll have, but if its to thin it wont be able to carry very much power.

The fatter it is, the lower the internal resistance. R=P*l/A.

[nokiaxion]

I'll list as many random things as I can think of to do with audio systems, good and bad. (So if I was to walk into your shop, would you be able to deal with anything I said.... I'm no expert)

Speaker wire gauge: is 16 ok, or is 12 better. My speaker wires are 15 metres around the walls.

sub woofer position, should I put it by my sofa or TV?

Rear speaker position on a 50 watt speaker? How high from the floor?

Rear speaker position on a 150 watt speaker? How high?

Optical out, can this go to my tv?

Can I plug in my PC? I don't know what inputs it needs.

Dolby Digital only? Is this good?

This decodes DTS, is that good?

Pass through sound or picture to TV

Does this unit upscale from the HDMI?

HDMI audio out

Phono red and white leads are only giving me front sound.

150 watts RMS. What is this?

I coil up my spare speaker cable. Is this ok?

What's trunking?

How wide should I put my front speakers?

My TV is in a corner, where should I put my speakers?

My room is 5m*5m, is this 200watt 2.1 system enough?

How can I hide my cables?

What connections do I need for a PS3 / xbox?

Great questions :) I dont know much about audio but Ill give it a shot at the answers (NOTE: The following may be correct or incorrect. Viewer Discretion Advised)

Speaker wire gauge: is 16 ok, or is 12 better. My speaker wires are 15 metres around the walls.

The less cable, the better. It gives the best possible quality (although you may not notice it) and also easier to hide cables

sub woofer position, should I put it by my sofa or TV?

Subwoofers dont actually matter where they are placed. Of course having a subwoofer by you will make you notice the bass more but it is heard in all directions.

Rear speaker position on a 50 watt speaker? How high from the floor?

Ideal condition is at ear level (but of course at a certain distance behind you). If not, then above pointing downwards (like at the moves)

Rear speaker position on a 150 watt speaker? How high?

Same as previous question yet it must be further away from you

Optical out, can this go to my tv?

If your TV has optical in, yes

Can I plug in my PC? I don't know what inputs it needs.

In most cases yes. With a male to male 3.5mm cable, you can plug in your PC to a audio system. Beware the quality will not be the best using this method.

Dolby Digital only? Is this good?

If you have a 5.1 (5 speakers, 1 subwoofer) speaker setup, then yes.

This decodes DTS, is that good?

Yes. It is a audio compression method and your equipment decodes it properly.

Pass through sound or picture to TV

I dont understand this question. Could you as it in a different form?

Does this unit upscale from the HDMI?

We could have to view if the unit supports upscaling

HDMI audio out

This is not a question but there is no HDMI audio out. HDMI is a connector that transports video and audio

Phono red and white leads are only giving me front sound.

They are suppose to. White (mono) is left channel and red (stereo) is right channel

150 watts RMS. What is this?

It is the mean output power given out if the input power is the same.

I coil up my spare speaker cable. Is this ok?

Yes. You should as a matter of fact.

What's trunking?

It is used to organize cables

How wide should I put my front speakers?

Enough for you to notice sound coming from the right and from the left

My TV is in a corner, where should I put my speakers?

Makes no difference

My room is 5m*5m, is this 200watt 2.1 system enough?

This is a personal preference.

How can I hide my cables?

Cable boxes, cable tubes, under the carpet.....There are many ways and some creative ones as well.

What connections do I need for a PS3 / xbox?

Depends if you have a 5.1 system or just have it simply hooked up to your TV

[lnmnky]

I meant...

[if I have an input from another HDMI device like Foxsat, will this new hifi for example] Pass through sound or picture to my TV

(Seemed like the kind of question people would ask, but there's no right answer as it would depend on the unit. So he would have to get to know a few units. For example the HTSS360 from Sony will take a whole range of inputs and pass them through the single hdmi output.)

Does sound go through the HDMI audio out

[goji]

Have them always buy Klipsch for an exceptionally affordable sound experience.

Obviously that wont tide everyone over but there is alot to know, and its kinda simple. The basics as you and others have alluded too are the types of cables on the market, audio codecs and basic compatibility.

Most consumers just want it easy, but audio is a science and requires a little bit more. Start there and keep moving forward.

[Berserk87]

other than making sure a receiver can put out enough watts to power all of your speakers, what else is important?

[agreenbhm]

I don't mean this as an insult, so no offense to you, and I give you props for wanting to learn, but this is (what I find) one of the problems with BB. They hire people and suggest to the customers that they are experts at what they are selling when in reality they don't know anything.

I've had a number of fun conversations with sales people "helping" me completely ass-backwards. That's why I like shopping online. I know what I want, Google knows where it is, credit card typed, voila! Now if only I could do something about that instant gratification factor...

[goji]

The amount of watts out of a receiver is a bit of a red herring, and unfortunately still rears its head as some form of standard in the industry. Technically it is incorrect, especially in the way it is used.

Additional reading here

On top of that, other than HK, Onkyo and Denon, most receivers fudge if not completely distort the amount of power their lower end machines pump out at all channels driven. Why would this be important? For a few reasons.

A. If your a basement dweller living on a budget who crave loud noises, you might end up destroying either your receiver or your speakers by under powering said speakers or driving your receiver beyond its manufactured abilities. Cheap stuff is still cheap for a reason.

B. Due to the advent of numerous codecs and other bells and whistles int he modern AV industry, the price tag for inclusion of these tech's has not been forgotten. A trend from the late 90's onward has seen the crippling of amps on many lower end receivers so that companies could include iPod, or HDMI certification etc. In the case of HDMI, many lower end receivers, namely Denon "scale" their audio playback ability, starting with stereo HD audio and limiting the option for receiver based HD audio decoding.

For many consumers on a budget, attempting to understand the basics of home theater can be a daunting task. Knowing the basics and some background understanding on how the industry affords to consumers the price tag for entertainment will be beneficial to both you and your clients.

Another important point that is more of a personal pet peeve, are those individuals who come into a store and ask for a type of speaker, ie., center channel, or rears etc. In effect many persons end up piecing together a system from different manufacturers and different types of speakers. Keep it in the family for a coherent sound stage.

Consider no brainer solutions for families; suggest in wall or wall mounted bookshelf speakers instead of towers if there are young children in the household.

Know the differences between Dolby's codecs and DTS's codecs and their purposes. That is about as much as I have off he top of my head.

Oh, and never suggest Bose unless someone is asking to be ripped off.

[Berserk87]

I don't mean this as an insult, so no offense to you, and I give you props for wanting to learn, but this is (what I find) one of the problems with BB. They hire people and suggest to the customers that they are experts at what they are selling when in reality they don't know anything.

I've had a number of fun conversations with sales people "helping" me completely ass-backwards. That's why I like shopping online. I know what I want, Google knows where it is, credit card typed, voila! Now if only I could do something about that instant gratification factor...

I'm definitely not one of the types of people that try to pass myself off as an audio expert, any customers that have asked me about the audio stuff so far, i've told them that my "specialty" is tvs/cable/computers etc...

Another important point that is more of a personal pet peeve, are those individuals who come into a store and ask for a type of speaker, ie., center channel, or rears etc. In effect many persons end up piecing together a system from different manufacturers and different types of speakers. Keep it in the family for a coherent sound stage.

Oh, and never suggest Bose unless someone is asking to be ripped off.

Well i know enough to understand the "keep it in the family", different brands have different unique sounds, and a different range of frequency's.

The difference in Bose products price was pretty obvious and comparing them to other speakers in the same bracket made it pretty obvious to the fact that Bose is overpriced and your really just paying for the brand name, although there are a fair amount of people that say Bose has a unique sound they like, their choice i guess.

[grey-shift]

I worked at best buy for the Majority of 2 years. At my store they did not seem to care about product knowledge, just about sales. I worked in the computer department for most of my time spent there, and the more i learned about computers the more i hated my job. I was being forced to sell customers things i knew they did not need. When customers i knew personally came in it was always very stressful for me because I could never seem to find a happy balance between finding them a good deal and pleasing my boss. They are going to teach you how to scare the customer into buying home theater instillation, over priced warranties, and "high end cables" (BS lol). I would have been a lot happier if i did not work in my home town where i was forced to lie to people i knew, but i really think over time that will start to get to you.

I moved up quite a bit during my time there and I was making great money. I was given all sorts of responsibilities, and all sorts of pay raises to go with them. I had it pretty good but right around my second holiday season i quit. I am now a cashier that makes a lot less than i did then but i am much happier...