The PC As Theater: THX comes to the PC

Talespinner writes: "Wired has this article on THX certification being ready for the PC. Lucasfilm, in combination with Dell, created the new THX-certification standard for the PC. The new systems for Dell start around $2000 and come ready with "multimedia speakers, Dolby Digital surround sound and integrated audio and video systems." "

Comments

Review of Dell THX System

[XBL]

on Sharky Extreme. He basically says it is nothing special.

Godd sound does not lie in a computer

[StandardDeviant]

Don't get me wrong, I like hearing my mp3s at "good enough" quality and various honks and tweets from first person shooters, but I'm also an audiophile. Even if you could somehow get standalone-amplifier sound quality from a computer card (hint: it ain't happening any time soon; decoding is one thing but amplification with clarity is entirely another), most computer speaker setups I've seen are just _wrong_. They all seem to revolve around 2 to n small, tweeter-sized speaker boxes, and one "big" subwoofer. The problem is this completely b0rks the midrange sound reproduction of the system (the more different speaker sizes (for cone speakers), the more discrete bands of sound you can reproduce at a time).

So if this new THX system has just a good, line-out only, decoder-only card, with a pamplet telling the end user how to buy a good amplifier (go Onkyo! :-) ) and good speakers (personal preference here, but practically anything mainstream home audio is better than the crap the computer manufacturers pawn off on people), then they're doing the right thing. Otherwise it's just a marketing gimmick. (Note also that THX certification is highly overrated, in that it is possible to qet audio kit that meets or exceeds the THX certifcation standards, but lacks the logo because the manufacturer didn't want to pony up the USD$100K (IIRC) that logo cost.)

If they aren't shielding the audio subsystem from EMF they're definitely doing it as a marketing gimmick. EMF does not do nice things to audio reproduction, and the inside of a computer case isn't exactly a low EMF area... ;-)

To do surround sound _well_, your're probably looking at USD$600-1200 for a good amp and $500-1500 for speakers; with virtually unlimited upward headroom for cost expansion (e.g. vapor deposition speakers, which a really cool, and really expensive (saw a set once of 4 speakers a center and a sub that cost $60K)). This is for a system that would do a DVD encoded in 5.1 justice; that changes it from watching a movie to _feeling_ the movie. It sounds like a lot of money, but then once you've heard it it's hard to go back. :-)

One last random note for those of you who're contemplating hooking up your computer to your stereo: use the absolute minimum cable length you can -- noise increases with cable length (c.f. SCSI).

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Fuck Censorship.