You may feel that the opinions expressed in this website are garbage. I offer you a chance to say your piece, although I reserve the right to rebut your comments.
If you want to counter something I state in this website, send your e-mail message to me, and include a statement that you would like to have your message posted in this section of the site under your name. I will put your unedited e-mail messages here.
If I feel a rebuttal is appropriate, I will post it here immediately following your comment.
As a minimum, I would also like to have your first name, and city/country to post with your message. If you wish to provide further contact information in your message, that is up to you. As you can see, I will post anonymous messages also, although I may remove offensive material in that case.
Dave
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I just have some friendly feedback for you as I defend the AV industry in which I'm involved.
After reading the malicious article on your site at http://www.sonic.net/~dgibbons/essay3.html [Wiring and Cabling Hustle] I'm concerned for you that as an ISP, you are potentially harming your business with published essays which are completely irrelevant to what you do. It is inaccurate, and whilst present on your site, is actually damaging your credibility.
Following the logic of the writings featured, 'superior' AV equipment must be marketing hype just as 'expensive' cables are. For this matter, ALL electrical equipment should be offered on one performance level only, because it makes no difference otherwise - it's all just the passing of electricity...!! Sounds ridiculous doesn't it?
More expensive cables are there for those that can appreciate the difference. So for the author of this essay, If you can't hear (or see, in the case of video) the difference that better cables can make, then accept that and please don't buy them for your sake. However, please accept that others can hear the difference.
Regards, XXXXX
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Response to Item #2:
Dear XXXX,
My web mistress forwarded your comments to me about my "Wire and Cabling Hustle" essay. Indeed, you have accurately perceived my intent ,but I must politely disagree with your assessment of the accuracy of the article. Rather, let us say that in my opinion the value of the benefits of high-end equipment in general may not be worth the extra investment for the people that I serve.
I serve folks who want to spend no more than a few thousand American dollars total, and for such folks, high-end cables and connectors are (in my opinion,) a poor investment.
That such an opinion might harm my business would probably be true if I was selling high-end equipment, but I'm not. I suspect that my opinions will not harm the folks who sell high-end equipment or installations, as their customers are not going to be interested in my humble web site. If any high-end company has a customer questioning them on the basis of what they read on this site, it is simple to point out that I do not serve the high-end market.
Still, malice may not be too far off the mark if that term describes my annoyance at folks who are selling things which will not deliver noticable improvements to many of the customers who will buy those products. Sort of like the auto dealers who sell expensive anti-corrosion treatments to new automobiles which really do nothing to improve the life of the car.
Marketing hype aside, I do feel that there are noticeable differences in A/V equipment as price goes up, but the return on investment gets smaller as the prices climb. The enthusiasts who are willing to educate themselves on the finer points, and who are willing to pay to get the extra performance, and hopefully who are also willing to make the serious investments in preparing a room which will allow the high-end equipment's performance to be properly enjoyed may well find the improvements worth the price. For folks who just want an affordable home theater in their ordinary living room, spending many extra dollars for such things as oxygen-free copper and exotic insulation materials doesn't make sense to me.
The folks I serve won't be able to have a room designed from scratch by a designer familiar with acoustic design principles. They probably won't be able to even sound treat the room to reduce unwanted echoes. In such conditions, paying a premium for high-end interconnects is not a good use of a limited A/V budget.
So, to sum up - I stand by my contentions, but I cheerfully admit that I may well not get ANY business from people who seek at any cost the very best in sound and image. I will review the text on my web site to make it clear that my goal is not to offer the very best, but rather to offer good value from more limited investments.
Fair enough?
David Gibbons
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ITEM #1:(anonymous)
Dave,
Well I read through your "stuff" and I have to admit you have your selling tech down pat!!!! You down play some important stuff to save money for them on one end and pick it back up on another end, ie: wiring vs. check up. I agree that most of the up sale on cables is a waste when buying at Circuit or Best Buy or some other low end store. No one should pay much for speaker cable when spending less than $300 for a speaker. But lamp cord? Give me a break....Radio Shack as a recommendation? Give me a break. That is like sending someone to Best Buy to get accurate information about video or audio equipment. Curious, what speaker / cable company do you use? What is the price point of the speakers you use? Which companies? Pre-wiring a house would you let an electrician run your speaker wire, Cat-5 and coax; that is without your supervision? That lamp cord wire does corrode very quickly and the quality level drops very quickly as well. The idea is "VALUE" not price! Once you put wire in the wall it is there unless you tear the wall apart to get at it! Which cost more than putting in wire/connectors that will not corrode for years! I prefer to make my money on the front end and not nickel and dime them to death for years for service calls. It's a bad way to do business. I could write on, but I think you get the point. You have some very good info on your site, but how about supporting the custom market a little better on the "value" side when it comes to our profit lines and a customers enjoyment of a quality system. I ask you to re-evaluate some of what you have said, but I applaud you for the time your took to put it down...which I can't admit to doing! XXXX
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RESPONSE TO ITEM#1
Dear XXXX,
"Custom" home theater installers and I obviously come at things completely differently. Let me cover the things I hope we can agree upon. Since I cheerfully recommend Circuit City/Best Buy/Good Guys, that marks me as a "Low End" Home Theater guy. So be it. At least I am glad we are agreed that cable "Up Sale" is a waste for the folks who shop at the afore-mentioned stores. Those are the people I serve.
Leaving aside the lamp cord issue for the moment, I do agree with you that spending a bit extra in supervision of installation and purchase of appropriate quality for in-wall wiring is a very good idea. I would favor industrial products like the Belden #9412 or #8477 12AWG 2-conductor cables with the CL3R NEC/(UL) rating. At about 42 cents/foot in 500 foot lots, it is a good quality cable for a reasonable price. I have never been involved in a wiring pre-install, and may never be. Those thinking of having such work done might thus want to avoid my advice.
My preferred speaker and receiver price point and brand is what my customers are comfortable with, though I will try to steer them away from the really cheap stuff at the above-mentioned stores. In general I recommend long-established name brands like Toshiba, Sony, Denon, Mitsubishi, etc., all of which are available at the "Low End" stores you referred to. The fact is, I do not sell any equipment to my customers. Thus I have no allegiance to any brand, as I make no profit from selling any of them. I leave that to the folks at the stores.
Sorry, but I just gots to disagree on the lamp cord. I deem it entirely suitable as speaker wire, and will continue to recommend it for such use. If anyone insists on spending more, it's thier money. See Roger Russel's "Speaker Wire-A History" web page at www.roger-russel.com/wire/wire.htm for a professional high-end audio engineer's perspective on this topic. I recommend the use of his wire gauge/length table when deciding what gauge SPT cord to buy.
As for the rest, I will let those working "uphill" from me in the custom installation market (sounds like most everybody) run their business based on the value propositions they think best for them. I do my set-ups using wiring, equipment and connectors I know from my 30 years as a technician will work well for my customers for a long time, without me having to come back. Anyone else in this business should use the type of wiring, equipment and connectors that they feel will serve them best. The lamp cord is fine by me, so I'll tell you what - I'll recommend the lamp cord, and others will recommend the cabling they like, and we'll rub along fine.
I reserve the right to tell my prospective customers what I think is a good deal for them. There are thousands of ads and articles extolling the benefits of fancy cables, so I think that I'll let the folks reading the ads and my little web page decide for themselves. Certainly measured by marketing budgets and profits the Monster Cable Company is doing things right, compared to me. I just reserve the right to disagree with them and thier advertising.
Finally, thanks for noting the work I have done on this site - the challenge I face is to clearly provide information for my customers which will allow them to wisely spend their home theater dollar. If it also leads folks who will never be my customers to ask questions about the values provided by other company's services, those companies will , I hope, be able to clearly answer those questions.
Cheers
David Gibbons, Home Theater Tune-Up
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I'm looking for more feedback, so feel free to lambaste me.!
