Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely Awesome!
Review: Bought this yesterday 7/20/2002. Updated for the latest technology (e.g. THX Ultra 2 - 7.1 discrete channels), this book is pretty much all you need to help you through the complex maze of today's home theater. Not only did it help me understand the technology for the front projection system I'm design for a dedicated home theater system in the basement, it helped me understand more about my current HT set up. For example, I *finally* was able to fix that persistent buzzing noise that appears intermittently for the past several years in my front and rear loudspeakers. I also learned (to my great horror!) that my DVD player wasn't set up correctly, so all these years I thought I was listening to Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (unless I was watching a rare DTS movie), I was actually listening to it in Dolby Surround! My gosh, a few menu items to change on my DVD player and my system went from sounding pretty damn good to completely awesome!If there is anything missing from this book it's that I'd like to see a chapter on room design (e.g. room size, recommended projection screen size for viewing distance, more information on acoustic treatment, etc.) Otherwise, this is all you'll need for understanding all those home theater magazine reviews. Make sure you get the version that's been updated for 2002!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Awesome!
Review: Bought this yesterday 7/20/2002. Updated for the latest technology (e.g. THX Ultra 2 - 7.1 discrete channels), this book is pretty much all you need to help you through the complex maze of today's home theater. Not only did it help me understand the technology for the front projection system I'm design for a dedicated home theater system in the basement, it helped me understand more about my current HT set up. For example, I *finally* was able to fix that persistent buzzing noise that appears intermittently for the past several years in my front and rear loudspeakers. I also learned (to my great horror!) that my DVD player wasn't set up correctly, so all these years I thought I was listening to Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (unless I was watching a rare DTS movie), I was actually listening to it in Dolby Surround! My gosh, a few menu items to change on my DVD player and my system went from sounding pretty damn good to completely awesome! If there is anything missing from this book it's that I'd like to see a chapter on room design (e.g. room size, recommended projection screen size for viewing distance, more information on acoustic treatment, etc.) Otherwise, this is all you'll need for understanding all those home theater magazine reviews. Make sure you get the version that's been updated for 2002!
Rating: 
Summary: Reasonable introduction to Home Theater
Review: For someone who is new to A/V and Home Theater and wants to ramp up the initial learning curve quickly this book will come in very handy. He explains all the various standards and formats, general tips on choosing what to buy, and finally how to setup your system once you have everything. At the back of the book Harley provides a fairly comprehensive glossary and scattered throughout are warnings for what to watch out for when looking at various specifications. However if you are looking for really in-depth information this book is not the place to look and I'm not even sure such a book exists. If you plan on replacing that old stereo setup with the reel-to-reel tape and quadraphonic sound then I highly recommend reading this book to get you going down the right path.
Rating: 
Summary: Home Theater For Everyone is in a new updated edition.
Review: Home Theater For Everyone was recently (January, 2000) updated, expanded, and revised to cover the latest developments in home-theater technology. New sections include complete explanations of: HDTV, FireWire, progressive-scan DVD players, digital TV set-top boxes, how to shop for an HDTV rear-projection television, THX Surround EX, high-resolution digital audio (96kHz/24-bit), Super Audio CD (SACD), DVD-Audio, THX Select certification of A/V receivers, 16:9 televisions, and much more. In addition to these new and updated sections, the book was re-written to reflect the latest trends in home theater. Home Theater For Everyone still includes an extensive chapter on how to set up a home-theater system for the best performance, along with complete explanations of every component in a home-theater system and the technologies behind those components. The 200+ term glossary has also been expanded, and the new index contains more than 500 entries for easy reference. Home Theater For Everyone has become the industry and consumer reference for understanding, buying, and enjoying home theater.
Rating:
Summary: Good overall introduction, but has some flaws
Review: Home Theatre for Everyone? Well, maybe. I didn't like the fact that the author ignored the reality that most "home theaters" are actually dual-purpose living rooms, family rooms or bedrooms, and are not dedicated rooms that can be set up according to exact specifications. In this sense, the book is less than "A Practical Guide." This book did not include discussion of using direct-radiating speakers (normal speakers) as surround speakers rather than dipolar or bipolar speakers. I'm quite certain that most home theaters are using direct-radiating speakers as surrounds, but this is not addressed and is not shown in the speaker setup diagrams. I also found it extremely annoying that the author would say things about how certain speaker or component companies produce inferior products, but then refuse to mention names! Example from 'Build and Sound Quality: How to Spot Overpriced Underachievers': "The company that makes Speaker A is marketing-driven. They don't care what the speaker sounds like, only that it offers perceived value and sells in large quantities." And in that same section: "Speaker B is made by a company founded by dedicated enthusiasts who strive to create the best-sounding speaker possible at a given price level." Now how is that helpful? I'm guessing that the Speaker A company is an advertiser in Robert Harley's home theater magazine and he doesn't want to [make them mad]. This book would be so much more valuable to someone new to the hobby if they were told which brands to avoid and why (but I guess that wasn't the author's objective). One last problem I found was that the author would quote very specific prices or price ranges for certain components, but not mention that this was "as of December 1999" or even "2000 prices." Someone reading this book in a few years (or even now) could be very misled by this. Example from 'How to Choose a DVD Player': "Budget machines start at about $200, with most players falling in the $400-$600 range." Obviously, a mass-market electronics product such as a DVD player is going to fall in price over time, and in fact budget players now go for $99.99, with most players falling in the $150-$300 range. Despite the few flaws mentioned above, this book is actually a very good, detailed introduction to the world of home theater. I was especially impressed with the descriptions of the various audio formats that exist (which can be confusing), and also with the discussion of front projector technology. Note that this is the 2000 edition which is probably fine to buy through the year 2001 or so (since relatively recent technologies such as progressive scan DVD players and DLP projectors are discussed), but the book will probably be showing its age and due for an update by 2002.
Rating:
Summary: Good overall introduction, but has some flaws
Review: Home Theatre for Everyone? Well, maybe. I didn't like the fact that the author ignored the reality that most "home theaters" are actually dual-purpose living rooms, family rooms or bedrooms, and are not dedicated rooms that can be set up according to exact specifications. In this sense, the book is less than "A Practical Guide." This book did not include discussion of using direct-radiating speakers (normal speakers) as surround speakers rather than dipolar or bipolar speakers. I'm quite certain that most home theaters are using direct-radiating speakers as surrounds, but this is not addressed and is not shown in the speaker setup diagrams. I also found it extremely annoying that the author would say things about how certain speaker or component companies produce inferior products, but then refuse to mention names! Example from 'Build and Sound Quality: How to Spot Overpriced Underachievers': "The company that makes Speaker A is marketing-driven. They don't care what the speaker sounds like, only that it offers perceived value and sells in large quantities." And in that same section: "Speaker B is made by a company founded by dedicated enthusiasts who strive to create the best-sounding speaker possible at a given price level." Now how is that helpful? I'm guessing that the Speaker A company is an advertiser in Robert Harley's home theater magazine and he doesn't want to [make them mad]. This book would be so much more valuable to someone new to the hobby if they were told which brands to avoid and why (but I guess that wasn't the author's objective). One last problem I found was that the author would quote very specific prices or price ranges for certain components, but not mention that this was "as of December 1999" or even "2000 prices." Someone reading this book in a few years (or even now) could be very misled by this. Example from 'How to Choose a DVD Player': "Budget machines start at about $200, with most players falling in the $400-$600 range." Obviously, a mass-market electronics product such as a DVD player is going to fall in price over time, and in fact budget players now go for $99.99, with most players falling in the $150-$300 range. Despite the few flaws mentioned above, this book is actually a very good, detailed introduction to the world of home theater. I was especially impressed with the descriptions of the various audio formats that exist (which can be confusing), and also with the discussion of front projector technology. Note that this is the 2000 edition which is probably fine to buy through the year 2001 or so (since relatively recent technologies such as progressive scan DVD players and DLP projectors are discussed), but the book will probably be showing its age and due for an update by 2002.
Rating:
Summary: I keep going back for more!
Review: I have had the book for a few months now and frequently go back to it. I have found that when I read other magazine articles or talked to dealers about receivers or speakers specifically I take what they say and compare it to Robert's book. If there are discrepancies or additional information to research I end up concurring with Robert. He provides a lot of good down-to-earth facts and keeps it going with his opinions and backs them up too! He is experienced and should be concidered an expert. I am hoping one day he writes a book (hint hint)on recommended system configurations (including brands/models) for room sizes. He provides a wealth of system configuration suggestions already just needs to put some models (besides the pictures) of what is recommended to that configuration. As an example, I would like to see that if you have a 15 x22 standard room and want a 5.1 configuration, name the top 5 receivers with the top speakers for the fronts, center, rear surrounds, and a sub-w layout. I know that that will outdate quickly but the genre is already dated when published. At least it would give some thoughts on the subject instead of relying on Consumer Reports less tantalizing ratings. Yes? Dave
Rating:
Summary: I keep going back for more!
Review: I have had the book for a few months now and frequently go back to it. I have found that when I read other magazine articles or talked to dealers about receivers or speakers specifically I take what they say and compare it to Robert's book. If there are discrepancies or additional information to research I end up concurring with Robert. He provides a lot of good down-to-earth facts and keeps it going with his opinions and backs them up too! He is experienced and should be concidered an expert. I am hoping one day he writes a book (hint hint)on recommended system configurations (including brands/models) for room sizes. He provides a wealth of system configuration suggestions already just needs to put some models (besides the pictures) of what is recommended to that configuration. As an example, I would like to see that if you have a 15 x22 standard room and want a 5.1 configuration, name the top 5 receivers with the top speakers for the fronts, center, rear surrounds, and a sub-w layout. I know that that will outdate quickly but the genre is already dated when published. At least it would give some thoughts on the subject instead of relying on Consumer Reports less tantalizing ratings. Yes? Dave
Rating:
Summary: In depth technical view of Home Theaters
Review: I was looking for a book to provide a technical look at home theaters. This book provided enough technical details to maintain my interest but not so much that it became work, a tough compromise to achieve in technical writing. Enjoyed the layout, describing everthing from the history of home theaters to the Thomas Holman Experiment.
Rating:
Summary: Indispensable!
Review: I would hate to try to buy Home Theater equipment without this book! If you don't know enough about all the equipment, buy this book. My only question is how up to date is it? Even in 2 or 3 years the technology horizon may have changed. But I don't believe it really has in this case. This review refers to the first edition.
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