Rating: 
Summary: A bit dated, but still excellent for HT enthusiasts/builders
Review: This is a terrific book that explains the nuts and bolts of Home Theater equipment & terms in plain english. It was written just as DVD's were coming out and Dolby Digital was an emerging, but as yet, unestablished standards, but the author's views and forecasts of these products have been right on, so there's not any misinformation.He clearly favors high quality equipment over mass merchant stuff (e.g. Rotel over Pioneer), but doesn't provide specific opinions or guidance on individual brands or pieces. The author merely suggests what to look for in a quality AV equipment (e.g. binding posts for speaker connections on receivers rather than simple push clips), then suggests that you read reviews in his magazine, Fi. This review refers to the first edition.
Rating:
Summary: A bit dated, but still excellent for HT enthusiasts/builders
Review: This is a terrific book that explains the nuts and bolts of Home Theater equipment & terms in plain english. It was written just as DVD's were coming out and Dolby Digital was an emerging, but as yet, unestablished standards, but the author's views and forecasts of these products have been right on, so there's not any misinformation. He clearly favors high quality equipment over mass merchant stuff (e.g. Rotel over Pioneer), but doesn't provide specific opinions or guidance on individual brands or pieces. The author merely suggests what to look for in a quality AV equipment (e.g. binding posts for speaker connections on receivers rather than simple push clips), then suggests that you read reviews in his magazine, Fi. This review refers to the first edition.
Rating:
Summary: Not too bad
Review: Well it could have been better, but it wasn't too bad either. If you like this sort of thing, then go for it.
Rating:
Summary: A Bargain at Twice the Price
Review: When I went shopping for a home theater system I had many questions; Do you get more when you pay more for equipment?, Do I need the big wire (Monster Cables), What do all those letters like THX, DSS, HDTV, MPEG, really mean? This book answers all those questions and a lot more. It should be titled, "All you really need to know about home theater." I figure that I have scrounged together a $15,000 system for about 1/2 that amount. When you know what you're looking for, you can get closeouts, discontinued models, etc and not get ripped off. I found that the information I had received in stores was sometimes close but sometimes dead wrong. When you finish this book you will not be at the mercy of uninformed sales people! The book does get fairly technical but this is essentially a technical subject. Harley does a nice job of making it very understandable. The book is also very thorough as it covers every aspect of a home theater system. I wished he had made more product recommendations but I can imagine that they would change frequently. I checked out his website and found that I could purchase up-to-date product reviews and recommendations for a few bucks; well worth it if you are about to spend from 3,000 on up on a home theater system. This book is, as they say, a bargain at twice the price!
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