Check out this snippet of an article I found on a blog, in which the writer is reviewing a low-end surround sound system he bought:
… awesome! A 1,000 watt system for less than $200? … The only problem was that it just didn’t get very loud … I cranked the volume all the way up on my MP3 player and almost all the way up on the receiver itself before I was satisfied. Next I thought I’d test out the surround sound on a movie. Once again, the quality of the sound was nice, but I had the receiver turned all the way to max volume, and I still just wanted it a bit louder. And once the dishwasher started in my adjacent kitchen, I was really unhappy. Just a bit of extra noise seemed to drown out this “1000 watt” system at the maximum volume level! … I ended up buying an 800 watt system from Sony for a few more bucks that offered better sound quality and more volume!
That’s not an uncommon discovery for people who buy a low-end home theater in a box (HTIB) with a big wattage claim. Or consider the other end of the spectrum, which is perhaps, even more common, taken from a positive review of another high powered HTIB system.
… it can put out a lot of sound if you want it, especially bass – the subwoofer will make the room shake if you let it. Some battle scenes we’ve watched in movies require you to turn down the volume or risk permanent damage to your hearing and your house, haha.
Wow! It sounded so good that they turned the volume down? This is another common indication of a poor-quality sound system. Bad systems sound worse as you raise the volume, and people often mistake this discomfort for it just being too loud. But what gives here? Both these systems have 1,000 watts or more of power so how can they yield such different results? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the most prominent and most misrepresented feature of the amplifier – wattage.
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