AV Gadgets

3 weeks ago | avgadgets.com | Tom Andry

As we learn more about how important it is to protect our hearing, the discussion of quality earplugs has come to the forefront. Sure, foam earplugs are cheap and effective, but they are a blunt instrument. They deaden all sounds to some extent, but there is no thought to how they affect the sound that does make it through. If you are working in an industrial setting where protection is paramount, then it doesn’t matter.

1 month ago | avgadgets.com | Tom Andry

The first time you see an Atmos system with a bunch of angled speakers hanging from the ceiling, you might have thought it looked pretty cool. Way more interesting than a bunch of in-ceiling speakers that look more like air vents than speakers. Clearly, angled speakers are the way to go? Or are they? If you place your speakers at the recommended angles (see Dolby’s recommendations here), you’d want speakers that fire straight down. The idea is simple.

2 months ago | avgadgets.com | Tom Andry

There are a lot of suggestions and recommendations out there for how to set up subwoofers in a rectangular room. Heck, all of the scientifically based subwoofer setup articles (including ours) only work in rectangular (and enclosed) rooms. Why do subwoofers work best in rectangular rooms? Let’s discuss!Before we begin, we have to answer the question about the shape. Why do all guides on placing subwoofers insist that your room be a rectangle? The simple fact is that most rooms ARE rectangles.

2 months ago | avgadgets.com | Tom Andry

You are a self-described “power” user. You try to eek every last drop of performance out of your purchases. You use your products until they fall apart. You aren’t getting rid of anything until you know you got all the value out of your hard-earned money! You are ready to buy a new receiver, but you want to get all of the performance out of it. One way to do that is to take advantage of all of those different zones of audio.

Feb 14, 2025 | avgadgets.com | Tom Andry

If you don’t know the warning signs, you might not know that your home theater system sucks. That’s okay, we are here to help. In our first article, we identified some of the problems with the room and how you experience dialogue. This time, we are more about the bass. You’ve set up your system and are pretty sure you’ve followed all the “rules” (as laid out by Dolby and Reddit). But your bass is terribly uneven. Some bass notes are far too loud while others are basically non-existent.