Can Home Theater be "High End"?


I have an ongoing arguement with a friend of mine about this topic. What are your thoughts on this subject guys? Who considers home theater to be capable of "high end" sound and why? Or is it just all about high spl and super low rumble? Let's hear from ya!!
kgb540

Showing 1 response by onhwy616f64

Yes, but practically speaking, no. The concept of high-end sound hinges on the faithful reproduction of the original recorded event. For film the equivalent recorded event is the sound stage mix. Assuming you have a well designed room, there's no reason why the sound stage mix cannot be accurately recreated by a home theatre system. The practical problem is the well designed room. 2 channel systems are difficult to set up. Setting up a 5 or 7 channel system is proportionally even more difficult. Then there's the bass. By their very nature home theatre is full range with high levels of bass. Acheiving smooth, deep and powerful bass is never easy. A dedicated, professionally designed room is a nearly a requirement for a high end home theatre. Practically speaking most home theatre systems are mid-fi.