notapro
Novice Member
Imagine you are an evil salesman and a complete noob invites you to his home to help him plan for and arrange a 7.2.4 surround sound system in his wonky theater room. He wants it because someone else told him to get it and that it would be so cool and he has some money to play with and figured "hey why not?" His only experience with surround sound systems are those that come packaged in a box with all 5 speakers as a 5.1 kit for under $200 and to him, the sound from his cheapo kit just made him so excited when he first got it set up, and he doesn't know any better.
You go to his house and take a look around the room where his old "theater" was. As you review his existing equipment, you notice that his AVR is set to "All Channel Stereo" mode. When you ask him if he watches movies like that he explains that "yes", he does, because he likes the feel of being enveloped in sound from all speakers. When you mention the wonderful experience of real surround sound, he tells you he thinks it is actually less realistic because in real life sound bounces around everywhere and one seldom will notice something from a specific direction in the way it comes from surround sound systems, and that if you were really in the scene, nothing would sound the way it does in the movie anyway, and there would be no music. In other words, he tried the various surround sound settings and didn't like it compared to the feeling he got from "All Channel Stereo" mode. However, he knows he likes the ability to have sound coming from all directions.
Okay, so now, he shows you the room where he will be installing his system and you notice little stickers on the wall. He explains that the wall is pre-wired for speakers and the stickers show you the anticipated locations for 11 speakers and 2 subs. He also gives you a couple images from a 3d model of the room that you can keep to help you plan things out for him.
Your customer wants to set up the theater sound system knowing he will probably try out all the different surround sound settings, while watching his favorite streaming services, and think they all suck and end up going back to all channel stereo. Regardless of utility, he likes the idea of all the speakers being there so that when he eventually sells his home, a buyer who doesn't know any different will be mesmerized by the experience and all the more excited to buy since no one else in the neighborhood has a theater room. Additionally, he wants the speakers to be in-wall so that none of his young children will be able to easily mess with them, and because he doesn't like seeing speakers, he just wants to hear them, and he already bought an AT screen that will hide the LCRs.
Your customer tells you he is willing to spend an average of roughly $150 per speaker for all 13 speakers, and wants you to pick out whatever would look and sound great for him.
Now, because you are an evil salesman, you want to charge this man all $2000 dollars, BUT, you want to spend as little of it as possible on the speakers so you can pocket all the rest. Your conundrum is that you need to find speakers that will give him the experience he wants, with a noticeably improved quality over his 5.1 surround in a box system, while maximizing your profit.
1) Being the evil salesman you are, what speakers will you order for your customer, with confidence that he will be pleased?
Now, assume you have an additional budget of $2500 for all AVR equipment to power the speakers and video signals. The only requirements are that it can operate in true full 7.2.4 Atmos mode (so he can try the fancy Atmos sound tests that he probably won't care for) and can process low latency 4k at 120hz so he and his older children can enjoy gaming.
2) What will you recommend that will once again maximize your profit but provide him an experience that will meet or exceed his expectations and limited historical experience?
You go to his house and take a look around the room where his old "theater" was. As you review his existing equipment, you notice that his AVR is set to "All Channel Stereo" mode. When you ask him if he watches movies like that he explains that "yes", he does, because he likes the feel of being enveloped in sound from all speakers. When you mention the wonderful experience of real surround sound, he tells you he thinks it is actually less realistic because in real life sound bounces around everywhere and one seldom will notice something from a specific direction in the way it comes from surround sound systems, and that if you were really in the scene, nothing would sound the way it does in the movie anyway, and there would be no music. In other words, he tried the various surround sound settings and didn't like it compared to the feeling he got from "All Channel Stereo" mode. However, he knows he likes the ability to have sound coming from all directions.
Okay, so now, he shows you the room where he will be installing his system and you notice little stickers on the wall. He explains that the wall is pre-wired for speakers and the stickers show you the anticipated locations for 11 speakers and 2 subs. He also gives you a couple images from a 3d model of the room that you can keep to help you plan things out for him.
Your customer wants to set up the theater sound system knowing he will probably try out all the different surround sound settings, while watching his favorite streaming services, and think they all suck and end up going back to all channel stereo. Regardless of utility, he likes the idea of all the speakers being there so that when he eventually sells his home, a buyer who doesn't know any different will be mesmerized by the experience and all the more excited to buy since no one else in the neighborhood has a theater room. Additionally, he wants the speakers to be in-wall so that none of his young children will be able to easily mess with them, and because he doesn't like seeing speakers, he just wants to hear them, and he already bought an AT screen that will hide the LCRs.
Your customer tells you he is willing to spend an average of roughly $150 per speaker for all 13 speakers, and wants you to pick out whatever would look and sound great for him.
Now, because you are an evil salesman, you want to charge this man all $2000 dollars, BUT, you want to spend as little of it as possible on the speakers so you can pocket all the rest. Your conundrum is that you need to find speakers that will give him the experience he wants, with a noticeably improved quality over his 5.1 surround in a box system, while maximizing your profit.
1) Being the evil salesman you are, what speakers will you order for your customer, with confidence that he will be pleased?
Now, assume you have an additional budget of $2500 for all AVR equipment to power the speakers and video signals. The only requirements are that it can operate in true full 7.2.4 Atmos mode (so he can try the fancy Atmos sound tests that he probably won't care for) and can process low latency 4k at 120hz so he and his older children can enjoy gaming.
2) What will you recommend that will once again maximize your profit but provide him an experience that will meet or exceed his expectations and limited historical experience?
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