Mike Wood

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Audio Separates Buying Tips AV Receiver Buying Tips

Mike Wood | Apr 09, 2002 | Published: Apr 10, 2002

Determining amplifier-power requirements for your home theater system.

Power output is often the biggest selling point for receivers and standalone amplifiers. Bells and whistles aside, you can often spend a lot less money for an amplifier or receiver that has a lot less power. While there are several factors that influence an amplifier's sound quality, we're not going to go into many of them in this article. We're going to focus on power. Ideally, an amplifier should be rated with low distortion, measured over the entire audible frequency range and with all channels driven. You should always listen to an amplifier before you purchase it. Whether you should test the 60-watt model or the 150-watt version depends on many factors, including your listening environment, the speakers you'll be using with it, and your listening habits.

AV Glossary Other Tech

HT Boot Camp: AC Power

Mike Wood | Jul 02, 2001 | Published: Jul 03, 2001

Feeding the Beast and Chasing Its Gremlins : A basic guide for harnessing AC power.

There's absolutely nothing worse than putting together an awesome home theater system that's starved for power or buzzing with ground loops. We often take electricity for granted, assuming it will be there when we need it. Unfortunately, that's not always the case. You don't necessarily need an electrician just to connect your audio and video system, but you may need to check out your electrical system before you spend hours, if not days, connecting all your components. The two things you should consider are whether your system is getting enough power and if your components are connected to that power system correctly.

Other Tech

HT Boot Camp: The Ultimate DVD Boot Camp

Mike Wood | Feb 28, 2001 | Published: Mar 01, 2001

The world's most complete guide to DVD-player features.

If you're thinking of buying a DVD player, the number of features most players offer might overwhelm you. Sure, you know the basics: DVD is the hottest thing since the first time man invented something round. It consists of a disc the size of an audio CD but with 10 to 15 times more storage capacity. The disc has enough room to store a full-length motion picture with a digital picture that's better than that of laserdisc or satellite broadcasts. A progressive-scan DVD player connected to a widescreen TV can even approach the quality of high-definition television. The digital audio can include up to five full-range, discrete (meaning separate) channels with one LFE, or low-frequency-effects (aka the .1), channel for impact. The best part is that DVD players and movies should be compatible with your current system, no matter how archaic it is. You can buy a DVD player now and almost certainly enjoy the benefits right away, and you can upgrade various parts of your system and glean even more performance from the DVD software that you'll undoubtedly start collecting. What you really want to know, though, is what features to look for in your first/next DVD-player purchase. As usual, we're here to explain them to you. We've also included a couple of tips on how you can take your DVD/home theater experience to the next level.

How We Test

HT Measurements Explained: Absolute Power - Power Amplifiers

Mike Wood | Jan 18, 2001 | Published: Jan 19, 2001

In part three of our series explaining our technical measurements, senior technical editor Mike Wood takes on the amplifier—more specifically, the receiver and the amplifier.


A. A dedicated multichannel amplifier doesn't have the frills of a receiver but likely offers better performance.

How We Test

HT Measurements Explained: Ground Control - The Preamp/Processor

Mike Wood | Jan 31, 2001 | Published: Feb 01, 2001

In the continuing saga to explain our measurements charts, senior technical editor Mike Wood explores ground control for your home theater: the preamp/processor.

Launching the space shuttle requires the actions of thousands of control systems and hundreds of people all directed by, ultimately, one person. Technicians sit in front of dozens of monitors, checking systems, subsystems, weather patterns, and so on—all to make sure that, when the chief gives the order, the big hunk of steel sitting on the launch pad is able to take off without a glitch. You may not be igniting hundreds of thousands of pounds of rocket fuel when you press play on your DVD-player remote, but you are trying to launch your home theater system, and you usually want it to happen without too many hang-ups. The main component that controls this process is the pre/pro, or preamp/ processor. This is the subject of our latest Boot Camp in the series explaining the technical measurements that accompany our product reviews.

How We Test

HT Measurements Explained: The RGB Triangle of Death - Video Measurements

Mike Wood | Nov 29, 2000 | Published: Nov 30, 2000

Last month, we explained our speaker measurements. Now, senior technical editor Mike Wood tackles the intricacies of video-display measurements.

It's only fitting that our video measurements be displayed in an obscure, almost-illegible triangle. Three-sided geometric shapes have always been somewhat mysterious objects, implying power or fear. Our measurements can do both. In this, our second attempt to explain to you, our faithful readers, what the ancillary boxes labeled "HT Labs Measures" mean, we'll discuss what our detractors call the triangle of death, why we use it in our display measurements, and what it means to you.

How We Test

HT Measurements Explained: We've Got Some Explaining To Do - Speaker Measurements

Mike Wood | Oct 27, 2000 | Published: Oct 28, 2000

Wondering what those confusing charts in our gear reviews are really telling you about a product? Just ask senior technical editor Mike Wood. This month, he explains speaker measurements.

Unless you're looking at a powered speaker (with built-in amplification), the power-handling rating (which is often incorrectly referred to as the number of watts a speaker has) will tell you little about how the speaker integrates into your system, let alone how it sounds. This isn't to say that the spec is useless. After all, some people like to play music really loud—I'm talking head-near-the-speaker-stack-at-a-rock-concert loud. In those rare cases, this specification may be useful. However, for the rest of us, this is probably the least necessary information, even though it's usually the most common question we get about speakers.

Mitsubishi WS-55859 55-Inch HDTV

Mike Wood | Feb 02, 2002 | Published: Feb 03, 2002

The next step in system control.

I could make some witty comment about how difficult it is to use the typical home theater, but, at this point, that would be a cliché. Basically, unless you take a great deal of care or spend considerable funds on a touchpanel-based control system, it's likely that, at best, only one person in your house will be able to play a DVD in the correct aspect ratio with 5.1 sound. To be honest, I'm surprised more people don't just read a book. It would certainly take less effort.

Mitsubishi WS-73711 73-Inch HDTV

Mike Wood | Nov 04, 2002 | Published: Nov 05, 2002

Big new toys.

Everybody loves new toys. When you're a geek like me, new toys come in the form of test equipment. This year, Christmas came early for the Home Theater video department, as we finally got the OK to buy an HDTV test-pattern generator. Woo-hoo! OK, so maybe test-pattern generators aren't your idea of fun. Maybe a 73-inch rear-projection TV is your idea of fun. Well, we got one of those in, too.

Mitsubishi WT-46807 46-Inch HD-Ready Television

Mike Wood | Nov 29, 2000 | Published: Nov 30, 2000

Mitsubishi's WT-46807 rear-projection television proves that the third time really is a charm.

While most manufacturers are working on their first or maybe their second generation of HD-ready products, Mitsubishi is releasing their third-generation line of displays. The WT-46807 is the first in this new line, and some great new features demonstrate how the company's experience has paid off.

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