Still you must go back and read again. The difference is not
discernable on th e average home tv.

Whatever.

Besides, my TV isn't an average home TV, so why should I care what you think?

I don't have a beef with people doing what they want, I'm just saying that I
have no need to do what you think is a great idea.

I don't need S-VHS copies of my DVDs because I take care of my DVDs. Under
proper care, DVDs will not wear out from normal use.

And, why would I want to copy DVDs for illegal distribution, if you are
thinking of it that way?

Yeah! I've seen such crap in the retail outlets. A kit form of a5.1
theatre is mostly crap with compromises inherent.

If you buy **** from Apex, Coby, Audiovox, or Bose, then I can see why you'd
have such scorn.

But, systems from Panasonic, Pioneer, and JVC aren't as bad as you make them
out to be and they don't cost an arm and a leg. Perfect for those who just
want a decent sounding 5.1 system for movies in a small-to-medium sized room.

And, as you've implied, the average consumer may not care about quality. As
long as THEY think it sounds good, then more power to them. But, I've heard
the sound of box solutions from Pioneer, Panasonic, and JVC. While they're not
as good as my rig driven by an STR-DA4ES, I was suprised that they did sound
pretty good for what you'd get.

You can't honestly say that a small polystyrene box you can hold in
your hand is actually a sub woofer.

Now you're feeding words in my mouth.

Since when did I ever make a bull**** remark that a cube speaker can accomodate
a subwoofer?

If anything, a subwoofer is required to complement a cube speaker, to fill in
the lower end that those "speakers" are incapable of reproducing. (Which is a
sleazy tactic that Bose does to push their Acoustimass modules on the sales
floor.)

In order to have quality THX certified QUALITY sound in their dens the
consumer is looking at a couple of thousand bucks for an out of the
box solution.

For a true THX certified system, EVERYTHING from the speaker cable to the
actual room acoustics have to conform to the standard. This means you will
spend more than a couple of thousand bucks for a true THX system.

And, IMO, THX certified equipment for the home is almost a complete waste of
money. THX for the home is not like THX for the theatre circuit or THX for
post-production studios, where strict quality control is mandatory.

For the home, THX only means you potentially spent a lot more than you should
have for your equipment.

Home THX will certify anything that pays for the brand. There is a Kenwood
receiver, the KRF-X9992D, that's THX Ultra certified, which is the highest
possible THX certification for home equipment. But it doesn't deserve it
because of some screwy design decisions and horrendous design shortcuts. For
instance, if the ventilation fan fails, the whole output section will overheat.
Also, the DSP electronics are all located overhead of the heatsinks, which
means they get a big dose of heat radiated from the output sections when the
receiver is running. There are also no condensor capacitors for the primary
power supply and the secondary power supply is underdesigned. This thing uses
a lot of transmission ribbons and all cabling are organized in an almost
totally haphazard fashion. Overall, this sucker is an expensive example of
what not to do with receiver design. Yet, it manages to get THX Ultra
certification?

Sorry, but if THX allows big ass ****ups like this, then I don't have faith in
their standards for the home.

I'll stick with my Sony ES receiver, thank you. Better design and build
quality with better sound for about half the price. (Although, I paid less
than half the MSRP for my Sony ES receiver.)

If Sony ES weren't an option, I'd go with Harman/Kardon, Denon, or Onkyo
(preferrably without THX). - Reinhart