You can hardly buy anything without being presented with the chance to spend a little more to get a little extra. And as upgrades go, the A/V industry might be the reigning heavyweight champ. You can upgrade everything in our exciting, neurotic world — speakers, amps, controllers, cables, even the lens on your video projector. But this bombardment of choices leads many people to ask, "Is it worth it?"
That's hard to answer, since we all assign "worth" in different ways. What gives something value? Its price? Its performance? Its ability to make our lives better in some way? The pride that comes from saying, "My system is Brand X"? Or something even less tangible?
Strictly speaking, no one needs the gear found in these pages. The sun won't go supernova if you don't have whole-house A/V or the latest 1080p display. But we want these things because they're cool and fun, so we assign them worth.
If only it were that cut-and-dried. Unless your last name is Buffett or Gates, you're probably working with a budget. With gear running the gamut from sub-$1,000 entry-level systems to million-dollar-plus top-of-the-line technology statements, deciding where to scrimp and where to splurge can be tough. That's where a system designer can help. Do you and your spouse love music but have disparate tastes? Is family movie night important? Is simplicity of operation more important than features? Does décor take priority over performance? Come step into my virtual office for a few suggestions.
REMOTES A relatively inexpensive upgrade many shoppers leave off their budgets is a smart universal remote. If your system is too complicated to control and enjoy, you won't use it. So any product that dramatically simplifies operation should be considered a necessity.
CONTROL SYSTEMS House-wide audio accounts for the lion's share of custom installations, and an overwhelming number of systems are available, each offering a head-spinning array of upgrades. Beyond better speakers and more powerful amplification, a multizone system with advanced control is a great upgrade over a single-zone, volume-control-only system. With easier access to your music, you'll listen to it more.
RECEIVERS The most important component in your system is probably your A/V receiver. It handles audio and video switching, powers the speakers, and decodes and processes the sound. Upgrading provides a host of improvements: additional inputs for future expansion, higher-power amps and power supplies, more robust digital signal processing, HDMI switching, and conveniences such as video upconversion and processing. The difference between a $500 and $1,500 receiver is often night and day, while the differences between $1,500 and $3,000 can be more subtle. Selecting a better receiver now will likely stave off the "upgrade blues" down the road.
TV SETS If selecting a TV were based just on dollars per inch, life would be simpler: "This 50-inch plasma actually costs less than that 42-inch plasma." But what's more important: a great-looking small picture or a mediocre-looking big one? Is it worth paying more to have a set you can hang on the wall? LCD and DLP rear-projection sets are often far less expensive than their flat-panel brethren. Top-tier sets often handle 1080p, provide more inputs (especially those all-important HDMI connections), and have better scaling, color reproduction, and black levels. With front-projection systems, the current top-tier upgrade is an outboard anamorphic lens to support truly widescreen (2.35:1) pictures. More expensive? Yes. More cinematic experience? Absolutely. Worth it? To those with the budget, definitely.
A premium A/V component is like a luxury wristwatch. Even a "cheap" Rolex costs about 100 times more than a Timex and doesn't have any alarm and timer functions. Yet Rolex sells nearly a million watches a year. Premium quality comes at a price, but there's a point of diminishing returns where steep hikes in price yield only small increases in performance. To some, cost-no-object performance is worth it. For the rest of us, choosing where to upgrade is the trick, and reading reviews in S&V, auditioning gear, and using a custom installer can be priceless.
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