“When I go to other people’s houses, I don’t like watching TV on their smaller screens and listening through their wimpy stereo sound systems. It feels like you’re watching TV while slightly blind and deaf.” – Allen Wong, “25 Things Rich People Won’t Tell You,” Reader’s Digest, October 2013

I’m not going to call myself “rich” by any means, but I will freely tell you that I hate watching movies at other people’s homes. (TV I can tolerate. Usually.) Invite me over for dinner and conversation. Invite me over to play Axis and Allies or Settlers of Catan. Invite me over to just sit around and discuss Salinger or the world of Divergent over a hard-to-find craft beer. Any of those things. But don’t ask me to see the new DVD you just rented at Redbox.*

I’m fortunate enough to have a pretty stellar home theater system, with a flagship Marantz pre-pro, 9-channels (height AND back, thank you very much), a subwoofer with six 14-inch drivers that makes my drywall quiver, a Kaleidescape movie server and a 115-inch widescreen with Panamorph lens system, and I did not make this investment in entertainment so I could leave my home to go over and watch the latest 9-figure Hollywood blockbuster on a screen with less inches than I have years-being-alive or with audio that sounds like it arrived to my ears via string and a tin can.

(You can check out my home theater here...)

Does this make me a snob? Maybe. But I really don’t care. And be honest: You totally feel the same way, don’t you? I mean, I know it can’t just me and my man, Wong, that are willing to pony-up and admit we both die a little bit inside every time someone invites us over to watch something on their, umm, “entertainment” system. Also, who will admit that when they’re over at someone else’s home, they find a moment to slip over and sneak a quick peek at the wiring and configuration settings of their gear, making sure things are wired to at least give the system a fighting chance at producing a quasi-decent experience? Or that while you’re watching, a large part of you is actually sitting there agonizing with the internal torment of whether the speaker settings have been dialed-in correctly and whether they selected the best audio soundtrack available on the disc?

We are fortunate enough to work and live in a world where awesome audio and video is a fact of daily life. We are continually exposed to latest cutting-edge, amazing technologies, and once you have seen the light and been exposed to what is possible in home entertainment, it’s tough to ever go back. From a technology standpoint, we are all glorious, full-res, high-def living in a grainy, 4x3, black-and-white world. And, by God, it’s up to us to bring the world into the color!

Please continue reading about the snobbery at Residential Systems...