American Idle

American Idle

Call me an elitist but I fail to see the attraction&#151for viewers&#151in the whole <I>American Idol</I> phenomena. Of course, television has made millions from televising talent shows over the years so I guess it's just me that's out of step.

Set Up A Front-Projection Home Cinema

Set Up A Front-Projection Home Cinema

<I>Engadget</I> has a nice tutorial on setting up a front-projection HT. It's pretty good, other than suggesting you DIY a cable set out of CAT5. OTOH, <I>Engadget</I>'s suggestion that you create a cutout of the different aspect ratios is a brilliant idea I haven't seen anywhere else. For the price of a few pieces of cardboard, you can save yourself from making a costly screen mistake.

Using an SPL meter

How would one use an SPL meter like the digital one put out by Radio Shack? For example, what test CD is best for plotting on a spreadsheet and so forth? What would be the x and y axis of a line graph?

Also, the ATI analog meter featured in Stereophile has the same specs as the RS digital meter but costs $20 more than the RS model. An analog meter seems confusing when the digital will just maintain a memory of measurement and averages. It just seems like something that would keep me busy with my bi-polar disorder and all.

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