"People are fixated on video. After all, it’s the most obvious part of the home theater. But it’s a huge oversight if your system’s audio doesn’t match the quality of its video.

Why this happens is obvious: The video guys have done a better job of educating consumers on the benefits of a calibrated video system. Led by the efforts of people like Joel Silver of the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF) and Joe Kane of Joe Kane Productions (JKP), video experts and manufacturers have enlightened and educated consumers and professional installers on why a video system needs calibration.

Conversely, the audio community has had a difficult time making the transition from two-channel to home theater, and its educational efforts have been primarily equipment-centric, which has limited the public’s knowledge on the topic of audio calibration.

The effort to educate installers on the benefits of calibrated audio have been led by Jerry Lemay of the Home Acoustics Alliance (HAA). Lemay’s curriculum emphasizes the fundamentals of acoustics and best practices on how to deal with the problems associated with reproducing audio within a small-room environment."

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