Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions THX, what's the big deal?

I demonstrated this for someone who was of the mind that his 5.1 logitech system was better than my home system of Thiel CS 3.6 + Adcom GFA 555 MKII a while ago. Not that I brag about my hifi to other people by saying it's better, but when he mentioned how ripped off I got to've paid $1600 for speakers and $400 for an amp that weren't THX, I had to fix this.

A quick demo showed him you don't need THX(or even 5.1) to get a great sound. He didn't bring the logitechs over for an A/B, but I doubt this was required. I found it hard to believe he believed that THX certification meant automatically you had a better sounding system than something without THX, and it's a scary thought that a ton of other people who are intelligent may have the same mindset because it sets the stage for a lot of false advertising.

I don't look at THX certification at all when I buy things. It's like SLI certification with computer equipment. They even have SLI certified RAM now.. but you can buy RAM with lower latency and higher bandwidth, that'll work with SLI, that isn't SLI certified.

Look for a product that has the features, performance, and SOUND you want - not the product that has the certifications you want. The only certification it needs is yours.

It wasn't that long ago (20 years?) that there were very inconsistent performance requirements for HT components and sound. Today most people dismiss the enormous contribution of T omlinson H olman's e X periment from 1982 for good reason because Holman's and Lucas' work have achieved what they set out to do: create a standard. Most designers build to the THX standard and no longer feel obigated to pay for certification.