THX Certified. What does that mean?

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DaLurker

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What does it mean when a set of speakers are THX certified? Does it just mean that the speakers meet a certain benchmark? Or do they have a certain functionality that other speakers lack?
 
It means they have passed the qualifications for the product to reproduce the sound as it was meant to be heard. Does that make sense cuz i dunno :confused: :p

I heard THX doesnt mean much anymore, They are owned by Creative or somehow connected to Creative? (well thats what i heard) someone correct me if im Wrong =P
DaLurker said:
What does it mean when a set of speakers are THX certified? Does it just mean that the speakers meet a certain benchmark? Or do they have a certain functionality that other speakers lack?
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Ahh.. means nothing.. glad to hear :D I didn't buy these for the THX anyways, just wanted to clarify.
 
XSNiper said:
It's marketing.
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indeed... if Bose got THX badges they'd be unstoppable... it'd be a marketing giant!

As it is THX means next to nothing, although in home audio you usually find it on products that are at least halfway decent but it's far from being a legitimate badge of quality anymore. If it was ever worth much.
 
I bought Klipsch 5.1 Ultra's there not THX certified but then, The Klipsch Promedia 5.1's were.. and there Ultras are an improvement.. ;)
 
emorphien said:
indeed... if Bose got THX badges they'd be unstoppable... it'd be a marketing giant!

As it is THX means next to nothing, although in home audio you usually find it on products that are at least halfway decent but it's far from being a legitimate badge of quality anymore. If it was ever worth much.
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thx in the home environment is correct.

the the home theater it is somewhat ok but now they have that you can certify the ROOM for thx (like they do in theaters)
for theater THX is and has always been where it is at :)
 
i did some research on this a couple years ago, THX isn't a compression algorithm, or anything of the sort, even though that's what most people think. It's also not a THX component X will work with THX component Y flawlessy type promise. It was designed by Lucas to be a standard of quality. Basically Lucas thought a lot of the theatres had a big variance in sound quality and for his movie releases he wanted a minimum standard if you will so that his audience could recieve the same sound quality or at least choose a theatre based on a minimum standard in sound. Since then that 'badge' if you will has been pillaged and transformed into nothing but a marketing gag. Supposedly If something has the THX stamp it means that it mets George Lucas's immortal opinion of quality, but as I'm sure you've noticed there are all kinds of quality variances within the THX logo equipment. If you talk to the best in the business they basically say it means nothing because you can just basically outright "buy" the logo and there are so many "standards" of THX quality that it literally means nothing. Big names like Denon, and Nak, and Yamaha, and Onkyo, Marantz, took a long time to even start labeling their receivers and components with THX, compared to dept. store buzz brands...you know why? Because it really means nothing, and they didn't want to pay for the label. They were going to be forced to pay to buy the logo, when their equipment was already worlds above anything Lucas 'required.' The only reason they've since caved and started branding their equipment is purely to keep up in a marketing hype retailer market. This receiver is THX, doesn't that mean good sound? It must be better than that one that isn't. Just another actually quite effective way for George Lucas to reel in some more money.
 
I would agree for the most part with THX. THX Ultra2 is a fairly meaningful standard, because it guarantees you some level of high quality, but that's only found on 2000$ hardware. At that level, the lack of THX certification is by no means a black mark against the product either. The thing that bugs me more than the nebulous standard is that it is increasingly being watered down. THX PC speakers are now very common, along with THX certified video games and RCA interconnects. Is it really necessary to certify an interconnect? Somehow I doubt that.

I think that THX these days is motivated by pure profits. A THX certified system might have meant something at one point, but now you'll get forum jockeys arguing that their THX certified Promedia's are equal to a properly set up THX home theater. I really think that THX should have stuck to HT equipment, and independently testing theaters and HT's. Their tests of a completed theater ARE meaningful, I've heard that they are quite in-depth and difficult to achieve their standards, such as 35dB noise floors, proper room treatmens and speaker placement, etc.
 
Archaea said:
THX isn't a compression algorithm, or anything of the sort
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There is a THX surround format,
THX Surround EX and Dolby Digital EX
These playback formats are a collaboration between THX and Dolby Labs designed to give surround sound improved directionality. They do essentially the same exact thing, both adding another one or two "back surround" speakers to the speakers already present in a 5.1-channel system in order to provide a more fully 360° wraparound experience. The added channels, rather than being discrete, simply share a matrixed channel of sound composed of information from the regular surround channels.

Currently, many newer DVDs are encoded for Dolby Digital EX, and have that extra channel of surround information ready to go. Also, if you're playing a regular Dolby Digital 5.1-channel DVD, a THX Surround EX™ or Dolby Digital EX decoder will simulate 6.1- or 7.1-channel surround by processing the audio information in the regular surround channels and sending it to your back surround speaker(s).
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http://www.crutchfieldadvisor.com/ISEO-rgbtcspd/learningcenter/home/hometheater_surround.html
 
Creative owns 50% of THX now.

And THX certification means nothing on PC Speakers. You pay THX a little big of money and you can put their logo on your speakers.
 
THX = marketing that costs you the consumer extra money per product since the manufacturer has to pay to put that lame logo on the item somewhere. Great going gullable america! The rest of us with a brain really appreciate all the little asshats of the world. :eek:

Obviously the guys at Lucas Films are genuis! They managed to create such a positive marketing image in the minds of consumers that they will argue over the THX name in forums posts, like they actually know wtf they are talking about.

How about you just give me $10 and I will send you a sticker with my name wrote in a nice scripted font. I will say that it has met my high quality standards by completing an awesome certification process. CERTIFIED HYBRIDAMP QUALITY BITCHES! Notice the logo even has some "yellow colored drivers". YELLOW SCREAMS QUALITY! YAY!

Then you can have some other pointless, lame reason to brag to all your friends. Ooooh, it may sound like shit and have cost me $400 more than its worth, but its Hybrid Certified! WOOT!

hybridcert.jpg
 
THX for home audio has certain criteria...first is audio quality, second is the max SPL in a certain environment that the system can put out....third is user friendliness...it has to be something that can be used by someone the first or second time they read the effin manual.

This rules most HTIBs out from the very get-go, and rules out mini-speaker systems. Pretty much large bookshelfs are for rears, and floorstanders are required for the front, with a very potent subwoofer, and a reciever with at least a continuous 100wpc.

for multimedia speakers, it means jack squat though...they watered down the requirements for multimedia speakers so they could get tons of cash licensing more speakers.
 
Click For More Information
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ROFLMAO.
Who do I contact for licensing?
I have an amp with a bunch of flashy LEDs that buyer would pay to have certified. :D
 
Your Special Edition Hybrid LED amplifier has already been awarded our 5star certification rating since the technician testing it received a seizure from prolonged exposure to the LED based meters on the front panel. Thats what WTF Audio is all about!

Spy video taken during the certification process is located here.
 
Hey Mr. WTF, umm what song did you use for the certification process for the seizure amp.
 
mustang_steve said:
THX for home audio has certain criteria...first is audio quality, second is the max SPL in a certain environment that the system can put out....third is user friendliness...it has to be something that can be used by someone the first or second time they read the effin manual.
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Well, no one really knows what it means because they won't say. If it meant that the unit met certain performance characteristics, that would be great, but without knowing what the criteria are that they are checking for, the rating is useless.
 
you have to remeber that there are two THX standards, home audio and the multimedia (whore's) standard...if you noticed, most THX recievers are rather good quality overall.

Speakers (home theater only) tend to be nice and potent as well.

It is really a needless spec, but it's a quick way for joe sixpack to make a half-ass decent decision for HT gear. At least if he wants THX, he wont get a damn Bose system of HTiB....he would more than likely hit the local mass-market electronics shop and get a JBL or klipsch speaker set and either a upper-end Onkyo or Yamaha reciever.....either way, the choice was a good one, since he could have done far, far worse.

For computers...just dont pay attention to it....actually if your as picky on sound as you think you are, just fuck computer speakers, and go with a set of powered studio monitors or a reciever and shelf speaker combo.

Keep this in mind...THX is a spec that is menat to say "this system is close to the performance you would get in a theater" First off....a computer is not a peice of hi-fidelity HT gear....soundcards have a hell of a ways to go first. Second...99% of you arent using your PZC as a HT rig...so they dont care if the spec is accurate.
 
mustang_steve said:
First off....a computer is not a peice of hi-fidelity HT gear....soundcards have a hell of a ways to go first.
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I disagree. The best soundcards perform well above any consumer-level audio equipment, because after all, they are used at the high end for mastering. Even high-end consumer soundcards perform with the rest of the high-end home audio components, because of high-end DACs and good DSP design. Still, soundcards are plagued by a lack of EMI shielding and a pretty poor power supply setup.
 
xonik said:
I disagree. The best soundcards perform well above any consumer-level audio equipment, because after all, they are used at the high end for mastering. Even high-end consumer soundcards perform with the rest of the high-end home audio components, because of high-end DACs and good DSP design. Still, soundcards are plagued by a lack of EMI shielding and a pretty poor power supply setup.
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I guess we can agree to disagree then, since I do agree that pro-level cards exist...however those cards are rarely viable for use in a gaming PC, due to how badly some (if not all) of these cards behave in games.

I've built a few media authoring systems in my time, so far I have been impressed with how nice a pro grade card is, but those cards are so obscenely expensive, and are far less compatible game-wise than a $10 card...leaving them a rather bad choice for anything but an authoring or audiophile HTPC (movies only) rig.

However I have to disagree with the current retail cards...the lack of EMI shielding is a huge problem...as well as the need for a cleaner power stage. I have gripes about the 1/8" mini-plug connection system as well, as it should be RCA, so to take advantage of better cabling without having to resort to adaptors of questionable build and such. I also find the miniplug to be a rather flimsy connector, however that has little to do with sound quality...it's just if it's such a good piece of gear, it should be using the same connection type as their HT bretheren, no?
 
mustang_steve said:
you have to remeber that there are two THX standards, home audio and the multimedia (whore's) standard...if you noticed, most THX recievers are rather good quality overall.
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Actually there is a bit more than 2 standards now, hell I think they even have a THX standard for toliets too!

As someone already said, THX does not mean jack squat because they do not release the testing requirements. How can anyone put stock into a certification without knowing what the certification requires?

Try and find ANYWHERE without breaking a NDA what is in the THX requirements. You wont.
 
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