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Update from Russ Herschelmann: Wow! I asked for feedback about what to do with future Home Theater Architect columns, and you gave it to me! I got 60 replies—with lots (over 25,000 words) of suggestions and great ideas! Many of you (over 70%) want me to finish discussing Jack and Diane's home theater in detail. Five of you (8.3%) do not. The rest either didn't say, or want me to finish with J&D in the next several issues. Respondents seemed to fall into three groups:

1) Long-time readers of the column who want me to finish the series in detail (over 50%).
2) Long and short-term readers who like the column, but want to go on to other things.
3) Short-term readers of the column who hate it, and feel it's not relevant to their lives (five of you).

I was stunned to find that so many of you are long-termers. Hey, thanks! For you, I'd like to finish the saga of Jack and Diane in detail, but I'm going to do it in fewer, longer articles (something a few of you requested). I'm even re-writing my current column (for the May issue) to include two columns' worth of information.

And for you long and short-termers who like the column but want me to move on, I want to keep y'all happy, too. So I'm planning to finish the column twice as fast (in the next five issues, March/April–September).

Some who said they didn't like the story of Jack and Diane mentioned that it had little or no relevance to their home theaters, since they didn't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend. I was really surprised to read this. From its inception, HTA was designed to be applicable to all home theaters, irrespective of the overall budget. Most of the tips, tricks, and techniques that I use in Jack and Diane's theater are easily adapted to more modest installations. I guess it's my fault that this message got lost along the way. For this, I am sorry.

Where to Go Next?

Unfortunately, there was little consensus on what I should cover next. Quite a few folks want me to build a family room home theater from scratch, since they plan on doing the same. Others want me to design and install a system in an existing room (since this is the situation they are in). And still others just want "cheap fixes"—improvements they can do for little or no money. I think all of these ideas are great, and I'd like to address all of them.

Three guys said that they just wanted to read about equipment and software because "any time spent on the room is a waste" or "no one who wants to build a serious room would read your column anyway—they'd hire a professional." Just in case any of those folks are reading this, you need to know: Based on the emails I received these past few weeks, there are lots and lots of readers who are using HTA to design and build serious rooms. Some have hired outside help, and others are doing it alone. But the vast majority of the respondents felt that the information covered in HTA was valuable. The biggest complaint was that they wanted more information in each column!

Based on the variety of requests, there's no way I can keep everyone happy if I start writing about another hypothetical couple and take several dozen columns to outline the process in detail. However, I think I can can keep lots of you happy if I do the following:
Once I finish Jack and Diane's story, I could profile a new theater each month. Each column would be based on an actual, real-world home theater—responding to problems and questions that you send in to me! In addition to your specific needs/wants, I'd want you to include a scaled floorplan (showing positions of all windows, doors, and archways) and a list of your existing equipment. While I won't be able to delve into lots of detail, I will be able to answer specific questions (eg, "How can I build an acoustic wall?" or "What are the optimal dimensions for my theater?") while also giving you bang-for-the-buck tips and listing the top five or ten priorities for your room. This seems like the best way to keep most of you happy. If you like this (or if you have a better idea), please, please go to this week's Vote and let is know your preference. And thanks again for all of your feedback—it means the world to me!