Crutchfield: The Podcast Ep 69

Keep going. I'm recording now. You like that one better.

That was the best one Okay Hello and welcome to Crutchfield the podcast JR here with you in studio with my co-host Huffy. How you doing, buddy? Doing wonderful. How are you doing? Fantastic excited for this final podcast of 2025.

Wow, we can't can we say Happy New Year yet? Sure Okay. Well, Happy New Year. Happy New Year All right So what are we doing today? You want to know? Yeah, that would be helpful What's the plan for this episode of Crutchfield the podcast? What are we talking about here? We are here to answer your questions your meaning you the listener We asked you to submit questions for us to answer You could have done so via email podcast at Crutchfield calm You could have done so on Spotify where you can comment on the show and episodes and such You could have done so When Abby and Alexis posted up on our social media looking to see if any fans had any questions They'd like us to answer on the podcast and won't guess what Huffy did they deliver they delivered nice we got some really good questions and comments and I want to start with a really nice comment coming all the way from Ghana from Ghana Yeah, whoo.

Does that mean we're international? I mean the podcast is international. Nice. Yeah, nice and So Jones to go.

Okay says You guys are great at your work. I'm in Ghana. I have learned a lot from you guys.

Thanks very much for your teachings that You know that made my day that's awesome all the way from Ghana all the way from Ghana message of positivity Yeah What do you know about Ghana? I can't drive there from here. I Definitely know that it's uh, it's an Africa, right? It is in Africa. Yes, leave the west coast of Africa There's a lot of countries over there, you know, there's bigger chunkier countries over on the east coast of Africa So that's one of those Western.

Yeah, she's one of the smaller ones and they're Not a small country just smaller compared to some of the larger countries It's also known as the Gold Coast because of its abundant gold deposits They got a lot of butterflies there, too. Do they yeah You want to hear my favorite fun fact when I when I I asked a I for fun facts In In 1991 a Ghanaian man named Ferdie Atto Adobo set a quirky world record Okay by running 100 meters backwards in just 13.6 seconds. Wow I there's no way I could run that fast forwards that Makes me want to start running backwards.

It's just to see how fast can I do that? I mean, I kind of want to watch it. I actually definitely want to watch you run That would be funny yes so Jones to go. Thank you so much for listening to Crutchfield the podcast all the way there in Ghana Please tell your friends about it.

We love the idea that there are people all over the world are hearing what we're saying yeah, that's awesome and We look forward to the day when Crutchfield ships internationally. We don't do that yet Yeah, but maybe someday we will conquer the world with consumer electronics Maybe just provide the world All right, next up we're conquering your questions They are gonna conquer John Piercy's question his is up next and he didn't actually post a question All he did was drop in a juicy little model number for us to think about. Yeah, we had to dig into this one I loved it.

He all he wrote in his comment on Facebook was pioneer SXT c10 PS Do you did you know what that was before we looked this up? No, it did not ring about I didn't need look like it Could be a model number totally SXT. Yeah, that fits so sense. I checked we don't carry this thing, right? SXT c10 PS does not exist in our You know list of model numbers, right? So then I just googled it yep, and I found a sweet Retro pioneer head unit.

Yeah, I found it on the the EU version of pioneers 12-volt website, so the European you European very not like you right. Yeah, okay You know you right and this they had pictures and descriptions and all the stuff It looks like it's from the early 80s But it's not it is a modern radio with the modern Conveniences of a simple single din car stereo with tactile buttons and everything big buttons amber and green illumination But it also has modern conveniences Bluetooth USB aux the USB and the aux they're hidden behind a little flappy door that looks like where you put a cassette in Okay, that's pretty cool. I know It definitely reminds me of my first and second stereo that I ever installed Nice people love that retro.

Look totally three sets of RCA outs like it's got modern performance in a totally retro look But all I could find on the web was that it's only available in Europe so far. Yeah, so I pinged Steven our buyer who you know, he buys all of our car stereos. Yeah, and He told me what's up? He his first record his first response was that I'm the third person to ask him about this model in Recently, it's not a topic.

It is a hot topic. There's been a lot of interest for sure but he did confirm that this model the Sxtc 10 ps is only available in Europe. Hmm so far but but There's a lot he checked with pioneer to make sure we could say what I'm about to say And I can't get super specific But I can say that we are expecting a North American version of this radio May have a different model number.

Who knows I can't even say it's gonna be identical to what this model is in Europe But something like this Should be available in 2026 in North America, that's awesome. And yes when it becomes available We will carry it. Very good.

Yeah, well done. So so to recap John had a question. Yes, we went digging.

Uh-huh. And because of his question We're getting a product that was formerly not available in the US to come To our market so we could sell it to our customers correct John like many others are interested in this radio and making that wish known to us. That's awesome We make it known to pioneer pioneers like yeah, we know We get it.

Yeah, that's awesome. People want this and we're making it so I can't get any more We don't have any there's not like I have details that I'm not telling you how much is it gonna call? Literally everything I can tell you what is my employee price? That's what we want to know on this show. We want the hard facts.

That's right. We have to pay with our discount for this radio Yeah We don't have any of that yet. So stay tuned I am super excited to be able to tell you more about it when we have more information on it Yeah, so so this type of radio looks at home inside of like a 1980s BMW or Volkswagen Porsche Porsche Yeah, Audi like that whole, you know that that look it that's gonna be awesome.

Yeah, that definitely fits And coming from brand like pioneer That's that's that's great. That's gonna be Yeah, I'm not gonna say it's gonna be a top 10 big seller for us But there's definitely be some customers of ours and be very happy. We have that product I really hope they put like an updated, you know HD radio tuner and stuff in it But I also hope they call it super tuner whatever number they're on now, right? Because that's I mean that's pioneers tuner from way back.

Yeah a little little call back to yesteryear Yeah. Oh, yeah, very cool. Very cool.

Thank you so much for posting that model number in there. Thank you, John Piercy We learned a little bit and we're excited for that radio to come out and be a thing. Yeah next year I Am we're gonna move into the world of home audio now, are you okay with that very much? So I know you love talking 12-volt.

I I don't mind talking 12-volt, but my passion is is in the home Well, I bet you have some thoughts on this question Here it is from Randy tincture on Facebook. Why don't receivers seem to be built like they used to be? I have an onkyo TX SR 608 and was going to replace it with a newer one to get Dolby Atmos But the newer one didn't sound nearly as good as my onkyo Interesting and he gives us a model number for his onkyo, right? Yes the one he has now I looked it up Did you look it up to I did so it's 14 years old, right? So we're not talking about electronics from the 80s here. We'll get to that on the next question Foreshadowing, but we're talking about just a you know, 14 15 year old home theater receiver It was a 7 channel 100 watt by 7 onkyo home theater receiver Okay, and you know onkyo 14 years ago was solid I mean we sold a lot of onkyo and a lot of people are very happy with their onkyo from that era I had an onkyo home theater receiver for many years from about that time so I can speak to how good they were how good they sound and When we were talking about this off Mike you had You had some questions, right? Like if we had Randy tincture here with us sitting in that empty desk with that empty microphone right there What would you ask him? What would you want to know that might help explain his experience? Yeah, well, we'd like to have our customers paint us a picture of kind of what they have going on and specifically I'd be curious if he's listening to the surround sound receiver mostly for music or is he doing mostly movies? yeah, and the reason I'm asking that is because of some of the settings, you know newer surround sound receivers have so many DSPs or You kind of like versions of the audio Different ways the receiver manipulates the sound.

Mm-hmm. And if your ear is used to hearing You know, whatever it is. You're jamming to in a certain way and all of a sudden it's crossing ears differently Sometimes we we don't like that as much so, you know, I'm curious music movies, you know, what settings he's tried and then One of the things that comes to mind is room correction these days Receivers have room correction and really good room really good and with the on cue help me out Jr. What what's it called on the on cue the room correction for I believe many on cues have two different levels of room Sure, right.

There's the on cue special which is called a cue eq a cue eq Say that three times fast. Thank you. Thank you I have I have a hard time saying it because it's just sounds adorable Really does sounds like an anime character, but they they also have a more advanced room correction, which I believe is direct live Yeah, so so whether or not it's direct or a cue eq today's receivers Perform much better once that's once you've gone through that process and even once you've gone through that process You can still get in there manipulate the sound a little bit based off what your personal preferences are You're wondering did Randy go into whatever new receiver he tried right and do the room correction thing Right, or was he listening to it with factory settings? Which would be imperfect for his room potentially, right? So, you know along with what kind of speakers he's listening to there's just a lot of questions I'd really like to have him paint us a picture so we can make sure he's getting the optimal performance out of the newer Receiver there's really no reason that that older receiver should be outperforming The new version the new equivalent of that particular one One of my first thoughts was maybe the style of amplification might be different on the newer models, right? and if yeah, if I'm comparing the Class a B amplifier in Randy's TXSR 608 from 14 years ago to the amplification found in modern onkyo Receivers the closest ones to what Randy has They actually still use class a B amplification, right? Like I didn't switch to class D like so many other devices, right? These are still class a B So the style of amplifying the music didn't change right in that time, right? So that does not explain the difference.

No, no, so because there's so many options on these receivers I think it's sometimes easy to Find a setting that you know, maybe we think it's gonna make it sound better but It's not right for our listening space or what it is. We're listening to yeah, I just wish they had a button on it That's a good Right. I would just always push that button I will say that his TXSR 608 that he has currently was a pretty nice receiver in its day It was it was THX certified.

Okay, and it had onkyos WR AT amplifier technology Two things that you know, we don't find those badges on the newer models and that doesn't mean that they're less of a receiver No, it just means that they didn't license out THX and that the maybe their amplifier technology Maybe has changed ever so slightly so they're just not using rat anymore Oh, you might have to explain that WR AT, right? Which is an acronym for Didn't go there because Now we got to look that up Well, if you're gonna throw out rat, I know we might want some clarity. I know I don't know Might just leave it in does it does it in with transistor? I feel like it has to end with transistor I'm gonna say it ends with amplifier technology. Oh, yeah.

I know that makes more sense. I Didn't know if it was like moss. I Thought I knew what it was, but I didn't want to throw it out there and but I did I knew exactly what all the letters stand for WR AT.

Okay wide range amplifier technology There you go. This technology uses low negative feedback circuit topology for accurate signal reproduction Improved dynamic signal to noise ratio and better delivery of power peaks That's their special sauce for their amplifiers. It was in 14 14 years ago.

Yes, but they're doing something different now Okay, and so slightly different I would still say today's surround sound receivers should not be outperformed by one That's you know, nine ten years old. I wouldn't think so. If you're if if Randy bought a equivalent Ankyo Which you know would be like the TX NR 5100 that is a seven channel receiver same number of channels He has now but it's only 80 watts So he went down a little bit in power if that's the model he went to if he went to the TX RZ 30 he went to the same amount of power He has currently 100 watts, but he added two more channels nine channels And of course these several models he could have gone higher than sure But those are amazing receivers.

We have wonderful reviews from customers. They're great sellers Yep, and you know if they just didn't sound good We would have heard about that by now certainly certainly correct so safe to say we do not have enough specific information to like directly address Randy's experience, right? There's clues in here. Yeah, and I don't think and I don't I don't want to take away from what Randy's saying I don't doubt one bit that this has been his experience I don't think it is the experience of the majority of people buying Current model home theater receivers.

I think they're getting fantastic movie watching experiences music listening experiences And if you work with one of our advisors, then there's no doubt you'll get the right receiver for your situation Yeah, which should sound amazing. Absolutely All right, Huffy you ready for our last Facebook question. I am this one comes from rusty bones rusty bones That's an awesome name.

I think that's rusty's real name. I hope so. I hope so.

I hope it's not just a Facebook hand That's pretty awesome. Rusty bones says there seems to be a market for vintage analog gear Why hasn't a company designed and built a new model based on old-school features without all of the digital aspects? Wow, you know this actually piggybacks really well off that last question for sure. I wonder if Randy's comment inspired rusty bones, maybe So first off new model of what exactly I think we have questions, right? There's the reoccurring theme.

So, you know, this could be he could be asking about stereo receivers integrated amplifiers Separate preamp and amplifier set setups home theater receivers could be anything and we just talked home theater receivers So I sort of focused on the world of integrated amps Sounds very two-channel related me for the stereo receiver or integrated amp before home theater was a thing Which is a very digital thing to begin with right? Absolutely. So hearkening back to the world of two-channel stereo systems, yeah, and In the world of integrated amps. The first thing I thought of was the NAD Integrated amp that I had on my train in my training room for a couple years They still make a model that is just like it completely analog No digital inputs.

No optical. No coax. No HDMI No digital to analog converter built-in.

No Bluetooth Nothing. It didn't even have a display. Yeah, and that model is the NAD c3 16 be v2 And There's literally nothing digital about it.

It even has a big old toroidal power supply Its focus seems to be simplicity and sound quality. Yeah, but it's kind of a unicorn in the world of NAD because of the 15 NAD integrated amps we carry that is the only one that is 100% analog all of the other ones have Bluetooth digital analog converters and other digital aspects to it So it NAD is not leaning as hard into the analog only world as they used to Yeah, and I think that's them acknowledging that that market still exists But I mean these days most of us get our music even for someone like myself who you know I've got a turntable. I love that analog sound But the convenience of being able to whip out my phone and play high-res music It and be able to basically listen to any song almost ever right like yeah So there's some there's a few caveats there, but just that convenience usually outweighs my love for analog so But I get it.

I still I understand Wanting to come there's something nice about the you know, the tactile feel of an older integrated amplifier You know, we were talking about this before my dad's receiver that he had when when I was a kid So this was the the pioneer stereo receiver I grew up around and I look back on that thing and man I would have one of those over some of my other two channel setups now, and I know Really my stuff that I have at home now is is better in most ways, but there's something I Just love about that retro feel, you know, the the warmth of that receiver the way I remember it's what it's what? Stereo sounded like to me it as a kid played the soundtrack of my youth Yeah, right when I was young and I would love to recreate that so and it was probably only like 15 watts of power Yeah, so yeah, it was very weak compared to today's But you don't need a ton of power All the time sometimes it's and it's about other things and that's like this NAD It's only like 40 watts of power, but it is a class a B amp that older style That you know gets hotter is less efficient, right? But sounds warm and fuzzy Yeah Compared to every other NAD integrated amp and most integrated amps these days are class D amplifiers Newer switching amp technology that sounds maybe more perfect more clinically perfect but maybe doesn't have that warm fuzzy vinyl sound to it gives you a Audio hug. Yeah So there's other options besides NAD right and if you do want something with a little bit more power the Marantz model 50 Also features a class a B amp to roidal power supply and is 100% analog It looks very modern but is Very analog kind of old-school inside of it, right and its performance should be warmer and fuzzier than the more digital Counterparts. Yeah, so those will be two really nice options, but I'm saving the best for last.

Okay, because What Rusty bones is looking for he's right, there's a market for that right and Yamaha seems to really understand that. Oh, I know exactly where you're going at those I couldn't agree more Yamaha has three models depending on how much power you want and how cool you want it to look and your budget and your budget the AS 1200 2200 and 3200 are Integrated amps from Yamaha that not only are they everything I just described about the NAD in the Marantz meaning Analog everything on the inside to roidal transformer class a B amplification and by the way a lot more power, right? But they also look the part on the outside Analog level meters on the front. I love meters.

Oh god. It's so good Yeah, even the those meters even have like a warm amber glow to them Mm-hmm. It just looks the part of an old-school Tank of a receiver and that's kind of what it is and there's nothing digital about them.

No Bluetooth. No digital inputs No HDMI for your TV And I think the market rusty bones is talking about this is what it's made for and that doesn't mean you can't experience all of the modern conveniences and Also have this old-school analog yet very new very modern performing Integrated amp right, right. You just got to get separate boxes to do the convenient stuff, right? yeah, so you come into this with a Bluetooth adapter or Whichever a whole home audio Widget you want to plug into it so it can be integrated into you like you get a blue sound node Stream high-res music from title and Cobas and stuff like absolutely you could get a CD player that has a really nice built-in digital to analog converter you could get a standalone digital to analog converter a separate box to do that one job of converting digital sources into Analog audio for the Yamaha to then amplify.

Yep there's so many other ways to bring in modern conveniences without sacrificing the old-school warmth and fuzziness of Those class a B amps and all analog circuitry and toroidal power transformers and all that. Oh, yeah You know, it might sound like we're dogging on class D amplifiers But I do want to point out they've come a long way in the short time relatively short time They've been a thing and we're talking 20 years now, right? It's what class D has been around a bit and we've been around long enough to Understand that when it first came out it well it earned that reputation of Maybe being inferior in some ways to the class a B and the early versions of class D amps were really only used for like Bass for like car subwoofers and stuff because they had enough distortion that you could hear it on the mids and the highs You know vocals and guitars and trumpets and stuff, but you wouldn't really hear it on that low You know thumpy bass at the bottom. So it was a very efficient cost effective Way to amplify bass, right and The amplifier companies both in the world of 12-volt and in home Have spent a lot of time a lot of R&D a lot of research to figure out how to make class D sound clean Removing the distortion of those early class D and they have yeah Well, they run cooler right and that is a good thing and no situation is running hot a good heat is the enemy of good sound so They are just By design a cooler more efficient running amplifier and because of all of those advances that class D has become the norm It sounds good enough that Very picky audiophiles are buying class D amplifiers left and right And enjoying them so there might be some that are more picky than others that might not want to go down that road Which is why there are still Class a B amplifiers available like these Yamaha's this Marantz this NAD and there's other choices as well Yep If you are a person that prefers like the sound of vinyl to the sound of high-res audio You might prefer class a B amplification and there are choices for you.

There you go So all of these models that we just mentioned the NAD the Marantz in the Yamaha's They're highly rated by our customers for their simplicity their sound quality I just want to let you know how I found these To answer rusty bones his question like me. He didn't seem to know that these existed, right? I found these by going to crutchfield.com going to home audio and then selecting integrated amps and Then there's filters on the left side Oh so many filters and there isn't a filter for hey, where's all the old-school analog stuff? We don't have a retro filter doing right so here's what I did and here's what you can do if you're looking for what rusty bones is looking for select the Amplifier class filter and then choose a B instead of D Once you've selected that filter if you scroll down a little bit more we have another filter for built-in DAC and then we have a like a yes. Yes.

No. Yeah, that's just yeah So just click no there and you'll quickly narrow down your select selection to class a B Amplifiers that have no built-in DAC. There you go.

So they're out there That's how to find them and I'm so happy to report that we've got a great answer for rusty bones All right, huffy that's it for the Facebook comments, I've got a little present for everybody though You know given that it is December. Oh, it's it's it's presents time, right? And You ever seen like on Jimmy Kimmel, he does mean tweets, you know celebrities come on and they read mean tweets about themselves and then react Yes, I have seen those. I thought we could do something similar to that I don't know if my skin is thick enough for this.

Well, I got good news for you, buddy Okay, I couldn't find any about you. Here's what I did. I went through our YouTube comments on our recent videos Okay, and you know I star in a lot of our videos Zach Ned we have a bunch of people that regularly show up in Crutchfield videos.

Would you use the word star? Oh, of course Yes. All right top billing We call ourselves the talent. Mmm.

Yes And but we're not immune to some very creative Interesting comments when you throw yourself out there to the world. Yes so I've got comments about Zach comments about Ned comments about myself and I tried hard I went to Every single video you have starred in all three Hasn't been that many it's been a while and in none of them are recent. This was a deep dive.

Okay Okay, and there were some entertaining comments, but none of them about you Some of them criticized whatever you were talking about or the music choices We chose to play on the speakers you were showing off those are things like that. Those are group decisions, right? But nothing specifically about you. I don't know how to take that but you know what? I'm a half full kind of guy.

So I guess I did an okay job all those years ago on those videos I was in so we're gonna start with Zach. Okay Zach Is in quite a few of our videos now Zach is a tough-looking dude. I've played softball with and against this guy He'll throw himself on the ground to keep a ball in the infield.

He is tough and he looks tough Let's take a listen to a short clip of one of Zach's videos If you're looking for a stereo receiver with plenty of power Wi-Fi streaming and lots of inputs Yamaha RN 800 a is a great choice It's a high-performance network receiver that keeps it simple allowing you to focus on your music So Zach's tough appearance and his delivery may have inspired the following comments Here to read those comments to you is Zach himself Zach. Go ahead and read that first one there This is the guy I want showing up at my tenants door when they're late with their payment Do you do you feel like you would be a good tough landlord I would be so bad at that in real life but Out of all the comments I've ever gotten I have to admit this one puffed my chest out a little bit because I thought wow I look tough on TV But man, I'd be such a put you over. I'd be a terrible landlord for that reason knowing you like I do I feel like this tough exterior hides how much of a teddy bear you actually are.

I Am and I I don't think of myself as a tough guy in any way and It's always interesting to see kind of how the world perceives you I guess but I take this this comment Actually as a compliment personally. Yeah, right on Well good if you liked that one, you'll probably like these next two comments as well. They're actually rather sweet Go ahead and read Randy Spears comment The so Randy Spear, this is a the Kef Kota W powered speaker video I did recently.

Yeah, you want to hear a clip of that? Yeah, let's got it. Here we go. Those speakers are one of my favorite things.

We sell at Crutchfield They're super versatile and give you real stereo sound without needing a separate amplifier Today, we're gonna take a look at the Kef Kota W powered speakers okay, so Randy Spear says this dude's energy is contagious and Despite no slash s I believe Randy may have been sarcastic about that one and The best part for me 11 thumbs up. So yeah. Yeah How many views we get on our videos that represents probably most of the people and then Rush gush Says here's a hug seems like you need one and put a heart emoji.

I think people agree with that I think that was inspired as much by your delivery as the music playing underneath your delivery I'm gonna play another clip of that. Here you go If you're a Kef fan like me, you can see right away that the Kota W speakers don't look like Kef's other powered speakers Yeah, I feel like I'm lying in a spa and should be covered with the oils or something. Yeah Yeah, I feel like there's a montage going on in a like a Vince Gilligan TV show or something with this one You know, I I saw okay one's an accident twos a trend, right? So Randy Spear Thinks I'm a little low energy delivery.

Okay fair enough, but then the hug one comes in and I think okay There must be something to this and I think I think but you know to be fair to these people I was probably a little lower energy than usual that day and for me, of course That's kind of levels of low energy that get exuded. So, you know, this is another one kind of fair enough and Rush gushes point who wouldn't who would turn down a free hug? Come on, exactly We got one more comment from you. It's from the same video and I'll let you decide if this one is complimentary or not I've been thinking about this one.

Well, I'll read it first This is Josh cave 204 is the latest person to leave this comment Crutchfield. Please use real people in your product videos Consumers like me have no confidence in the opinion of an AI reviewer. We actually get this comment pretty often You know people think that it's done by III and we're AI and I Figure that's a compliment to honestly, that's that just means everything looks really nice Yeah, I was unsure if this comment was inspired by your delivery Maybe Or is it that the video of you looks so freaking good that people just can't think it's real Well, I thought you know if I knew how to do stuff with AI like create people in videos.

I wouldn't make it look like me But I don't know maybe maybe maybe I was just kind of Tired that morning or something, but it's kind of funny how how that Can shine through in a video which is which is interesting So you clearly work in the video department? You're in some videos I think you have a hand in writing some of the videos Or at least working with people that write for these videos. Is there any aspect of our videos where we are using? AI No, not at all And it's it's actually very manual process where they're focusing manually they're using big cinema cameras and monitors and pushing things around and pulling focus and Doing things kind of the way they've always done it in the video world and it's one of the most fun things about my job there is to kind of watch and learn from them and and yeah these days I do I write scripts and Generally the videos that I'm in I write that script. That's kind of how we do it now Yeah, I've written several scripts as well.

I did toy with AI on one script been but I quickly determined that what I could write was significantly better at educating our customers about our products than what AI could come up with and so every word of every script I've ever written is by me and Sounds like your scripts are the same Yeah, I mean, I'd like to learn a little bit more about using AI But what I think it's really good at is organizing things And I certainly don't want it doing any actual writing for me. Yeah, cool Well, one of your jobs is to actually like look through the YouTube comments and stuff, right like that You spend a lot of time in the comment section Yeah, I do and it's not just me There's people that answer the phones next door in the call center that also go through there and answer a lot of those so if you write a comment in there somebody here is gonna read it and you'd be surprised how much discussion that can Can create because we'll start somebody will bring up a good point in the comments and we'll start scurrying around trying to figure it out So yeah, so yeah, that's one of my Fun jobs. It's a little scary after you've just put up a video that you're in Sometimes but as listeners of this show may know I'm also in a lot of the videos and I'm gonna play you a short clip of one of the videos that I'm in that's inspired this comment and I want you to hang out with me Zack just so we can talk about it together So I'm gonna let it play.

There's a joke in here. I put a joke in this first paragraph I believe it that I thought was hilarious See if you pick up on it as you listen to the first paragraph of This video and then I'll read you Randy x4 s's comment If you have a modern TV, you've probably connected an HDMI cable HDMI has become the preferred connection method for all things video in your home Why is that and what do all those acronyms mean? HDCP ARC e ARC CEC VR are a LLM 4k 120 BLT I must be hungry Seriously, though. We will make sense of the alphabet soup surrounding the ubiquitous video connection known as high-definition multimedia interface or HDMI Did you catch the joke? Yes It's You're you're going through all those acronyms and you put in another common acronym and if somebody wasn't paying attention They might think huh? And I know the comment you're about to read to Randy x4 s says you're hungry.

I'm puzzled and confused. I Loved that one. I was actually looking looking for for JR comments this morning and came across that one, too Yeah, one of One of the good ones they did they they missed it yeah, and I Don't know maybe it's maybe I think I'm funnier than I am or maybe it was my delivery that I go through them too quickly Or was Randy x4 s just not on his viewer game that morning as he watched this And the joke just went over his head.

Is it on Randy or is it on me? I want to put this one on Randy. I think he was distracted I think I think you're right. You didn't happen to find any other comments about me.

Did you? Well, oddly enough I did JR. Thank you for asking. Oh boy actually, most people are very complimentary of JR because He's as you can hear him talking about HDMI just then he can take a topic like that and make it make sense However, sometimes he cannot escape the wrath of people like hello reality 101 Who in JR's much older how to install a backup camera video? Says you I was hoping for a more professional job than using posi taps. Those are trash.

Oh Ozzie taps, I actually remember that looking through the comments in that video. That video is rather old. It is old and it There was a lot of criticism of that video and I'm gonna come out and explain Something that I don't think most of our listeners or viewers wouldn't know When we made that video when you guys asked me to star in a video explaining how to install a backup camera Guess what one thing I had never done up until that point Hmm install a backup camera.

I knew it. I knew about it. I talked about it.

I trained people about it I understand the concept but I never actually done it And so what you are seeing in this video of me teaching you how to install a backup camera is me Learning how to install a backup camera. That is awesome. That's the Crutchfield way folks.

I We just assume you know how to do everything Jr. He's he's the trainer he's been here a long time he knows his stuff about everything You know, I honestly I didn't even know that Yeah, I didn't tell everybody that Until today. Well, what you got to love about Jr. Too is that? Despite that he still has this confidence. I can do this.

I haven't done it before and they're filming me, but I could do it Yeah, I mean I knew enough about it that I figured I could get through it And I also my confidence in our video team's ability to edit around all of the horrible mistakes. I might have made Was pretty strong. So I knew the video would come out All right, but still I remember the criticisms were things like this guy didn't snip the ends off of the zip ties and things like that and Well, yeah, you're right.

I didn't I was too worried about how am I gonna get this cable from the back of this Nissan Xterra to the front? Yeah, you see no way I needed here. No, you got any more. I do have another one And you know, this is in the same vein.

It's not so much a thing against you again But it's that in your XAV AX 3200 video. This reviewer has no credibility I have this model and the display is atrocious when the Sun hits it Ouch I have no credibility no credibility because you may have mentioned something about a it being viewable Well or something. Yeah, and I don't know I could have written that script that you were reading too.

So this could be my fault Oh, so this is you. Okay, possibly possibly. Yeah, I can't can't be sure but It's a team effort over here and I definitely know AI at all.

Yeah. No that Sony radio is It's a great radio. The Sony's have been wonderful for years I've had a Sony 9500 installed in my Subaru Crosstrek and the screen was great in the Sun and The 3200 advertised a similar screen.

So yeah I figured it was and now is it great in the Sun in every single person's car at every angle Everywhere they might live in America. Maybe not. Yeah, what if you're driving away from a sunset? That's just about to happen and it's glaring through the back window frying ants on your out on your dash.

Yeah Can you see it then sir? Well, you have no credibility zero credibility So that that was a little unfair, but you know, we get that You know, most of the commenters are out there asking real questions too, which is kind of cool. So So keep it up everybody. I'm glad you're watching.

Yeah, we really do look at these comments. We respond when it's appropriate We delete them when it's appropriate and we talk about them on the podcast when it's appropriate Zach Thank you so much for being here today. Thanks for having me Jr. Next up is Ned now, he's in a lot of our videos and he's a go-to guy for high-end home audio gear Here's an intro from one of his videos Today, we're looking at some of our favorite passive bookshelf speakers priced under 1500 bucks It's a nice selection because in this price range you start to see premium features and attention to detail That can make meaningful improvements in sound quality and that you can see and feel in the build quality That's not to say that you can't get really nice speakers for less Check out our roundup of the best models under $500 to see our favorites But if you can afford to step up you start to get into speakers that if you pass them on will be more like heirlooms than hand-me-downs like my vintage 1970s Dynaco 825s that cost the equivalent of what would be about a thousand bucks when they came out in 1969 and still look and sound great in my listening room today.

I think that's enough Let's read Ned's first comment and here to read the comment is Ned himself Ned turn that piece of paper over and Read the first comment along with the the guy's handle his YouTube handle. I will Let me just put on my readers. They are this is From Bill the stinker.

That's the one. I Live in a van down by the river and I am still happy with the Walkman Okay There's nothing wrong with that I mean you got to meet people where they are and if that's how it's going for him with a Walkman Who's to who am I to disagree? Are you indeed still happy with your Walkman? Well, I was an early adopter of the cassette Walkman. Yeah, I got one for Christmas I wanted one and I used it so much Even in hindsight you could tell The sound was distorted Especially Listening to like the Meat Puppets first record.

Yeah turned up all the way and other loud Kind of punk rock kind of stuff, but it was good. You know, you could do it Yeah, those headphones on those early Walkman very lightweight They pale in comparison to the headphone technology we have today. Yeah, definitely Also, what kind of van do you live in? I don't live in a van.

You don't live in a van I don't even have a van and I did visit my friend in Los Angeles and stayed in his van for a few days and understood why Van life can be challenging. I would imagine. Yeah.

Yeah, not for the faint of heart. No I got two more comments for you Ned and both of these come from your favorite stereo receivers for 2025 video and you have a little picture of Yourself yes in that video. Yeah, and before we read the comment I'll just say that you know shirt choice for each video shoot is a thing You know Ned and I have both been in a lot of videos and I don't know about you But I usually show up with two or three shirts Let them choose which one which color looks good with the set that day and things like that Totally and I think your shirt looks fine in this video But you know, I have pretty low standards for that kind of thing this commenter noticed something though Ned Go ahead and read at fact-based reality for 21s comments Okay This guy is the shizzle.

He has given up on his iron for audio. That is commitment Okay, and I read his comment and I couldn't quite figure out what he was referring to at first Then I went back and saw the video and I guess your shirt may be a little bit wrinkled Well, I have to confess that I don't iron my shirts life is too short. You don't have time for ironing Absolutely.

No, I don't either. Yeah, I do try to take my shirts out of the dryer a little early so they aren't totally wrinkled but Life is too short. That's my ironing as well And I don't always succeed at that Because life hey, I understand.

Yeah All right. We got one more for you Ned Go ahead and read the the guy's handle and the comment. This is from super Wuba This guy looks like Chevy Chase Now, I'm curious.

Do you see that as a compliment or an insult? I see it as a compliment but I Love Chevy Chase as a kid. I thought he was hilarious and I watched Pretty much all of his movies. Oh, yeah, and and and he was He was peaking when I was in high school, you know on Saturday Night Live and and Caddyshack Caddyshack I watched Hundreds of times it was one of the ones we had on video and I just watched it over and over and I Really appreciate his humor The I have also followed his story some and I Guess it's one of those don't meet your heroes kind of things But to be fair, I feel like that about pretty much all of my sort of musical and actor and artist heroes Anymore I don't expect much of those people as actual people Well, they're just people they're just people exactly that's that's more what I mean to say, but I think it's a compliment I think Chevy Chase you can't argue with some of those some of those lines and some of that delivery Beautiful, yeah, I mean the the era the Chevy Chase era of TV and movies was pretty great And I think the last great thing he did was community, right? He was fantastic on community, but then The Chevy Chase ever since community is questionable at best.

Yes Yeah, yeah And that's all we need to say about that. Yeah, but I love him. Thanks Ned for coming in and reading your YouTube comments We may do this again in a few months if you if you continue to star in wonderful videos You might generate comments that make us chuckle and that's all we're trying to do here.

Absolutely. We're here to have fun Thanks, Ned. Thanks All right, I'll see we've got one more thing to do before we wrap up this season this year In in last episode we asked for your questions and comments and well if you listen to us on Spotify You can actually comment on the episodes there Now not a lot of people do this I have found this to be true in my personal podcasts as well as Crutchfield the podcasts But we did get a comment this week.

However, it was from a podcast episode we did back in 2021 But we're gonna read it anyway, because it's fun. It's fun Here's the comment and the back-and-forth I had with our commenter Oscar Gilson Dimmick, I don't know if I'm saying that right he says For real Crutchfield saying 6-7 in the big 25 seconds 25 s now it's kind of cryptic I'm getting the feeling that Oscar is a younger person who speaks a different language than I do, but I interpreted I Think 25 is 2025 no 25 seconds. I know this because I found what he was referring to.

Okay All right, fr is all he put at the beginning fr stands for for real, right? Okay. Okay I picked that up translate. Okay, Crutchfield saying 6-7, which we all know that now.

Yeah in the big 5s You gotta say it right but big means beginning. Okay in the beginning 25 seconds Okay, and here's how I know I went and looked through transcripts of previous episodes looking for the word seven Okay, and I found it and this episode came out in 2021. I was saying something 600 6 or 700 of something was the quote I'm gonna play that right here So we are here today with another episode the point of Crutchfield The podcast is to talk to our employees of which we have many and we are growing there are I think somewhere in the neighborhood of six or seven hundred and boy It's hard to keep up and our guest today.

So that's what I said back in 2021 that inspired this comment For those wondering where's the six seven meme came from it actually started with us. Yeah, we started. Yeah So I responded to Oscar and I said that's right We're ahead of our time as this episode came out in 2021.

Gosh, that feels like I don't know six or seven years ago now It's seven. Thanks for listening. And thanks for the comment Oscar.

Keep them coming And that was just the beginning of my conversation with Oscar Oscar then says, oh my god. Thank you so much for replying I never thought I would talk to Crutchfield He's starstruck And he doesn't even know yet who he's talking to specifically at Crutchfield. That's next Oscar.

It's not that big of a deal I said well happy to oblige Oscar. This is JR host of the show I'm prepping our December show right now and we are looking for real questions from real listeners Got anything on your mind that we might be able to help with Oscar said oh my god. Is this actually JR Wow, I don't know I am really interested in retro car as I am 14 and saved all my money and bought in 1985 Mercedes 300 diesel and I'm super into retro car stereo those go for Wow, that's awesome Hey, there might be a pioneer coming this way.

I now have when I was responding to Oscar I was not aware of this new pioneer, right? I now have a better answer for Oscar than I mentioned in these comments. There you go I confirmed that it's yes, really me. I was I asked him some questions about his car He says well, it's definitely a project because it's got a ton of rust and more Bondo and fiberglass than a Corvette Also, I have basically no money so sorry, I can't buy a radio at this time I said don't apologize I'm not trying to sell your radio right now and I just wanted to make sure he knew that there are options out there and at the time I was thinking about like Retro sound of course companies that make rate retro looking radios But Oscar now you are one of the few people in the world that you know About the SXT 10 C 10 PS and whatever the North American version of that is going to be in 2026 start saving your money now and Be on the lookout for that when it comes out and you can bet that we will talk about that When it happens on the podcast, that's cool Oscar thank you so much for your comment on Spotify I hope this inspires many more because I truly enjoyed the back-and-forth With it directly with a listener and via Spotify comments, you can get us comments so many different ways, right? You can do it there.

You can review our podcast on Apple podcast. We will read those. Absolutely You can reply to us or send comment on our Facebook and Instagram reels and posts If you really want to be super direct, you can send us an email podcast at Crutchfield comm those emails go directly to Huffy and me And we will be the ones figuring out how to respond to whatever amazing questions you send us So, there you go, Merry Christmas Oscar and that's it that is it Crutchfield The podcast is wrapped for 2025 and we're excited to get rolling out new episodes in 2026 we hope you'll join us Tell a friend about our show comment review subscribe follow Please do all of those things so that Bill Crutchfield will continue to pay us to talk about the coolest stuff on the planet That's right.

And thanks to all that help us make this show including you Huffy. Oh big thing to you. Oh, thanks Yes, also Zach and Ned for coming in and reading their YouTube comments Tara and Dom for helping keeping me between the lines on this show And Alexis and Abby for helping us out with the social media stuff.

Absolutely. Happy New Year. Everybody.

Happy New Year Thanks, Bill