How to Save Money on Your Entertainment Expenses

The Economics of Owning a Dolby Atmos® Surround Sound System

What you used to spend on groceries, restaurants, and tickets has skyrocketed in the past few months. You’re not alone if you’re gawking at your grocery receipt. The cost of consumer goods increased by 6.5% from December 2021 to December 2022, reportedly some of the highest inflation rates in nearly 40 years.

Entertainment Industry Inflation

And this doesn’t stop with food costs. Nearly every industry has been affected by the rising inflation rates, entertainment included. One festival producer reported that concert equipment rental rates had risen almost 300% since pre-pandemic times, forcing artists and venues to raise ticket prices.

So while you might be keeping your budget tight, you still deserve to enjoy quality entertainment. Investing in a high-quality sound system for your home can be the perfect, cost-saving, long-term solution. Even if you aren’t on a tight budget, getting the best entertainment experience for your money is always essential. Let’s look at what the average person spends a year on entertainment and how it compares with the cost of an at-home, next-level home audio system.

In 2015, Americans spent an average of $652 on movies, arts, sports, and other entertainment and recreational activities per year. More specifically, this averaged around $46 for concerts and plays per year and $43 for sporting events. Social and recreational memberships, like gyms, sporting clubs, and teams round out the rest of the category.

Today, due to rapid inflation in the U.S. economy, the average American spends roughly $3,269 per year on entertainment-related purchases. For a family of four, that’s $13,076! This category of spending for Americans is higher than the average consumer spends on gasoline or travel annually. Compared with the 2015 spending statistics, the average concert ticket in the U.S. in 2022 increased by nearly 18% from previous years, selling for almost $110 per ticket. Similarly, tickets for sporting events, specifically within the NFL, in 2022 sold for an average of $151 per seat.

On top of these already inflated prices, it’s important to mention that admission costs are only part of the total spend. Factor in the cost of gas, parking, gameday apparel, food, and alcoholic beverages per person per game. And what if you are a family of 4 or 6? It can all add up fast!

Sound Technology Has Completely Changed

Sound technology is vastly different now with Dolby Atmos immersive audio! With Dolby Atmos, recording engineers and producers work within a three-dimensional space locating sounds anywhere around the listener and creating a much more immersive entertainment experience. Think about going to a baseball game. When you sit in your seat, you hear the bat crack as it hits the ball down in the field, then you listen to fans around you roar. You may hear the ball clank against the foul ball pole up in the air, down at the back of the field. You may hear someone screaming popcorn and peanuts behind you. Microphones have already been installed throughout stadiums for decades. Now, with Dolby Atmos, you can hear all the sounds from the game exactly where they occur in space, making you feel like you are at the ball game in the comfort of your air-conditioned (or heated) house.

Dolby Atmos TV shows and movies are produced in the same fashion. If a jet or rocket roars overhead, that is where the sound should come from. If an actor is working hard at work at their desk and is frightened by a knock at the door behind them, the sound should come from that direction. If actors trudge through a blizzard, the listener should hear ice and snow fall from above.

The height dimension in Dolby Atmos is achieved by locating speakers physically in the ceiling. Now, the easier to install and use technology is the use of up-firing speakers to reflect sound off the ceiling. The sound bounces back down towards the listener, creating the 3D sound. These up-firing speakers can be independent of the front speaker or integrated into them. As another option, some systems rely on a virtual Dolby Atmos effect rather than having overhead or up-firing physical speakers responsible for the Dolby Atmos content. Virtual Dolby Atmos is remarkably better than non-Atmos systems but not as good as having up-firing speakers.

In addition to advancements is sound “height,” now WiSA has delivered a wireless technology used by Platin Audio to deliver the immersive sound of a movie theater, a concert, or a stadium event in your home. With their WiSA Certification, Platin Audio's Atmos entertainment systems are quick to set up and deliver pure uncompressed audio for you.  You no longer have to drill holes in your walls or buy a soundbar that produces marginally better sound than your TV. WiSA can support up to eight (8) wireless audio channels. You can achieve TRUE surround sound by locating front speakers far apart and rears, subs, and height speakers in their proper locations without speaker wires. Think about hearing the voice behind you if the character is shouting down a hall. You can listen to the rain fall all around you, a door slam behind you, or a spaceship fly overhead.

However, unlike most Bluetooth speakers with rechargeable batteries, WiSA speakers typically need an external power source, allowing WiSA certified brands to create powerful speakers capable of amazingly realistic sound. You will be amazed at the extreme high quality of WISA wireless sound. At the front of several of these great sound systems is WISA SoundSend, the universal transmitter. WiSA SoundSend easily connects to any modern TV via your HDMI connection. The system then creates its own wireless network so you have no interruptions from bad connections and your video and audio always match perfectly.

Putting You in Control

Instead of all the inflated costs, let’s look at setting up an entertainment system in your home that will make you feel like you’re sideline at the game or front row at the concert without the over-the-top price tag. You won’t have traffic jams. You will have your nice clean restroom and kitchen. You can prepare your own food or door dash it to you! And you can invite as many friends as possible and have front-row seats! No annoying neighbors unless you invite them! You also don’t need a babysitter or pet sitter! You can put the kids to bed and have your puppy on your lap!

For comparison, we will not use speakers that cost $200,000 (they do exist) or the Samsung $150,000 110” TV. We are using an Atmos enabled entertainment system with a high performance to cost ratio. Platin Monaco 5.1.2 with WISA SoundSend sells for $1,499, and a very nice WiSA SoundSend Certified 65” LG TV also sells for around $1,500. If you purchase both of these state-of-the-art electronics, you will be spending $750 per person for an average family of four. We will use this amount for our annual analysis even though, obviously, the TV and sound system will be yours for years to come. If we add in $200 a month for door dash and other food and beverages for the family (and that’s a lot!), The grand total for your own personal stadium or theater comes to $1,350 a year, or 41% of the base cost of game, concert, and theater attendance.

You might still want to have a date night or a day out with the family or friends, but even with a couple of excursions, you will still save money, time, and sanity! Rather than spending more than $13,000 annually on entertainment, a Dolby Atmos sound system has revolutionary technology so that you can:

• Enjoy a movie as if you were at the theater from the comfort of your couch. Sip on your drinks and eat snacks from your pantry while lounging with family and friends in pajamas. Hear the patter of footsteps or the slamming of doors in your favorite thriller as if it was happening right behind you. Feel the scratching as if it was over your head during Stranger Things! And avoid annoying people… unless that’s your family. And, of course, surround yourself with your pets.
• Catch your favorite team from home. Save big on the cost of beers (averaging $11.50 per 16 ounces at most NFL games), avoid the long walk to the stadium and the dreaded cost of parking (in 2021, the least-expensive stadium parking pass would’ve run you $103). Plus, in watching the game at home, you’ll stay clear of any long lines or dirty stadium bathrooms. You can keep the volume just as you like it. You’ll actually be able to hear the official calls over the incessant booing, and you can rewind if you’re up from the couch sneaking a snack from the kitchen. A win-win if you ask us.

Investing in a Dolby Atmos surround sound system will save you big in the entertainment category. For a one-time cost to purchase the system you’ll be enjoying movies, TV series, sporting events, music videos, video games, and so much more, in a whole new capacity, for years to come.

Check out the Platin Audio family, especially the Monaco 5.1.2 with WiSA-certified Soundsend with Dolby Atmos. Platin Audio brings the joys of entertainment into the home environment at an affordable price. With the current inflation rates, everyone could use a few dollars back in their pockets. With an investment in Platin Audio, that’s easy.