Why are the connection diagrams for home theater systems so very different from my existing equipment?
I guess they do this to save money, but I’ve noticed several times that I’ve bought a piece of equipment where the diagrams in the manual did not resemble what was on the back of the back of the unit in my possession. There’s usually a disclaimer somewhere saying that “model x is pictured”, but since I have “model y” it doesn’t do me much good. The principles are generally the same, though, so I can usually figure out the correct connections even though the diagrams are different. Another thing that happens for those connection diagrams is that they have no idea what other equipment you may have. So when they’re instructing you on how to interconnect them, they’re giving really general instructions that just don’t apply in your case. A lot of this is also partly due to where the manuals are written. Often times you can tell a native English speaker did not write them. The technical writer they employed may not be fully versed with equipment available in America, so they end up writing
