Multi-channel audio has become mainstream and manufacturers have created many types of basic and more advanced technologies including wireless surround speakers, virtual surround sound to simplify the setup of home theater products. I am going to look at a few of the most recent technologies that were developed to make installing home theater systems a breeze. I will highlight what to look out for when making your buying decision.
Historically, setting up a TV would be speedy because they would already provide built-in stereo speakers. This, on the other hand, has all changed with multi-channel audio. These days external speakers are utilized to create a surround sound effect. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are used: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. Newer 7.1 systems need a total amount of 8 speakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
Consequently setting up a home theater has become pretty hard and long speaker wire runs are normally undesirable for aesthetic reasons. Several technologies have emerged to simplify this procedure.
The advantage of this technology is that only a few speakers are needed and no long speaker cord has to be run throughout the viewing environment. The downside though is that each human will process audio in a different way as a result of the dissimilar shape of every human ear. Since the signal processing is based on a standard human ear model, virtual surround will not work equally well for every person depending on how much the viewer varies from the standard model.
Wireless surround sound products are an additional method for simplifying home speaker setups and usually include a transmitter module that connects to the source and wireless amplifiers that will connect to the remote speakers. This transmitter will normally provide line-level and also amplified speaker inputs. Ideally it should come with a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
A number of wireless speaker systems are designed to connect 2 loudspeakers per wireless amplifier. A better solution would have a wireless amplifier for each remote loudspeaker to avoid the cord runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. The most basic wireless systems use FM broadcast. FM transmission is susceptible to noise and audio degradation. More sophisticated products utilize digital audio transmission to perfectly preserve the original audio. Be certain that you pick a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most a few milliseconds. This will ensure that the audio from all speakers, including the non-wireless speakers, is in sync. Low latency is also important for good sync with the video. Otherwise there will be a noticeable echo type effect. A number of wireless devices work at 5.8 GHz which offers the benefit of less competition from other wireless products than devices employing the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
Another approach are side-reflecting loudspeakers. These kits are also known as sound bars. In this case the audio for the remote loudspeakers will be sent by individual loudspeakers positioned at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to seem to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This option works best in a square room with minimal interior design and obstacles. It will not work well in many real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes however.
Historically, setting up a TV would be speedy because they would already provide built-in stereo speakers. This, on the other hand, has all changed with multi-channel audio. These days external speakers are utilized to create a surround sound effect. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are used: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. Newer 7.1 systems need a total amount of 8 speakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
Consequently setting up a home theater has become pretty hard and long speaker wire runs are normally undesirable for aesthetic reasons. Several technologies have emerged to simplify this procedure.
The advantage of this technology is that only a few speakers are needed and no long speaker cord has to be run throughout the viewing environment. The downside though is that each human will process audio in a different way as a result of the dissimilar shape of every human ear. Since the signal processing is based on a standard human ear model, virtual surround will not work equally well for every person depending on how much the viewer varies from the standard model.
Wireless surround sound products are an additional method for simplifying home speaker setups and usually include a transmitter module that connects to the source and wireless amplifiers that will connect to the remote speakers. This transmitter will normally provide line-level and also amplified speaker inputs. Ideally it should come with a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
A number of wireless speaker systems are designed to connect 2 loudspeakers per wireless amplifier. A better solution would have a wireless amplifier for each remote loudspeaker to avoid the cord runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. The most basic wireless systems use FM broadcast. FM transmission is susceptible to noise and audio degradation. More sophisticated products utilize digital audio transmission to perfectly preserve the original audio. Be certain that you pick a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most a few milliseconds. This will ensure that the audio from all speakers, including the non-wireless speakers, is in sync. Low latency is also important for good sync with the video. Otherwise there will be a noticeable echo type effect. A number of wireless devices work at 5.8 GHz which offers the benefit of less competition from other wireless products than devices employing the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
Another approach are side-reflecting loudspeakers. These kits are also known as sound bars. In this case the audio for the remote loudspeakers will be sent by individual loudspeakers positioned at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to seem to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This option works best in a square room with minimal interior design and obstacles. It will not work well in many real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes however.
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