Multi-channel audio has become mainstream and manufacturers have come up with many types of basic and more advanced technologies such as wireless surround sound speakers, virtual surround sound to simplify the installation of home theater kits. I will look at a number of of the newest technologies that were developed to make setting up home theater systems a snap. I will point out what to look out for when making your buying decision. Most of modern TVs will be set up as a multi-channel audio system. While traditionally TVs would have built-in stereo loudspeakers, today a number of external speakers are used to let the viewer experience surround sound. The most commonly used 5.1 surround sound format requires setting up a total of 6 loudspeakers. These are one center speaker, two front side speakers, two rear speakers and a subwoofer. The more recent 7.1 standard raises this number to 8 by adding two additional side speakers.
Thus the setup of home theater kits has turn out to be a relatively complex process. Numerous homes are not pre-wired for surround sound. Moreover, long speaker cables are often unattractive. Manufacturers have recently released new devices and technologies. These devices were created to help simplify the installation of home theater systems.
Thus installing a home theater has turn out to be rather difficult and long speaker wire runs are often undesirable for aesthetic reasons. Part suppliers have designed several technologies to simplify the setup.
The first option is generating so-called virtual speakers by applying signal-processing to the audio and introducing phase shifts and special cues to those audio parts that would usually be broadcast by the remote loudspeakers. The signal processing is engineered based on how the human hearing determines the location of a sound. The audio signal is then sent by the front loudspeakers. The signal processing has an effect that will trick the listener into assuming that the audio is coming from an alternate position.
The benefit of this technology is that only a handful of loudspeakers are required and no long speaker wire has to be run all through the viewing environment. The downside however is that each human will process audio differently due to the different form of each human ear. The signal processing is based on measurements which are done using a standard human ear model. If the form of the ear changes, sound will travel in a different way. Thus virtual surround will not work equally well for every person. Wireless surround sound devices are another option for simplifying home speaker setups and normally have a transmitter component which connects to the source in addition to wireless amplifiers that will connect to the remote loudspeakers. This transmitter will generally provide line-level as well as amplified speaker inputs. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
Whereas a few wireless speaker devices come with a wireless amplifier that connects to two speakers, other products offer separate wireless amplifiers for each speaker. The most basic wireless systems utilize FM broadcast. FM transmission is susceptible to noise and audio distortion. More sophisticated systems employ digital audio transmission to completely preserve the original audio. Make certain that you select a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most a few milliseconds. This will ensure that the sound from all loudspeakers, 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 kind effect. Many wireless devices operate in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Some products utilize the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band and as a result have less competition from other wireless products.
A third technology utilizes side-reflecting speakers. This method is named sound bars. In this case the sound for the remote loudspeakers will be sent by separate loudspeakers positioned at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to appear to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This approach works best in a square room with minimum interior design and obstacles. It will not work well in a lot of real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes however.
Thus the setup of home theater kits has turn out to be a relatively complex process. Numerous homes are not pre-wired for surround sound. Moreover, long speaker cables are often unattractive. Manufacturers have recently released new devices and technologies. These devices were created to help simplify the installation of home theater systems.
Thus installing a home theater has turn out to be rather difficult and long speaker wire runs are often undesirable for aesthetic reasons. Part suppliers have designed several technologies to simplify the setup.
The first option is generating so-called virtual speakers by applying signal-processing to the audio and introducing phase shifts and special cues to those audio parts that would usually be broadcast by the remote loudspeakers. The signal processing is engineered based on how the human hearing determines the location of a sound. The audio signal is then sent by the front loudspeakers. The signal processing has an effect that will trick the listener into assuming that the audio is coming from an alternate position.
The benefit of this technology is that only a handful of loudspeakers are required and no long speaker wire has to be run all through the viewing environment. The downside however is that each human will process audio differently due to the different form of each human ear. The signal processing is based on measurements which are done using a standard human ear model. If the form of the ear changes, sound will travel in a different way. Thus virtual surround will not work equally well for every person. Wireless surround sound devices are another option for simplifying home speaker setups and normally have a transmitter component which connects to the source in addition to wireless amplifiers that will connect to the remote loudspeakers. This transmitter will generally provide line-level as well as amplified speaker inputs. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
Whereas a few wireless speaker devices come with a wireless amplifier that connects to two speakers, other products offer separate wireless amplifiers for each speaker. The most basic wireless systems utilize FM broadcast. FM transmission is susceptible to noise and audio distortion. More sophisticated systems employ digital audio transmission to completely preserve the original audio. Make certain that you select a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most a few milliseconds. This will ensure that the sound from all loudspeakers, 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 kind effect. Many wireless devices operate in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Some products utilize the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band and as a result have less competition from other wireless products.
A third technology utilizes side-reflecting speakers. This method is named sound bars. In this case the sound for the remote loudspeakers will be sent by separate loudspeakers positioned at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to appear to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This approach works best in a square room with minimum interior design and obstacles. It will not work well in a lot of real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes however.
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