Am I Getting The Most From My Sound System?
Submitted by KC on Thu, 04/22/2010 - 9:01am
The objective of home theater is to recreate the experience of being in a movie theater or at the big game. It is the combination of both large format HDTV and surround sound.
Modern movies and large-scale TV features (like sports events, award shows and even most primetime TV shows) are made in surround sound. In fact, sound and sound editing are such important features of movies that Academy Awards are given out in these categories.
Most built-in TV speakers are 2.1 channel, whereas surround sound can be up to 7.1. (Note: the ".1" represents a subwoofer for that extra bass boost.) There are several options for speaker systems that will fit your home and lifestyle.
Bar speakers, for example, are the least invasive. Bar speakers look a lot like center channel speakers, but are designed to handle more than one channel and many contain their own amplifier. B&W's Panorama Sound Bar is an example of a single speaker offering 5.1 surround sound.
Another simple answer is speaker packagers. These contain two, five or seven speakers and a subwoofer. They are ideal for small rooms and for people who don't want to hassle with equipment matching. There are several "home theater in a box" options, such as Klipsch's Hi-Def 5.1 speaker system.
For larger rooms and higher performance, consider a piece-by-piece system based around a receiver. Most offer automatic set-up that detects speaker distance and channels, adjusting the audio feed accordingly. Most new receivers offer additional featuers such as Dolby and THX Certification for higher quality sound; and several are satellite radio-ready, iPod compatible, and more.
And for the most enthusiastic audiophiles, separates-based systems offer the most performance. Similar to receiver-based systems, in a sense that you will piece together your components, separates divide a receiver's functions between two components: a multi-channel power amplifier and a surround pre-amp processor. Dividing functions like this allows the amplifier to power more demanding speakers creating more powerful and higher quality sound.
