Setting up multi-channel audio like a home theater system has always been quite complicated and manufacturers lately have created unique products and technologies such as wireless speaker kit products or virtual surround sound to help simplify this procedure. I will look at a few of the latest technologies that were designed to make setting up home theater systems a breeze. I will highlight what to look out for when making your buying decision. Many of recent TVs will be set up as a multi-channel audio system. While traditionally TVs would come with built-in stereo loudspeakers, nowadays a number of external loudspeakers 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 extra side speakers.
Most of modern TVs will be set up as a multi-channel audio system. As traditionally TVs would have built-in stereo loudspeakers, these days a number of external speakers are used to let the viewer experience surround sound. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are used: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. More recent 7.1 systems need a total amount of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
Consequently installing a home theater has turn out to be fairly intricate and long speaker wire runs are normally undesirable for aesthetic reasons. A number of technologies have appeared to simplify this procedure. One option is reducing the quantity of loudspeakers by creating virtual speakers. This method applies signal processing to the sound and adds phase shifts and cues to the audio that would usually be broadcast through the remote speaker. Since the signal processing is based on how the human hearing detects the origin of audio, the audio components which underwent signal processing can be mixed with the front speaker components and broadcast by the front speakers. Because of the signal processing, the viewer is deceived into believing the audio is originating from virtual remote surround speakers.
The advantage of this technology is that only a handful of loudspeakers are needed and no long speaker wire has to be run throughout the viewing environment. The downside however is that each person will process audio in a different way due to the different shape of each human ear. Because the signal processing is based on a standard human ear model, virtual surround will not work equally well for everyone depending on how much the viewer varies from the standard model.
Wireless surround sound products are another option for simplifying home speaker installations and usually have a transmitter component that connects to the source and wireless amplifiers that will connect to the remote speakers. This transmitter will generally come with line-level and amplified loudspeaker inputs. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
A number of wireless speaker products are designed to connect 2 speakers per wireless amplifier. A superior option would come with a wireless amplifier for each remote speaker to eliminate the wire runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. The most sophisticated wireless products use digital transmission to avoid signal degradation. To ensure that all loudspeakers are in sync in a multi-channel application, be sure that you choose a wireless system which has an audio latency of a few milliseconds at most. If the latency is larger than 10 ms then there will be an echo effect which will deteriorate the surround sound. Some wireless systems operate at 5.8 GHz which offers the advantage of less competition from other wireless products than products utilizing the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
Another option are side-reflecting loudspeakers. These products are also called sound bars. In this case the sound for the remote loudspeakers will be broadcast by separate speakers located at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to appear to be coming from besides or behind the viewer. The result largely depends on the shape of the room and interior design and not work well in many real-world scenarios due to different room shapes and obstacles in the room.
Most of modern TVs will be set up as a multi-channel audio system. As traditionally TVs would have built-in stereo loudspeakers, these days a number of external speakers are used to let the viewer experience surround sound. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are used: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. More recent 7.1 systems need a total amount of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
Consequently installing a home theater has turn out to be fairly intricate and long speaker wire runs are normally undesirable for aesthetic reasons. A number of technologies have appeared to simplify this procedure. One option is reducing the quantity of loudspeakers by creating virtual speakers. This method applies signal processing to the sound and adds phase shifts and cues to the audio that would usually be broadcast through the remote speaker. Since the signal processing is based on how the human hearing detects the origin of audio, the audio components which underwent signal processing can be mixed with the front speaker components and broadcast by the front speakers. Because of the signal processing, the viewer is deceived into believing the audio is originating from virtual remote surround speakers.
The advantage of this technology is that only a handful of loudspeakers are needed and no long speaker wire has to be run throughout the viewing environment. The downside however is that each person will process audio in a different way due to the different shape of each human ear. Because the signal processing is based on a standard human ear model, virtual surround will not work equally well for everyone depending on how much the viewer varies from the standard model.
Wireless surround sound products are another option for simplifying home speaker installations and usually have a transmitter component that connects to the source and wireless amplifiers that will connect to the remote speakers. This transmitter will generally come with line-level and amplified loudspeaker inputs. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
A number of wireless speaker products are designed to connect 2 speakers per wireless amplifier. A superior option would come with a wireless amplifier for each remote speaker to eliminate the wire runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. The most sophisticated wireless products use digital transmission to avoid signal degradation. To ensure that all loudspeakers are in sync in a multi-channel application, be sure that you choose a wireless system which has an audio latency of a few milliseconds at most. If the latency is larger than 10 ms then there will be an echo effect which will deteriorate the surround sound. Some wireless systems operate at 5.8 GHz which offers the advantage of less competition from other wireless products than products utilizing the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
Another option are side-reflecting loudspeakers. These products are also called sound bars. In this case the sound for the remote loudspeakers will be broadcast by separate speakers located at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to appear to be coming from besides or behind the viewer. The result largely depends on the shape of the room and interior design and not work well in many real-world scenarios due to different room shapes and obstacles in the room.
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