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 review the latest trends to understand which products actually work. I will also give some guidance for choosing the ideal components.
Consequently the setup of home theater products has become a relatively complicated process. Numerous homes are not pre-wired for surround sound. Moreover, long speaker wires are often unattractive. Some technologies have emerged to simplify this process.
The first solution 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 sent by the remote loudspeakers. Since the signal processing is based on how the human hearing detects the origin of sound, the audio components which underwent signal processing can be mixed with the front speaker components and sent by the front speakers. Because of the signal processing, the viewer is deceived into believing the audio is coming from virtual remote surround speakers.
The benefit of this technology is that only a couple of speakers are needed and no long speaker cable has to be run all through the viewing environment. The downside however is that each human will process sound in a different way because of the dissimilar form of each human ear. The signal processing is based on measurements which are done using a standard human ear model. If the shape of the ear changes, sound will travel differently. Therefore virtual surround will not function equally well for every person.
The benefit of this technology is that only a handful of speakers are needed and no long speaker cord has to be run throughout the viewing environment. The downside however is that each human will process sound in a different way as a result of 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. Therefore virtual surround will not function equally well for everyone. An additional option for simplifying home theater setups and avoiding long speaker cord runs is to make use of wireless surround sound devices or wireless speakers. A wireless solution will generally incorporate a transmitter module that connects to the TV or source and in addition wireless amplifiers that will be connected to the remote speakers. Normally the transmitter component will have amplified speaker inputs and line-level inputs. This provides freedom to connect to any type of source. A transmitter volume control helps maximize the dynamic range and eliminates clipping of the audio within the transmitter.
A few wireless systems have wireless amplifiers that connect to two loudspeakers. This still requires wire runs between the two speakers. Other products come with individual wireless amplifiers for every speaker. Entry-level wireless devices employ FM broadcast or audio compression that will deteriorate the audio quality to some extent. More sophisticated wireless kits use uncompressed digital audio transmission. To be certain that all speakers are in sync in a multi-channel application, make certain that you select a wireless system which has an audio latency of a few milliseconds at most. A high latency would lead to an echo effect. This effect would deteriorate the surround effect. Many wireless gadgets work in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Some products utilize the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band and therefore 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 speakers will be sent by separate loudspeakers located at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to seem to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This method works best in a square room with minimum interior design and obstacles. It will not work well in many real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes though.
Consequently the setup of home theater products has become a relatively complicated process. Numerous homes are not pre-wired for surround sound. Moreover, long speaker wires are often unattractive. Some technologies have emerged to simplify this process.
The first solution 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 sent by the remote loudspeakers. Since the signal processing is based on how the human hearing detects the origin of sound, the audio components which underwent signal processing can be mixed with the front speaker components and sent by the front speakers. Because of the signal processing, the viewer is deceived into believing the audio is coming from virtual remote surround speakers.
The benefit of this technology is that only a couple of speakers are needed and no long speaker cable has to be run all through the viewing environment. The downside however is that each human will process sound in a different way because of the dissimilar form of each human ear. The signal processing is based on measurements which are done using a standard human ear model. If the shape of the ear changes, sound will travel differently. Therefore virtual surround will not function equally well for every person.
The benefit of this technology is that only a handful of speakers are needed and no long speaker cord has to be run throughout the viewing environment. The downside however is that each human will process sound in a different way as a result of 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. Therefore virtual surround will not function equally well for everyone. An additional option for simplifying home theater setups and avoiding long speaker cord runs is to make use of wireless surround sound devices or wireless speakers. A wireless solution will generally incorporate a transmitter module that connects to the TV or source and in addition wireless amplifiers that will be connected to the remote speakers. Normally the transmitter component will have amplified speaker inputs and line-level inputs. This provides freedom to connect to any type of source. A transmitter volume control helps maximize the dynamic range and eliminates clipping of the audio within the transmitter.
A few wireless systems have wireless amplifiers that connect to two loudspeakers. This still requires wire runs between the two speakers. Other products come with individual wireless amplifiers for every speaker. Entry-level wireless devices employ FM broadcast or audio compression that will deteriorate the audio quality to some extent. More sophisticated wireless kits use uncompressed digital audio transmission. To be certain that all speakers are in sync in a multi-channel application, make certain that you select a wireless system which has an audio latency of a few milliseconds at most. A high latency would lead to an echo effect. This effect would deteriorate the surround effect. Many wireless gadgets work in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Some products utilize the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band and therefore 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 speakers will be sent by separate loudspeakers located at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to seem to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This method works best in a square room with minimum interior design and obstacles. It will not work well in many real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes though.
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