Surround Sound
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Newest Accessories Make Setting Up Home Theater Kits A Breeze
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 installation of home theater systems. I will take a look at a few of the products and technologies which have emerged and give some advice about selecting proper components for a hassle-free installation.
While in the past setting up a TV has been rather easy, the emergence of multi-channel sound has made installing home theater systems a good deal more complex by requiring a number of external speakers to create surround sound. The most commonly used 5.1 surround sound format requires installing a total of 6 speakers. 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.
Consequently the installation of home theater systems has turn out to be a fairly difficult procedure. A lot of houses are not pre-wired for surround sound. Moreover, long speaker cables are often unattractive. Manufacturers have lately introduced new products and technologies. These devices were developed to help simplify the setup of home theater systems.
The first approach is known as virtual surround sound. This approach will take the audio components which would ordinarily be sent by the remote loudspeakers. It then uses signal processing to those components and inserts special cues and phase delays. After that these components are mixed with the front speaker audio. Since the signal processing is based on how the human hearing detects the origin of sound, the sound components which underwent signal processing can be mixed with the front speaker components and broadcast by the front speakers. Due to the signal processing, the viewer is deceived into thinking the audio is coming from virtual remote surround speakers.
Virtual surround eliminates the remote speakers and simplifies the installation and also avoids long speaker cable runs. However, it also has a disadvantage. The form of each human's ear is a little dissimilar. Thus everybody processes sound in a different way. The signal processing of these virtual surround systems is based on a standard model which was measured with a standard ear. However, virtual surround will not work equally well for each human.
An additional method for simplifying home theater installations and avoiding long speaker cord runs is to employ wireless surround sound devices or wireless speakers. A wireless solution will usually include a transmitter module that connects to the TV or source and in addition wireless amplifiers that will be connected to the remote speakers. The transmitter will normally come with amplified speaker inputs in addition to line-level inputs and come with a volume control to adjust it to the source audio level.
While a few wireless speaker kits have a wireless amplifier that connects to two speakers, other devices offer individual wireless amplifiers for each loudspeaker. The most advanced wireless systems employ digital transmission to avoid signal degradation. In multi-channel audio products, it is crucial to select a wireless option with a latency of merely a few milliseconds. This will ensure that the sound of all speakers is in perfect sync. If the latency is higher than 10 ms then there will be an echo effect which will deteriorate the surround sound. Some wireless devices operate at 5.8 GHz which offers the benefit of less competition from other wireless products than devices using the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
A third technology employs side-reflecting speakers. This option is known as sound bars. There are additional loudspeakers located at the front which broadcast the audio for the remote speakers from the front at an angle. The sound is then reflected by walls and appears to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. The effect largely will depend on the shape of the room and interior design and not work well in many real-world scenarios resulting from different room shapes and obstacles in the room.
How do I know what surround sound is compatible with my LCD TV?
How do I figure out was surround sound systems I can begin to browse for so it works on my TV.
Are all surround sound systems compatible with every TV? I don't think so. I don;t want to purchase a surround sound system if it isn't compatible to my television. Let me know what you think.
Todd....the surround system is not based on your TV. You need to look at [1] how much sound do you want (loudness - not good if you are in an apartment) [2] how many components you want to hook up to it (Cable, DVD, Game, CD, Blu-Ray) and then [3] how much do you want to spend?
A good home theater receiver will have 5 or 6 inputs including a couple of HDMI's and a couple component (RGB) inputs plus a few RCA - coax inputs. You then get a set of nice home theater speakers based on the room and your brand preference. You hook up all of you sources into the receiver and if it has internal HDMI switching then you just plug one HDMI input or optical cable to your TV and then everything is in surround provided the source your listening to is in surround. The TV volume is never used.
A home theater in a box (HTIB) is a very cheap and poor product. They typically have one input for alternate signals and its usually not HDMI. So its useless with a Blu-Ray player.
Hot in Cleveland: Season Two (DVDVerdict)
# The Charge
"You better buck up and bug down, bitch!" -- _Elka_ in jail
# The Case
One of 2010's most unlikely television hits was **Hot in Cleveland**, which
played out like a sitcom offspring of **Sex and the City** crossbred with
**The Golden Girls**. Thanks to the star power of Betty White, it launched
strong and kept the audience for the whole year. The show quickly became TV
Land's highest rated half hour, and they pulled out all the stops for its
twenty-two episode second season.
The adventures of Melanie (Valerie Bertinelli, **One Day at a Time**), Joy
(Jane Leeves, **Frasier**), Victoria (Wendie Malick, **Just Shoot Me**), and
Elka (Betty White, **The Mary Tyler Moore Show**) picked up right where they
left off. The three Los Angeles transplants stayed in Cleveland with their
cranky caretaker who was found with an entire basement of mafia loot and
stolen property. Started with Elka's trial, Season Two made a detour to Amish
country, showed a struggle for Joy's citizenship, provided plenty of love
problems along the way, and climaxed in **The Hangover**-inspired season
finale.
**Hot in Cleveland** works best when it plays safe and sound within
conventional trappings. These are ...
Bass and surround sound test
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