Setting up multi-channel audio like a home theater system has always been relatively complicated and vendors lately have come up with unique products and technologies such as wireless audio products or virtual surround sound to help simplify this process. I am going to take a look at some of the latest technologies which were designed to make installing home theater systems a snap. I will illustrate what to look out for when making your buying decision. Most of recent TVs will be set up as a multi-channel audio system. Whereas traditionally TVs would have built-in stereo loudspeakers, today a number of external speakers are used to let the viewer experience surround sound. While the traditional 5.1 format needs 6 speakers: a front center, two front side speakers, two rear speaker and a subwoofer, the more modern 7.1 format adds two additional side speakers.
As in the past setting up a TV has been pretty easy, the appearance of multi-channel audio has made setting up home theater systems much more complex by requiring a number of external speakers to create surround sound. As the traditional 5.1 format requires 6 speakers: a front center, two front side speakers, two rear speaker and a subwoofer, the more modern 7.1 format adds two additional side speakers.
Consequently, home theater setups have turn out to be rather difficult. Running wires to remote speakers also is often undesirable because of aesthetic reasons. Component suppliers have created a number of technologies to simplify the setup.
One option is minimizing the quantity of speakers by making virtual speakers. This approach applies signal processing to the audio and adds phase shifts and cues to the sound that would ordinarily be broadcast through the remote speaker. The signal processing is designed based on how the human hearing determines the location of a sound. The audio signal is then broadcast through the front loudspeakers. The signal processing has an effect that will trick the listener into assuming that the audio is originating from a different position.
Wireless surround sound devices are one more option for simplifying home speaker installations and usually come with a transmitter module that connects to the source and also wireless amplifiers that will connect to the remote loudspeakers. This transmitter will normally come with line-level along with amplified speaker inputs. Ideally it should come with a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
A number of wireless speaker systems are designed to connect 2 loudspeakers per wireless amplifier. A better solution would provide a wireless amplifier for each remote loudspeaker to eliminate the wire runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. Entry-level wireless kits utilize FM transmission or audio compression which will degrade the sound quality to some extent. More sophisticated wireless devices make use of uncompressed digital audio broadcast. In multi-channel audio devices, it is important to pick a wireless solution with a latency of only several milliseconds. This will make sure that the audio of all speakers is in perfect sync. A high latency would lead to an echo effect. This effect would deteriorate the surround effect. A few wireless products 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 utilizes side-reflecting loudspeakers. This method is named sound bars. There are extra loudspeakers positioned at the front which broadcast the sound for the remote speakers from the front at an angle. The audio is then reflected by walls and seems to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This method works best in a square room with minimal interior design and obstacles. It will not work well in many real-world scenarios with different room shapes though.
As in the past setting up a TV has been pretty easy, the appearance of multi-channel audio has made setting up home theater systems much more complex by requiring a number of external speakers to create surround sound. As the traditional 5.1 format requires 6 speakers: a front center, two front side speakers, two rear speaker and a subwoofer, the more modern 7.1 format adds two additional side speakers.
Consequently, home theater setups have turn out to be rather difficult. Running wires to remote speakers also is often undesirable because of aesthetic reasons. Component suppliers have created a number of technologies to simplify the setup.
One option is minimizing the quantity of speakers by making virtual speakers. This approach applies signal processing to the audio and adds phase shifts and cues to the sound that would ordinarily be broadcast through the remote speaker. The signal processing is designed based on how the human hearing determines the location of a sound. The audio signal is then broadcast through the front loudspeakers. The signal processing has an effect that will trick the listener into assuming that the audio is originating from a different position.
Wireless surround sound devices are one more option for simplifying home speaker installations and usually come with a transmitter module that connects to the source and also wireless amplifiers that will connect to the remote loudspeakers. This transmitter will normally come with line-level along with amplified speaker inputs. Ideally it should come with a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
A number of wireless speaker systems are designed to connect 2 loudspeakers per wireless amplifier. A better solution would provide a wireless amplifier for each remote loudspeaker to eliminate the wire runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. Entry-level wireless kits utilize FM transmission or audio compression which will degrade the sound quality to some extent. More sophisticated wireless devices make use of uncompressed digital audio broadcast. In multi-channel audio devices, it is important to pick a wireless solution with a latency of only several milliseconds. This will make sure that the audio of all speakers is in perfect sync. A high latency would lead to an echo effect. This effect would deteriorate the surround effect. A few wireless products 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 utilizes side-reflecting loudspeakers. This method is named sound bars. There are extra loudspeakers positioned at the front which broadcast the sound for the remote speakers from the front at an angle. The audio is then reflected by walls and seems to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. This method works best in a square room with minimal interior design and obstacles. It will not work well in many real-world scenarios with different room shapes though.
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