Recent Technologies Make Building Multi-Channel Audio Kits A Breeze
Posted by: Matt in Laptop Insurance InfoThe process of installing multi-channel audio speakers in home theater systems is quite tedious and manufacturers have invented new products and technologies like wireless surround sound speakers or surround sound wireless headphones lately to help simplify the setup. I am going to look at a number of of the latest technologies that were designed to make installing home theater systems a breeze. I will point out what to look out for when making your buying decision.
The majority of latest TVs will be installed as a multi-channel audio system. As traditionally TVs would come with built-in stereo loudspeakers, today a number of external loudspeakers are used to allow the viewer experience surround sound. The most commonly used 5.1 surround sound format requires setting up a total of 6 speakers. These are one center speaker, two front side speakers, two rear speakers and a subwoofer. The newer 7.1 standard increases this number to 8 by adding two extra side speakers.
Therefore the setup of home theater products has become a relatively complicated process. Numerous homes are not pre-wired for surround sound. Moreover, long speaker cables are often unattractive. Part suppliers have created several technologies to simplify the setup.
The first option is known as virtual surround sound. This method will take the audio components which would normally be broadcast by the remote loudspeakers. It then uses signal processing to those components and inserts special cues and phase delays. Next these components are mixed with the front speaker sound. The sound is next broadcast by the front loudspeakers along with the front speaker sound components. The signal processing is modeled after the human hearing. It uses the knowledge about how the human ear can determine the origin of sound. The viewer is in effect tricked into assuming the audio is originating from a location other than the front speakers.
The benefit of this technology is that only a few speakers are required and no long speaker cable has to be run throughout the viewing environment. The drawback though is that each human will process sound in a different way because of the different shape 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. Consequently virtual surround will not function equally well for every person.
An alternative solution for simplifying home theater installations and eliminating long speaker cord runs is to use wireless surround sound kits or wireless speakers. A wireless solution will usually include a transmitter module that connects to the TV or source as well as wireless amplifiers that will be connected to the remote speakers. This transmitter will usually have line-level in addition to amplified speaker inputs. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
Some wireless speaker systems are designed to connect 2 speakers per wireless amplifier. A better option would have a wireless amplifier for every remote loudspeaker to avoid the wire runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. Entry-level wireless systems utilize FM broadcast or audio compression which will degrade the sound quality to some extent. More advanced wireless kits use uncompressed digital audio transmission. To make certain that all loudspeakers are in sync in a multi-channel application, be sure that you pick a wireless system which has an audio latency of just a few milliseconds at most. A large latency would lead to an echo effect. This effect would degrade the surround effect. Wireless kits frequently utilize the 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band. Some products also use the 5.8 GHz band. These products have less competition from other wireless products than devices using the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz bands.
Another method, which is often referred to as sound bars utilizes side-reflecting loudspeakers. In this case the audio for the remote loudspeakers 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. The effect by and large is dependent upon the shape of the room and interior design and not function well in many real-world scenarios because of different room shapes and obstacles in the room.
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