Setting up multi-channel audio like a home theater system has always been rather difficult and vendors lately have come up with unique products and technologies like wireless speaker kit products or virtual surround sound to help simplify this process. I will have a look at some of the products and technologies that have appeared and give some pointers about choosing suitable components for a hassle-free installation. Historically, installing a TV would be fast because they would already come with built-in stereo speakers. This, on the other hand, has all changed with multi-channel sound. These days external speakers are utilized to create a surround sound effect. 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 require a total amount of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 extra side speakers.
While in the past installing a TV has been quite straightforward, the appearance of multi-channel sound has made installing home theater systems much more challenging by requiring a number of external speakers to create surround sound. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are used: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. Newer 7.1 systems need a total quantity of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
Thus the installation of home theater kits has turn out to be a fairly complicated process. Many houses are not pre-wired for surround sound. Furthermore, long speaker cables are often unattractive. A number of technologies have emerged to simplify this process.
The first solution is building 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 broadcast by the remote speakers. As 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 sent by the front speakers. Due to the signal processing, the viewer is tricked into thinking the sound is coming from virtual remote surround speakers.
Wireless surround sound devices are an additional method for simplifying home speaker installations and usually include a transmitter module which connects to the source and also wireless amplifiers which will connect to the remote loudspeakers. This transmitter will normally have line-level along with amplified loudspeaker inputs. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
Some wireless speaker devices are designed to connect 2 speakers per wireless amplifier. A superior option would have a wireless amplifier for every remote loudspeaker to get rid of the cable runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. The most sophisticated wireless systems use digital transmission to eliminate signal degradation. To make sure that all loudspeakers are in sync in a multi-channel application, ensure that you pick a wireless system which has an audio latency of a few milliseconds at most. If the latency is higher than 10 ms then there will be an echo effect which will deteriorate the surround sound. Many wireless devices work in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Some products use the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band and therefore have less competition from other wireless gadgets.
A third technology utilizes side-reflecting speakers. This solution is called sound bars. In this case the sound for the remote loudspeakers will be broadcast by individual speakers located at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to appear to be coming from besides or behind the viewer. This method works best in a square room with minimum interior design and obstacles. It will not function well in a lot of real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes however.
While in the past installing a TV has been quite straightforward, the appearance of multi-channel sound has made installing home theater systems much more challenging by requiring a number of external speakers to create surround sound. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are used: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. Newer 7.1 systems need a total quantity of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
Thus the installation of home theater kits has turn out to be a fairly complicated process. Many houses are not pre-wired for surround sound. Furthermore, long speaker cables are often unattractive. A number of technologies have emerged to simplify this process.
The first solution is building 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 broadcast by the remote speakers. As 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 sent by the front speakers. Due to the signal processing, the viewer is tricked into thinking the sound is coming from virtual remote surround speakers.
Wireless surround sound devices are an additional method for simplifying home speaker installations and usually include a transmitter module which connects to the source and also wireless amplifiers which will connect to the remote loudspeakers. This transmitter will normally have line-level along with amplified loudspeaker inputs. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.
Some wireless speaker devices are designed to connect 2 speakers per wireless amplifier. A superior option would have a wireless amplifier for every remote loudspeaker to get rid of the cable runs between each of the 2 remote speakers. The most sophisticated wireless systems use digital transmission to eliminate signal degradation. To make sure that all loudspeakers are in sync in a multi-channel application, ensure that you pick a wireless system which has an audio latency of a few milliseconds at most. If the latency is higher than 10 ms then there will be an echo effect which will deteriorate the surround sound. Many wireless devices work in the 900 MHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands. Some products use the less crowded 5.8 GHz frequency band and therefore have less competition from other wireless gadgets.
A third technology utilizes side-reflecting speakers. This solution is called sound bars. In this case the sound for the remote loudspeakers will be broadcast by individual speakers located at the front at an angle and reflected by walls as to appear to be coming from besides or behind the viewer. This method works best in a square room with minimum interior design and obstacles. It will not function well in a lot of real-world scenarios with diverse room shapes however.
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