The procedure of installing multi-channel audio speakers in home theater products is fairly tedious and manufacturers have invented new products and technologies such as wireless surround sound speakers or surround sound wireless headphones lately to help simplify the setup. I will review the most recent trends to figure out which products in fact work. I will also give some advice for selecting the ideal components.
Most of today’s TVs will be set up as a multi-channel audio system. While historically TVs would have built-in stereo loudspeakers, today a number of external speakers are used to allow the viewer experience surround sound. 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 number of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 additional side speakers.
Therefore, home theater setups have become quite complex. Running wires to remote speakers also is often undesirable due to aesthetic reasons. A number of technologies have emerged to simplify this process.
The first approach is building so-called virtual speakers by applying signal-processing to the sound and introducing phase shifts and special cues to those audio parts that would typically be sent by the remote speakers. The signal processing is engineered according to how the human hearing determines the location of a sound. The sound signal is then broadcast by the front speakers. Due to the signal processing, the viewer is deceived into believing the sound is coming from virtual remote surround loudspeakers.
Virtual surround eliminates the remote speakers and simplifies the setup and also avoids long speaker wire runs. On the other hand, it also has a downside. The form of each human's ear is a little dissimilar. For that reason everybody processes sound in a different way. 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 differently. For that reason virtual surround will not work equally well for everyone.
An alternative approach for simplifying home theater installations and eliminating long speaker wire runs is to utilize wireless surround sound systems or wireless speakers. A wireless solution will usually incorporate a transmitter module that connects to the TV or source and wireless amplifiers that will be connected to the remote loudspeakers. Normally the transmitter part will have amplified loudspeaker inputs and line-level inputs. This offers flexibility to connect to any type of source. A transmitter volume control helps maximize the dynamic range and avoids clipping of the audio inside the transmitter.
Several wireless systems have wireless amplifiers that connect to two speakers. This still requires cord runs between the two speakers. Other products offer separate wireless amplifiers for every speaker. The most sophisticated wireless devices utilize digital transmission to eliminate signal degradation. Ensure that you choose a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most several milliseconds. This will guarantee that the sound from all speakers, including the non-wireless speakers, is in sync. Low latency is also vital for good sync with the video. A high latency would lead to an echo effect. This effect would degrade the surround effect. A few wireless systems work at 5.8 GHz which offers the benefit of less competition from other wireless devices than devices using the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.
Another approach are side-reflecting speakers. These systems are also known as sound bars. The sound that would ordinarily be broadcast by the remote speakers is instead broadcast by speakers at the front. These front speakers send the audio at an angle. Then the audio is reflected by the side and rear walls and appears to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. The result by and large will depend on the shape of the room and interior design and not function well in many real-world scenarios due to different room shapes and obstacles in the room.
Possibly related posts:
