Home Theater

Newest Technologies Make Building Multi-Channel Audio Products A Snap

Multi-channel audio has become mainstream and vendors have developed many types of basic and more advanced technologies like wireless surround sound speakers, virtual surround sound to simplify the installation of home theater products. I will review the newest trends to find out which products really work. I will also give some advice for choosing the perfect components.

Traditionally, setting up a TV would be quick because they would already come with built-in stereo speakers. This, on the other hand, has all changed with multi-channel audio. These days external speakers are utilized to create a surround sound effect. In case of 5.1 surround, 6 speakers are utilized: center, left and right front, left and right rear and a subwoofer. More recent 7.1 systems require a total quantity of 8 loudspeakers by adding 2 extra side speakers.

Therefore the installation of home theater products has become a fairly difficult process. Numerous houses are not pre-wired for surround sound. In addition, long speaker cables are often unattractive. Several technologies have emerged to simplify this procedure.

The first approach is named virtual surround sound. This option will take the audio components which would normally be broadcast by the remote speakers. It then utilizes signal processing to those components and inserts special cues and phase delays. Next these components are mixed with the front speaker audio. As 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 loudspeakers. The viewer is in effect deceived into assuming the sound is originating from a location other than the front speakers.

The advantage of this technology is that only a handful of speakers are required and no long speaker wire has to be run throughout the viewing environment. The drawback though is that each person will process sound in a different way due to 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. For that reason virtual surround will not work equally well for every person.

A different method for simplifying home theater setups and eliminating long speaker cable runs is to employ wireless surround sound systems or wireless speakers. A wireless solution will generally incorporate a transmitter module that connects to the TV or source in addition to wireless amplifiers that will be connected to the remote speakers. This transmitter will normally have line-level and also amplified loudspeaker inputs. Ideally it should have a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.

Some wireless systems have wireless amplifiers that connect to two speakers. This still requires cable runs between the two speakers. Other products come with individual wireless amplifiers for every speaker. The most advanced wireless devices utilize digital transmission to avoid signal degradation. Make certain that you choose a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most a few milliseconds. This will make certain that the sound from all loudspeakers, including the non-wireless speakers, is in sync. Low latency is also vital for good sync with the video. If the latency is higher than 10 ms then there will be an echo effect which will degrade 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 products.

Another option are side-reflecting speakers. These systems are also referred to as sound bars. In this case the audio for the remote speakers will be sent by individual 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 heavily is dependent upon the interior, in particular the shape of the room and the decoration. It will function well for square rooms with no obstacles and sound reflecting walls. On the other hand, realistic scenarios often will differ from this ideal and reduce the result of this approach.

Wireless home theater system A Wireless Surround Sound Revie – a Music video.flv

VIZIO VHT510 5.1 Surround Sound Home Theater with Wireless Subwoofer $724.93

Sony HT-CT550w Powered Home Theater Surround Sound Bar Wireless System HTCT550w $374.95

VIZIO 5.1 Surround Sound Home Theater with Wireless Subwoofer – VHT510 $349.99

Sony HT-CT550w Powered 3D Home Theater Surround Sound Bar Wireless System $306.00

Vizio VHT510 Surround Sound Bar Speaker Home Theater Sys. Wireless Subwoofer 5.1 $299.99

Vizio VHT510 Surround Sound Home Theater System 5.1 Channel Sound Bar Wireless $249.99

Frisby 5.1 Wireless Home Theater Surround Sound System with USB SD Aux Inputs $249.95

Frisby FS-6400WU Wireless 5.1 Surround Sound Home Theater Audio Speakers System $249.95

Frisby FS-6200WU Wireless 5.1 Surround Sound Home Theater Audio Speakers System $249.95

NIB Polk Audio F/X Wireless Surround Sound Rear Home Theater Speakers FX Wifi $229.99

Frisby 5.1 Wireless Home Theater Surround Sound System Speaker Woofer USB SD AUX $224.95

Frisby 5.1 Wireless Home Theater Surround Sound System Speaker Woofer USB SD AUX $224.95

Frisby 5.1 Wireless Home Theater Surround Sound System Speaker Woofer USB SD AUX $224.95

Frisby 5.1 Wireless Home Theater Surround Sound System Speaker Woofer USB SD AUX $224.95

Frisby 5.1 Wireless Home Theater Surround Sound System Speaker Woofer USB SD AUX $224.95

Defender Security 2.4ghz Wireless Video Transmitter 10mw 12VDC 500ma Includes Jumper Cable $114.98 Specifications: Transmitter power: 10mW. Power supply: 12VDC, 500mA via supplied adaptor. Inputs: Video: RCA type connector, Audio: RCA type connector, Alarm: Push-terminal….

Logitech Wireless Speaker Adapter for Bluetooth Audio Devices (980-000540) $39.99 Wireless BT Speaker Adapter…

Harman Kardon Soundsticks III $209.99 Praised for its stunning design, the harman/kardon® SoundSticks® II speakers and subwoofer system became a milestone in harman/kardon® history when it became part of the permanent collection at New York City’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Improving on its famous sibling’s pop-culture appeal, the SoundSticks III system is all that and much more. As a three-piece, 2.1-channel multimedia sound sys…

Logitech Speaker System Z623 $114.95 Easy 2-satellite setup and a powerful subwoofer for big sound even in large spaces1 pair of RCA and two 3.5mm inputs for connection to music movie and gaming devicesTHX certified200 watts RMS of powerIntegrated controls and built-in headphone jackWorks with puters music players TVs DVD players and other audio sourcesAlso patible with PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 or Wii using an AV cable2-y…

Gen RCA Audio Cable Adapter for XBOX 360 + Slim $0.33 This RCA adapter cable allows HDMI video to be routed to the HDTV with the audio routed separately to the home theater system. This is a generic / aftermarket product….