Print Article for : The Best Surround Sound System

Your Online Guide » Entertainment Guide » Enterntainment Guide

[T321]The Best Surround Sound System

by Jill Hudson, Jil

An important defining element within a home theater is the surround sound. By watching movies with it, you will experience a totally different movie experience. This type of sound allows your home theater to imitate that of actual movie theaters. Most movie production studios take surround sound into account when designing sound elements which are compatible with most home systems. By using this audio, the special elements of movies such as a suspense or action movies, are greatly enhanced.

When it comes to home theaters, the sound is one of the most important components that can compliment HD televisions.

There are two different sound formats used within most home theater packages. These two types are Digital Theater Systems and Dolby Laboratories. Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital and Dolby Laboratories are present in most home theaters. There are many sound enhancements in packages for home theaters, such as Digital Theater Systems. These products contain the DTS mark.

You can purchase many different sound options when buying Digital Theater Systems or Dolby Laboratories. Many of these options, when purchased as an upgrade, produce headaches. You should be aware of the different sound formats of these products before purchasing.

There are many DVDs which are marketed that are now integrated with the Dolby sound option. Others are marked with the DTS option. By buying the right sound options and utilizing the correct sound format, your home theater will have a movie theater sound to it.

For a sharper and clear sound, DTS audio is best. DTS uses a less amount of compression compared to Dolby's encoding.

It's important to remember that you will not hear DTS audio encoding on your normal television shows or on DVD sound enhancements.

Users of home theaters need to decide whether DTS support needs to be involved in their personal home theater system. This can be done by choosing the adequate speaker setup.

Home theatre speakers setups of 7.1, 6.1, and 5.1 are most commonly used. The .1 in surround sound refers to the channel for the subwoofer. The number following the .1 stands for how many speakers are in the system. Most channels for subwoofers are in a lower frequency sound and are perfect to boost bass sound effects.

In a 5.1 surround system, the 5 stands for the speakers and the 1 stand for the subwoofer. The speakers are set up as a left front, center and right speaker. The right, left or rear speakers contain the surround sound The 6.1 surround sound system consists of an added speaker in the rear. In the 7.1 system, there are 2 channels for the surround and the rear speakers complete the home theater setup.

The above discussed theater setups each complement the formats of surround sound. There are different sound channel mixes and splits which depend of a particular sound format such as DTS or Dolby.

The final decision on your home theater system speaker setup depends on the "upgrader". This could either be DTS or Dolby compatibility.

First of all there are many initials names and numbers floating around when it comes to surround sound technology and equipment, it's no wonder that many of us mere mortal consumers are more than a little confused by it all. Hopefully the information you find below will prove helpful as you weave through the wired jungles of modern sound technology.

The first and probably most common thing you will see in these circles is Dolby Digital. While there are many complicated definitions of this term the one that will matter most to you, as a consumer is that right now it is the leading format on the market when it comes to processing the digital data that your system will need to process.

There are better brands such as DTS when it comes to musical sound for this function but the vast majority of television broadcasts and DVDs are optimized for Dolby.

Speaking of DTS, at the moment they are Dolby's primary competition. While most items you find on the market such as DVDs are viewable in both DTS and Dolby you need to make sure that they system you purchase whether Dolby or DTS can read both formats for those times when your favorite flick just might not be enhanced for both.

Now perhaps the most confusing of terms when it comes to surround sound systems would be 5.1. It looks so innocent just sitting there but most people are ready to pull out their hair when they realize that it really stands for a system that includes 6 speakers rather than five. The 1 in the name refers to the frequency of the subwoofer (or Low Frequency Effects-LFE), which is .1.

Despite the existence of better systems on the market today, most movies are optimized for this particular set up so this will be of the most value to you with the current products on the market rather than spending more for systems that the DVD makes haven't yet caught up with.

DTS ES refers to a format commonly referred to as 6.1. In this format there is one additional speaker moved to the center rear of the configuration and the two-rear left and right speakers are moved forward. And THX EX 7.1 is what happens when you add yet another speaker.

There aren't too many films at the moment that use this particular format some notable exceptions would be the Star Wars movies. This means that movies haven't really caught up to the technology of either of these systems but they are on the market and some people simply must have them. I recommend going with a superior 5.1 channel surround sound system for the time being and adding speakers when there are more reasons to do so.

This list is by no means exhaustive but will give you a basic overview of the information that is relevant to you as you look into the various surround sound systems on the market today. You shouldn't have to weed through volumes of confusing terminology in order to find out that the system you are interested in actually has 6 speakers rather than 5.

My hope is that you can go in armed with basic knowledge that will help you make an informed buying decision.

Article Source : Guide To A Str Pure

About Author

Both Jill Hudson & Allan Wilson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Jill Hudson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home Accessories, Home Management and Finances. Jill Hudson writes for HomeTheaterSurroundSoundSystems.com and offers tips for picking out and installing the best home theater surround sound systems. Visit http://www.hometheatersurroundsoundsystems.com for reviews and tips on the best. Jill Hudson's top article generates over 74000 views. to your Favourites.

Allan Wilson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Health, Small Business and Home Improvement. Allan Wilson specializes in providing ready made affliliate sites such as this example and private label articles. To speed up. Allan Wilson's top article generates over 673000 views. to your Favourites.