Many reputable manufactures offer a single, ?surround sound system in a box?, solution ? typically including a DVD player, amplifier, or AV receiver, and five, or more, loudspeakers. This type of system, with a power rating of around 50 watts per channel, is likely to prove more than adequate for the average home, and has the added advantages that the speakers are a matched set, and there are unlikely to be any connectivity problems. Connectivity is provided via SCART, or for the very latest models, HDMI or DVI ? high quality, digital interfaces ? sockets.
The Sony CMTSE1 Micro System is a good example, and the Kenwood KS3200HT speaker system, as another, provides a total output of 5 x 120W.
How Many Speakers?
The number of speakers which you can accommodate depends, obviously, on the dimensions of your listening space, but, more importantly, on the digital sound format, or formats, which is, or are, available to you.
Dolby Digital is the industry standard format, for example, for DVD and HDTV broadcasts, and provides 5 independent, main sound channels, plus an additional LFE (?Low Frequency Effect?) channel. A ?5.1? Dolby Digital system therefore incorporates 5 main speakers ? typically arranged as a centre speaker, left and right front, and left and right rear speakers, plus a ?subwoofer? to handle the low frequency effects.
The same is true of the competing format, DTS (?Digital Theatre Systems?), and both these formats have extended versions, known, respectively, as ?Dolby Digital EX? and ?DTS-ES?, which cater for additional speakers, in ?6.1?, and ?7.1?, configurations. The Yamaha AV3029 speaker set, for example, provides decoding for many of the common formats.
Conclusion
The unfortunate thing about sales literature is that, however glowing it may be, with regard to the capabilities of an individual speaker, or system, you can't actually listen to it. What you hear with your own ears will always be your best guide. Consider also, realistically, the space in which your surround sound system will reside ? and try not, tempting though it may be, to be overly ambitious.
