Friday, September 17, 2010

Surround Sound 101

By John Sparco

Surround sound is a speaker system and electronics that provides you a feeling of being surrounded by sound. Surround sound is very popular among movie houses, theaters, home entertainment systems, and gaming systems. They have all adapted this technology because the sense of realism immerses any audience.

Surround sound offers exemplary and realistic sound effects in movies that most movie houses have equipped their cinemas with this technology. Video games too have adapted this technology because it can immerse players in a lifelike gaming experience.

Before you try to understand what surround sound is, you first need to know how a surround sound system works. A surround sound system works by using multiple speakers placed in different parts of a room to project sound coming from different parts of the room. Once a track is played for a specific channel, the listener will hear it coming from one direction.

There are a lot of surround sound format. They are: Sony Dynamic Digital Sound, Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Pro Logic II X, Dolby Surround, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital EX, Dolby True HD, True Surround XT, DTS, DTS NEO, DTS-ES, and DTS-HD.

A surround sound system constitutes an array of speakers that plays a role in providing sound per audio channel. Below is a list of surround sound speaker roles.

The Front Right and the Front Left Speakers - These two are the most important speakers of a surround sound system because all of the main sounds being decoded are channeled here. These are the speaker that makes a powerful and high quality audio system.

Center Speaker - This is usually a small-sized speaker similar to those used on the rear channels. This speaker is often placed in between the two front speakers and is mostly set for mid-range frequencies to provide clear TV or Cinema dialogues.

Rear Speakers - These speakers are usually placed behind the listener to provide the surround sound.

Subwoofer - This is an essential component of a surround sound system because its low frequencies can produce a rich deep base necessary for most theatrical sound effects as well as for the bass thump of music.

The benefit of having a surround sound system is that the sound has a more realistic feel to it. It provides a new dimension in audio experience. - 40724

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