Until recently, people could ‘feel’ the picture only in a cinema, with its large screen and speaker system. No longer – with the coming of the home theater system, you only have to go as far as your living room, for the experience.
Every component of a home theater system – the DVD player, the display, the surround sound speakers that deliver Dolby sound – is designed to turn your room into a movie hall.
Surround sound is incomplete without 5 to 7 speakers and a subwoofer delivering deep, strong bass, as a supplementary accessory. It’s possible that you don’t have a large living room, or a lot of money to spend on a home theater system. Then, you could immediately invest in a few speakers that deliver high-quality performance, and postpone buying a subwoofer and additional speakers till later. The built in speakers of a TV set cannot match the sound delivered by a couple of quality external speakers.
Bass waves have a tendency to bounce; this could result in better resonance in some rooms than in others. You can reduce this problem a bit if you refrain from placing the speakers in corners, and also by reducing the volume of the subwoofer. However, a permanent solution lies in using an equalized receiver.
Clap your hands, in the room, in which your home theater system sits. Do you hear a slap echo? You can solve this problem by using a thick padded rug to carpet the floor between where you sit, and the speakers. Shelves and other absorptive objects should be removed from the room; this will reduce reflections of sound off the side-walls.
If your screen size is 30″ or more, a DVD with a HDTV model will deliver enhanced picture quality. HDTVs come with different picture resolutions; yet, the display resolution won’t matter unless you have a very large screen, or watch from very close proximity.
By: Richard Runion
Posts Tagged ‘Side Walls’
Get The Best Out Of Your Home Theater System
March 20th, 2010Best Home Theater Speaker and Sub Woofer Types
February 28th, 2010
Now lets decide on the the best home theater speaker and sub woofer that suits your needs and style. The speakers can be bought separately or as a unit. There are a number of complete systems available for sale now but it is best to stick to name brands. You can buy an Audio Receiver and hook your speakers into it, then run the output from the DVD player to the Receiver.. Be sure to read the directions carefully and take it step by step installing the system. You don’t have to buy the monster package with the quality cables and power protection but it does improve sound quality and protects against power surges and spikes.
Seperates are the way to go here, not those “All in one packages” sold everywhere. The larger the room, the more power in RMS Watt Output you will need. Most of the sales people that you will talk to, or the units that have the specs on them for you to read, normally give the power output in Peak Wattage. IGNORE THE PEAK WATTAGE NUMBER! It is a meaningless numeral in the industry. Find out the RMS(Root Mean Squared) Wattage, as this is the number you need to know. You may have a peak rating of 300 watts, but your RMS could be as low as 65 watts, or even lower! A good rule to keep in mind is 100 watts RMS.
Speakers are another matter. 5.1 is 5 speakers Left Main, Center, Right Main, Right Surround, Left Surround, and Subwoofer. 6.1 moves the rear surrounds to the side walls, and places a center surround in the rear. This system also requires a receiver built for 6.1 and these are not widely avalible. The speaker selection gives the system its voice. High Quality speakers are needed to correctly reproduce the signals fed to them. In typical setups there are the satellite speakers (5 in the case of a 5.1 surround system) and the subwoofer (which stands for the .1 in a 5.1 system).
Now for the Subwoofer. Subs sould have at least 200 watts RMS. Note that there is only one subwoofer because it produces the bass frequencies (anyway from 15Hz to 300Hz). This is because frequencies below about 250Hz are omni directional which means that your ears can hardly tell where the sound is coming from unlike the mid and high frequencies which are very directional. A good subwoofer usually has a response done to around 25Hz and is self-powered which means it has the amplifier built-in.
For the basic system get a receiver that is DTS ONBOARD not the “DTS Ready” garbage. DTS Ready means you will have to purchase an outboard DTS decoder, or a dvd player that has one built in. Many manufacturers are in this business, so take your time, shop around, and get the best home theater speaker and sub woofer that suits your need, style and budget.
By: Gasen Redeye
