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The procedure of installing multi-channel audio speakers in home theater products is relatively tedious and suppliers have invented new products and technologies like wireless surround sound speakers or surround sound wireless headphones recently to help simplify the setup. I will have a look at a number of of the products and technologies that have emerged and give some advice about choosing proper components for a hassle-free setup.

The majority of modern TVs will be installed as a multi-channel audio system. While historically TVs would have built-in stereo loudspeakers, nowadays a number of external speakers are used to let the viewer experience surround sound. As the traditional 5.1 format requires 6 speakers: a front center, two front side speakers, two rear speaker and a subwoofer, the more modern 7.1 format adds two additional side speakers.

Consequently, home theater installations have turn out to be relatively complex. Running wires to remote loudspeakers also is often undesirable because of aesthetic reasons. Vendors have recently launched new devices and technologies. These products were created to help simplify the installation of home theater products.

The first option is also known as virtual surround sound. This method will take the audio components which would typically be sent by the remote loudspeakers. It then applies signal processing to those components and inserts special cues and phase delays. Then these components are mixed with the front speaker sound. The sound is then broadcast by the front loudspeakers together with the front speaker sound components. The signal processing is modeled after the human hearing. It utilizes the knowledge about how the human ear can determine the origin of sound. Because of the signal processing, the viewer is tricked into thinking the sound is coming from virtual remote surround loudspeakers.

Virtual surround eliminates the remote loudspeakers and simplifies the installation and also avoids long speaker cable runs. Then again, it also has a disadvantage. The shape of each human’s ear is somewhat different. As a result everybody processes sound differently. Because the signal processing is based on a standard human ear model, virtual surround will not function equally well for everyone dependant upon how much the viewer differs from the standard model.

Wireless surround sound devices are one more approach for simplifying home speaker installations and normally come with a transmitter module that connects to the source in addition to wireless amplifiers which will connect to the remote speakers. This transmitter will normally have line-level as well as amplified speaker inputs. Ideally it should come with a volume control to adjust it to the audio source.

Several wireless kits come with wireless amplifiers that connect to two speakers. This still requires cable runs between the two speakers. Other products offer individual wireless amplifiers for each speaker. Entry-level wireless devices use FM broadcast or audio compression that will degrade the audio quality to some degree. More sophisticated wireless systems use uncompressed digital audio broadcast. Make sure that you choose a wireless system with a low audio latency, at most several milliseconds. This will guarantee that the sound from all speakers, including the non-wireless speakers, is in sync. Low latency is also important 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. Some wireless devices operate at 5.8 GHz which offers the benefit of less competition from other wireless devices than devices employing the crowded 900 MHz or 2.4 GHz frequency band.

Another option are side-reflecting loudspeakers. These products are also named sound bars. The audio that would normally be sent by the remote speakers is instead broadcast by speakers at the front. These front speakers broadcast the audio at an angle. Then the audio is reflected by the side and rear walls and appears to be originating from besides or behind the viewer. The effect heavily depends on 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. Then again, realistic scenarios often will differ from this ideal and diminish the effect of this approach.

Tags: wireless amplifier, wireless audio, wireless headphones, wireless surround sound

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 1:50 am and is filed under Home and Family. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.