The Levels of Home-Theater Audio Nirvana

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March 4, 2004 | James W. Powell | Feature Articles
The Levels of Home-Theater Audio Nirvana

You were probably introduced to the aural heaven of surround sound—like I was—when movie theaters began adding speakers along the sides of their auditoriums. I remember my first surround-sound experience, watching The Empire Strikes Back in a crowded theater in Hollywood, amazed by the vivid sense of envelopment. I even found myself glancing around in the darkness, trying to understand how the movie had suddenly immersed me in its fantasy. However it was happening, it was a transcendent bliss that made me forget about my popcorn, my friends in the seats next to me, even my life outside the auditorium. I was in the film!

For years, it was only inside movie theaters that I could achieve such spiritual satisfaction. At home, I had to make do—slumped shoulders and all—with our family TV’s mono speaker and later two-channel stereo, which was splendid at the time but came nowhere near duplicating the bliss of the darkened, speaker-studded theater. Until the late 1990s, the popular medium for movies was VHS, a woefully inadequate platform for video and especially sound. Laserdiscs, primarily a videophile niche format, provided far better potential for video quality and also boasted sufficient space to adequately present the film’s soundtrack, but the unwieldy and expensive nature of laserdiscs never appealed to me. I shouldn’t have to flip discs as many as eight times to enjoy my favorite films.

With the advent of the hugely popular DVD format—your favorite movies on (usually) one-sided discs the size of CDs!—we’re getting a whole new dimension of sound. In fact, we’re getting several dimensions. When you’re shopping for home-theater receivers and speaker packages, you might be at a loss for what technologies you need to play movies, listen to music, and play games to their full aural advantage. Let’s take a look at the different kinds of sound you can conjure in your home theater.

Home Theater Surround Sound
Today, it’s more and more possible to equate—and even surpass—the quality of movie-theater surround sound in your home theater or living room. Most films today are produced in multichannel sound, and DVDs faithfully reproduce that barrage of sound. The typical home-theater setup contains 5.1 channels, which means that your audio source (be it your DVD player, game console, or high-end audio player) is sending six separate tracks of sound to your speakers—left front, right front, center, left rear, right rear, and the all-important “.1” subwoofer, which is responsible for the deep bass.

Most of today's DVDs are encoded with a surround track that conforms to this 5.1 speaker setup. However, adding to your confusion is an array of other available sound options, such as 2.0, 4.0, 6.1, and 7.1 technologies. Growing increasingly—but gradually—more popular are the latter formats, which send sound information to new places around the room. For example, 6.1 and 7.1 add discrete channels of sound behind your head. In the DVD market, if you take a close look, you’ll find technologies conforming to these sound options, such as Dolby Surround, Dolby Pro-Logic, Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital EX, DTS 5.1, and DTS-ES 6.1. In addition, an increasing number of music CDs—in glorious Super Audio CD (SACD), DVD-Audio (DVD-A), and DTS-ES 6.1—are finding their way into homes. Even game consoles such as the Sony PlayStation and the Microsoft Xbox can present most games in multichannel sound. And forthcoming HDTV broadcasts will surely feature surround sound. Thanks mostly to the incredible surge in DVD popularity over the past 5 years, multichannel sound is now the way we prefer the majority of our entertainment.

But what do all these sound options mean? Do you need them all? Can you get away with just one and ignore the rest? The short answer to that question is no, and the longer answer begins with another question: Why would you want to? The plethora of sound options available for your connected home make for a divine foundation from which to begin any search for inner peace and Taoist balance. Let’s take a look at what’s out there—the different sound technologies that you can implement in your home theater to attain aural nirvana.

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Reader Comments

so, call me dumb, but whats better - dolby digital or DTS? I've got a sony 5.1/dts amp and use the digital input, however when I play a movie in dolby digital 5.1 and then change the option to DTS and play it, I cannot tell the difference - is DTS better than Dolby?

audio-newb -March 4, 2004

I'm with the author. I've got a pretty good system, high-end Onkyo with a Polk setup, and I can rarely tell the difference between DTS and Dolby. DTS usually sounds louder at the same level, but that doesn't mean anything. Occasionally, DTS sounds a little more open, and tighter in the bass, but the differences are never (or at least rarely) astonishing.

DVD Dude -March 5, 2004

Nice try. But you stated the very problem that keeps many of us from investing in a home theater setup. There are too many versions of the software! And how many channels will be necessary? Do I really want to clutter my living/TV/listening/entertaining space with all those speakers and wires? Here's what you need. Two speakers. GOOD ones. They'll throw a nice wide soundstage so you won't even need a center channel. If you want dinosaurs romping through your room, get a sub. End of story!

ihatems -March 9, 2004

To ihatems, I think the article is talking about equating movie theater sound in the home. For that, you need a multichannel setup. Most of us understand the beauty of a good stereo setup and the soundstage it can create, but for movies, it's gotta be 5.1 or more. Otherwise, you're missing out on a lot. I agree that there are too many options. But I've never had a case where a DVD has been unplayable because of my lack of hardware. If you don't want to go above Dolby 5.1, you don't have to.

raider -March 10, 2004

To 'ihatems', if you do not want to clutter your living space then don't but I would recommend re-reading the article before giving advice cause it sounds like (from your post) that you missed something along the way. There is nothing better than wrap-around sound when watching a movie at home. I wouldn't mind seeing a 10.1 but you would have to ask how much is too much. At what point are you get not seeing any improvement in sound quality. Either way we are nowhere near that point now so bring on the technology. BTW...MS>L

Wolf -March 10, 2004

To ihatems --

I wouldn't worry about what's coming in the future. Get what's hot right now and enjoy it. I love my 5.1 surround sound, and a movie anywhere else just plain sucks. Do I need 6.1 or 7.1? Definitely not? Is it cool? Sure, but I'm happy with what I have.

Get yourself a 5.1 surround system for a few hundred bucks and see what you've been missing. You can always upgrade later.

Jim -March 10, 2004

Hi All I tend to agree with "ihatems". A pair of quality front speakers make me satisfied`. I also understand that if you want to take full advantage of movie sound, you need multich. systems, but they are rather expensive when demanding a certain quality level.I use Audiovector M3 Signature stereo speakers, really good sound experience for music AND film - thats it`!

Carsten -March 11, 2004

Fun article. Timely, too. Just bought back center speakers for DTS 6.1 ES. There's not many dvds out there that have 6.1 ES, but it's amazing.

Grady -March 11, 2004

DTS vs Dolby Digital. To me personally DTS wins hands down. More oomph to the soundtrack especially concerts. I currently run a 6.1 system and the sound is nothing short of breathtaking. I look forward to more channels to totally envelope you in the film the way the director truly wants us to be.

Robert -October 17, 2004

Who knows about some movie in 7.1?

Roosevelt -April 7, 2005

This article was very informative. There was something that was not really covered. What if you just installed a 7.1 setup? I have left, center, right...then surround left & right...then surround back lef & right. Finally, a sub woofer. I cannot get my Denon 3805 to display "Dolby Digital". It only sets it to Dolby Pro Logic IIx. Am I better off disconnecting the surrounds, and going with Dolby Digital with 5.1, or staying with Dolby Pro Logic IIx with 7.1???

Any suggestions & explanations would be most appreciative.

Sincerely,

Greg McLean

Greg McLean -May 23, 2005

nid d software .

sagar -July 16, 2009

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