You can find the first part of this article here. This is the second part.

Choosing one:

 Some of the factors you should consider while going in for a home theatre system are: The budget and the room in which you want it installed. Remember it’s ok to have mind blowing sound as long as it doesn’t blow your neighbors brain away. So either soundproof the room or go in for less wattage. If you are brand conscious, then you may go with the brand of your choice. If you just want to experiment with the concept of home theatres, my suggestion (to people living in India) would be Philips as they are cheap and perform pretty well too.

 For people who own a projector, a home theatre is a natural choice as the projectors support only the visuals. For someone owning a TV and isn’t really bothered about the sound quality and clarity, home theatre wouldn’t be a necessity. But then do note that most TVs support stereo at the most. So even if you are to buy an authentic disk, chances are you can’t experience the movie the way the disk manufacturer meant for you to with the TV speakers.

Setting Up The system:

 Once you have bought the system, setting up is the next thing you want to do. Wireless models are available, but you may want to check with the band of frequencies in which they operate as this may interfere with some other appliances. As for the wired ones, the connection itself should be easy as most manufacturers take the pain to even color code the wires to different channels so that people like me and you can set it up. However the acoustics of the room needs to be worked out, and you may want to consult a sound engineer for it. Else just set it up and if it works fine, forget it.

Image Courtesy : www.national-tech.com

Probably Related Post(s)

• No Related Post

Just the other day I was having a real bad headache. So bad that I wasn’t even in a mood to appreciate a good movie. And here I was in my living room experiencing or rather hearing Die Hard 4.0 that my neighbor was watching. That’s when I realized how commonplace the “5.1” has become and how incredibly affordable too. (Not to mention how noisy!!) Here’s a take on home theatre sound systems.

Home theatre systems weren’t all that common say 5 to 10 years back. But all of a sudden middle class homes are inundated with 5.1 surround systems. (Often kept on one table!!) Even my friends PC boasts of a 5.1 surround. So what’s a home theatre system anyway and what’s all the fuss really?

Image Courtesy : onkyo.com

  
 We shall discuss the acoustic side of the home theatre system. (Remember that the article was inspired by a headache in the first place.)  Home theatre systems are supposed to recreate the movie experience at home. Of course you need disks supporting surround sound. (This means multichannel sound). So the mp3 you ripped off the net or the divx movie that you just finished downloading or that DVD you bought near the pavement wont work the same way a authentic DVD (or a proper copy of that) works.

Popular Channel Profiles:

 5.1 is not the only format, but definitely the most popular of the lot with two front, two rear speakers, one central speaker and one sub-woofer. 6.1 is available which has a rear central speaker as well. 2.1 systems are also prevalent. The ones from BOSE claim to be better than most 5.1s (and expensive too.) Each has its own way of decoding the sound and sending them to the different speakers. This needs what we commonly refer to as the amplifier system, No need to bother, it comes packaged with the speakers. 2.1s are also popularly available for PCs from manufacturers like Logitech, though these lack the associated electronics (amplifier).

Sound Formats:

Some of the popular sound formats include mono, stereo (I suggest the song “bang bang” by ‘Nancy Sinatra’ to fully appreciate the effect of stereo format), Dolby, Dolby Digital DTS…Etc. In the multichannel format, the sound for each channel is recorded separately and based on the band of the frequencies is played back by the appropriate speaker. 

Probably Related Post(s)

• No Related Post