How to Select Home Theater Audio
One of the most important elements of monster home theater design is selecting
the right sound system. There are many home theater receivers to choose
from, so choosing one with the right sound formats, the right amount of
power and the features you want shouldn't be a problem.
Selecting the Home Theater Receiver
To design your home theater to have the best surround sound experience
possible you will need to select the right home theater receiver. The
home theater receiver is designed to handle multiple tasks. The home theater
receiver provides power to your speakers, decodes surround sound signals,
and converts stereo signals into surround sound signals.
Check out our review of the best home theater receivers.
Surround Sound Formats
There are multiple sound formats to consider when selecting your home
theater receiver. The most popular formats are 5.1 and 6.1 channel surround
sound. There are also options for 7.1 channel surround sound. All DVDs
and most media are encoded using Dolby Digital 5.1 channel surround sound.
Many DVDs are now also being encoded for 6.1 channel surround sound.
Receiver Power
Choosing a receiver with the right amplification will be crucial to your
home theater design. You will need to consider watts per channel, distortion,
and continuous power When determining the watts per channel you will need
for your home theater, consider your room size. Larger rooms may need
a higher wattage to provide enough power to the speakers you will be using.
Select a receiver that has a low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). Most
home theater receivers have a (THD) below 1%. The best home theater receivers
will have a (THD) of 0.1%. To make sure you are getting the best home
theater receiver, make sure that the receiver is able to maintain continuous
power throughout the entire bandwidth 20-20,000 Hz.
Selecting Home Theater Speakers
The speakers for your home theater design should provide seamless sound
from one channel to another. This is the key to quality home theater audio.
Typically if you choose speakers from the same brand or series you will
have a match.
Center Channel Speaker
The center channel speaker is essential for a seamless home theater system.
The center speaker you choose will need to be a match with the other speakers
in your system. The center channel speaker will handle the majority of
the dialogue and about half of the entire movie.
-Choose a center channel speaker that fits with your space. You will need
to place it directly above or below your video display.
Front Speakers Right and Left
Your right and left front speakers will handle the majority of the work
load for your home theater. These speakers will give you home theater
the wide stage for sound that a home theater requires, handles the majority
of special effects, and reproduces off-screen sound. The right and left
front speakers will also be used for listening to music in stereo mode.
-Floor standing tower speakers will provide you with the greatest range
of sound and provide a great low-frequency response. I would recommend
these speakers to anyone with a large room looking for a ton of sound.
-Bookshelf speakers also work great. These speakers will not give you
as great of a low-frequency response but they will save you space. If
you have a medium to small room you may want to consider bookshelf speakers.
-Satellite speakers will work for a small room. These speakers will need
to be used with a subwoofer to provide low-frequency sounds.
Surround Speakers
The surround sound speakers will provide you with the experience of being
right in the action. They will provide the audio for footsteps sneaking
up on you from behind or a plane roaring overhead. As with all your other
speakers you need to be sure your surround sound speakers match for seamless
home theater performance.
Subwoofer
Your home theater audio system would not be complete without a powered
subwoofer. The powered subwoofer will deliver the earth shattering bass
that is needed to make your monster home theater feel life-like. A powered
subwoofer is especially important for your home theater if you chose satellite
or bookshelf speakers that are unable to produce low frequency sound.
- If you want a powerful subwoofer you will need to select one with a
powerful built-in amp.
-For your subwoofer to produce deep bass sounds you will need to select
one with a larger driver. A 10" woofer will provide a good response,
a 12" or 15" will provide the best bass response.
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