The Right Sound Format in a Home Theater Installation Project

The basic difference that comes in between a regular television set and a home  theater system lies with the sound system factor utilized by the devices. A  regular television set could be forty inches wide, yet, without a surround  sound system supporting it, a thirty inch display screen coupled with a home  theater sound system would prove to provide a more theater like viewing  experience.

In most cases, choosing the right surround sound format compatible with your  home theater system greatly affects the overall performance of a home theater  setup, as there are types of supported surround sound formats for home theater  devices.     

When talking about which surround sound format to apply during a home theater  installation excursion, two main theater surround sound formats come into play.  The Dolby Laboratories and the Digital Theater Systems sound format.

As different audio/video receivers are equipped to decode sound formats, using  an ideal sound format of choice would greatly enhance the results of a home  theater installation. Between Dolby Laboratories and Digital Theater Systems, a  wide array of sound options exists, to a dizzying level. The bottom line is,  when talking about Digital Theater Systems audio encoding, lesser compression  figures are used, making DTS sounds much sharper and clearer compared to Dolby  encoded audio elements. The downside is DTS isn’t commonly used on television  broadcasts, as well as with DVDs.

When faced with which surround sound format to choose for a home theater  installation, users would have to decide whether they want DTS support, and how  many speakers to use in the setup.

The most common surround sound setup options are 5.1, 6.1 and 7.1, named after  the system’s number of supported channels.

A 5.1 surround sound speaker setup is made up of a right, left and center front  speakers, which are positioned next to a display screen. Two surround speakers  positioned at the left and right, as well as a subwoofer would complete the  surround sound setup. Both Dolby and DTS sound formats support this format.

Taking all the same speakers from a 5.1 surround sound setup, the 6.1 surround  sound variety of surround sound setups has an extra rear channel. Dolby  Laboratories’ Digital EX uses this type of format, using the additional channel  into left and right rear speakers. With DTS’ DTS-ES, the extra channel is used  as a single rear channel speaker, only.

In the 7.1 surround sound speaker setup, Dolby has separate channels for the  rear right and left speakers, instead of using one split up channel and  directing the split channels to two speakers.

Though the first thing one would notice in a home theater installation is the  display screen, the surround sound setup is what completes the home theater  system.

Considering the surround sound system format would be a wise thing to do, given  that building something like a home theater installation is a major investment.

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