Home Theater 35
H
ome
t
Heater
It had long been the practice of stereo buffs to connect their
television to a stereo system. The advantage was the use of the
larger speakers and more powerful amplifier of the stereo system.
Even though the sound was greatly improved, it was still mono
and limited by the broadcast signal.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s two new home movie for-
mats became widely available to the public: VCR and laser disc.
By 1985, both formats had developed into very high quality
audio/video sources. In fact, the sonic performance of some
video formats exceeded audio-only formats. Now, with theater-
quality sound available at home, the only element missing was
the "surround sound" presentation found in movie houses.
Fortunately, Dolby and DTS encoded DVD’s emerged with the
same surround sound information encoded on home releases as
the theatrical release. Additionally, new high-resolution home
viewing formats such as Blu-ray as well as high-definition content
provided via cable, satellite, and internet have evolved which
include multi-channel encoded audio that can match master tape
quality. All that is required to retrieve this information is a decoder
and additional speakers and amps to reproduce it.
Home theater is a complex purchase and we recommend that
you consult your local MartinLogan dealer, as they are well
versed in this subject.
Each piece of a surround system can be purchased separately.
Take your time and choose high quality components. No one
has ever complained that the movie was too real. The following
list and descriptions will give you only a brief outline of the
responsibilities and demands placed on each speaker.
Front Left and Front Right
If these speakers will be the same two used for your stereo playback,
they should be of very high quality and able to play loudly (over 102
dB) and reproduce bass below 80 Hz.
Center Channel
This is the most important speaker in a home theater system, as
almost all of the dialogue and a large portion of the front speaker
information is reproduced by the center channel. It is important that
the center speaker be extremely accurate and matches well with the
front left and right speakers, and that it is recommended for use as a
center speaker. This is not the place to cut corners.
Surround/Effects Speakers
We recommend that the surround/effects speakers play down
to at least 80 Hz. Surround speakers contain the information that
makes it appear that planes are flying over your head. Some
may suggest that this is the place to save money and purchase
small, inexpensive speakers. However, discrete full-resolution
multi-channel digital encoding is now the standard and the
demands on surround speakers have increased.
Subwoofer
With any good surround system you will need one or more high-
quality subwoofers (the .1 in a 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 channel surround
system). Most movie soundtracks contain large amounts of bass
information as part of the special effects. Good subwoofers will
provide a foundation for the rest of the system.
English
Figure 21.
A typical 5.1-channel home theater setup.
