==PINK FLOYD CANADA - Home Theater==

I have decided to build this page for a simple reason, I love home theater. I have been reading and researching home theater information for a couple of years now. I started reading a Canadian magazine by the name of Sound & Vision, not to be mistaken with one magazine that is now changing its name to Sound & Vision from the United States. Anyway, the Canadian magazine went out of business more then a year ago. To solve my problem I have started reading the Home Theater magazine being published across the border. As a person who loves home theater equipment and all the latest technology I can't keep up with them and I don't have that kind of cash since I'm still in university. I currently use what is in my possession, a Pioneer mini stereo in my room, back from the early 90's. An excellent piece of equipment pumps out 22 watts per speaker (hey, my room is not that big!!). The stereo has Pioneer build 3 way speakers with frequency response of 50-20,000 kHz. For more details on home theater specs and technical dictionary look below. In my living room I have a Pioneer Pro Logic receiver, more current than my mini stereo. The receiver is rated at 130 watts in stereo mode at 20-20,000 kHz and 100 watts for the front and center channels and 50 watts for the back channels. I also have a Pioneer laserdisc player and a Sony VCR. For the main speakers I use British build Celestion 11's and Sound Dynamics speakers for center and surround. Overall, the system works OK, but if your new to home theater I would suggest buying all 5 speakers from the same company to have the best balance between the speakers. Also, it is recommended that you buy a sub for those low frequency effects. Read below for more details and advice.

Surround formats & Standards:

Dolby Pro Logic - developed by Dolby Laboratories Inc. This is an older surround format, which uses two encoded channels to reproduce surround sound. This surround format is most widely used in today's television. Many of today's shows and TV movie are in surround sound. You need a Dolby Pro Logic receiver to be able to listen to Pro Logic Surround. Moreover, new Dolby Digital receivers are backward compatible and have Pro Logic decoding build in. For more information about Pro Logic, please visit Dolby Laboratories Inc. web site, listed on the left.

Dolby Digital - is one of the newest surround formats that developed from Pro Logic Surround. This format has been designed by Dolby Laboratories Inc. and is now widely used in most modern movie theaters. The difference between Dolby Digital and Pro Logic is that Dolby Digital now uses an equal distribution of power (watts) to each channel creating a more realistic surround sound. Furthermore, Dolby Digital surround speakers now are in stereo not as previously the case with Pro Logic which had mono sound coming out of the surround speakers. Also, there is a new LFE (Low Frequency Effect) output from Dolby Digital receivers which allows you to connect a subwoofer for low frequency effects. All the channels in Dolby Digital have a wider frequency response. Dolby Digital has been formerly called AC3, but now its just Dolby Digital. This surround format uses 5.1 surround, meaning 5 "full bandwidth" speakers which can recreate the frequency that a human ear can detect 20-20,000 Hz. The .1 of the 5.1 surround is the LFE and it's frequency range is 20-100 Hz. Dolby Digital is a format that will stay with us for a longer period of time than any other format, the reason for this is that it is digital and its recreation of cinema sound is what people want. Dolby Digital will be the sound format for HDTV (High Definition Television) and is being currently used by DVD. Watch out for the new DVD Audio format to arrive by the year 2000. It will have a much better sound quality than the standard CD's that we have been used to, and it will also be the format for new sound recordings designed for a surround experience. The latest evolution of the 5.1 surround format is the 6.1 surround, adding an additional center speaker in the rear, for better 360 degree sound distribution.

DTS - Digital Theater Systems is a format that is known to most people. It has been used in movie theaters for some time now, but its newest role is in DVD movies. These DVD's with DTS sound have been long awaited, but there are now on the market. The current debate is whether, Dolby Digital is better than DTS. Some say that DTS sounds a bit better, because it uses less compression, but the difference is not that noticeable.

THX - (Tomlinson Holman eXperiment) is the most misunderstood concept in home theater. This is not, I repeat not a surround sound format. THX is a sound standard that has been developed by Lucasfilm Ltd., this standard with its logo on a home theater device (a receiver, amp, speakers) says that this device that you are using has been approved by Lucasfilm Ltd. and meets their standards of sound reproduction. So, this is an add on to the system and not a format like Dolby Digital or DTS. The goal of THX is to help recreate sound in the best possible way by using a number of equalizers, treble-matching circuits to improve the decoded sound of Dolby Digital or DTS. Please take a look at the links below for more information.

SDDS - Sony Dynamic Digital Sound. This is a non-consumer surround format developed by Sony for a full scale cinema. It uses eight discrete channels to reproduce surround sound sound. Refer to SDDS web site for further details.

Speakers Types:

Today there are mainly three types of speakers, direct radiating, bipolar, and dipole:

Direct radiating or Monopole speakers are the conventional speakers that most of us have at home. As the name implies, these speakers radiate their drives (tweeter, midrange, woofer) directly at you.
Bipolar, on the other hand have drivers that fire the front and rear of the drivers in the speakers enclosure. The speakers drives are in phase, creating a scene of spaciousness. Yet, at the same time performing similarly to direct radiating speakers, since you are able to determine their localization.
Dipole speakers also have front and rear drivers, but out of phase. Creating the greatest scene of spaciousness. These speakers types are used for THX certification.

There is no one single speaker type that is the best, each has its strength and weakness. I can summarize this topic by stating that for music reproduction direct radiating speakers are the preferred type, whereas for movie soundtracks, dipole would be a good choice. But, this does not mean that direct radiating speakers cannot be used for a home theater scenario, it all depends on your preference.

Furthermore, there are two-way and three-way speakers. Two-way speakers use two drives. A three-way speaker uses three drives, a tweeter (high frequencies), midrange (middle frequencies), and a woofer (low frequencies). There is a myth that three-way speakers are better than two-way speakers, that is not the case. A two-way speaker can outperform a three-way speaker, this does not indicated the quality of the sound that is being produced by the speakers.

Home Theater Speakers:

Now that you know a bit about different speaker types, lets discuss speaker needed for home theater. The most conventional home theater surround format is the 5.1 surround. As mentioned in the Dolby Digital section, you will need minimum 5 speakers, 6 recommended. In the front, you will need the left, center, right speakers. In the rear you will need surround speakers, and for low bass you will need a subwoofer. I stated that you can do without a sixth speakers, which in this case would be the .1, a subwoofer. If your speakers are equipped with a build in subwoofers, you will not need addition once, unless you feel that you don't have enough bass response.

When buying speakers, you must keep two things in mind.

Listen to what your ears are saying. Meaning, buy speakers that sound good to you and not to the salesperson.
Buy what you can afford, you can buy a good sounding system if you take your time and research the proper information.
When choosing speakers for surround sound applications, always start by listening to plain stereo music and than surround soundtracks.

More home theater information will be posted soon!!

I recommend that you visit some of the links of the left to learn more about this fast changing electronics field.