"Warmth" and "tone" used to be typical key words in evaluating the merits of a good pair of speakers. Nowadays it's more often adjectives like "sexy", "discreet" or "integrated" - and it's a set of speakers you buy, not a pair. It seems we need more speakers but have less interest in what they actually sound like.
The delicious simplicity of stereo, one sound channel for each ear, has been left behind in the digitally enhanced drive to fill our lounges with more and more speakers. The advent of HiFi Stereo VCR, and more pervasively DVD, have encouraged us all to seek that cinema experience at home, you know, hearing sounds emanate from behind, beside, in front and all around you, just like in real life. The soundtrack to the first Star Wars film back in the mid-70s is commonly referenced as a breakthrough, unveiling as it did a new surround-sound process that was easily adaptable to home use. So began the multi-channel wars.
DOLBY SURROUND
The Dolby Surround process involves encoding four channels (that is, four speakers) of music information front left, centre, front right and a rear surround into a two-channel (stereo) signal. The centre channel carries vocals or dialogue and so is best placed very close to your TV screen.
DOLBY PRO LOGIC
By adding hardware elements to the amplifier's decoding chip, Pro Logic adds emphasis to directional sounds and overcomes Dolby Surround's poor channel separation, making it much more exciting for movie watching. Released another decade later, the enhanced Pro Logic II also seeks to do the same for music listeners, simulating a 5.1 environment from stereo music sources or a four-channel Dolby Surround signal.
DOLBY DIGITAL
Commonly referred to as the 5.1 channel system, Dolby Digital adds accuracy and flexibility with the same three front speaker setup, enhanced with left and right rear channels (the five), and a dedicated sub bass channel (the .1 in 5.1), to add emphasis to low frequency effects. So that's five speakers plus a subwoofer you need to find space for. Dolby Digital EX adds a rear centre channel to be a 6.1 system and now you can have 7.1 or more, but nearly all systems and all software are designed for 5.1 operation.
DTS
The boffins at Dolby Labs couldn't have it all their way and Digital Theater Systems developed their own system for the first Jurassic Park flick back in 93. DTS is a 5.1 system, the ES version is 6.1 and so on. Because it requires less compression of the musical information in the encoding process (only 3:1 v Dolby's 12:1 compression), DTS delivers better listening.
It seems the real drawcard to surround sound is that you can buy a sexy, discreet and integrated system (DVD/CD player, multi-channel amplifier, five speakers and sub), for very little - about the same as a good sounding pair of speakers in fact.
<EM>Hotwired: </EM>Surrounded by speakers
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