Sign up for the FREE Tell Membership and receive benefits that include the digital edition of Tell magazine sent straight to your inbox, product giveaways, coupons and much more!
Sign up for the FREE Tell Membership and receive benefits that include the digital edition of Tell magazine sent straight to your inbox, product giveaways, coupons and much more!
More people want to hear surround than simply look at it. To get 5.1–channel surround in my TV room, for example, I not only needed the usual three speakers in front but two on the side walls, plus wires from those two to the gear in front. Not that big a problem if the room’s a big, featureless box like the ones you see in speaker setup programs – but in real rooms, those added wires usually cross doorways, which leave you the problem of running them over the doorframe (ugly), laying them on the floor by the doorways (where people may trip) or finding a way to cover them that’s both safe and not bad looking. My receiver is ready for 7.1-channel surround; in that room, at least, I’m not.
I have to give my system something close to the full treatment: I write about this stuff. But if I relaxed my standards just a bit, I could have surround without the hassle.Today, you don’t need separate speakers for the surround channels (nor room-length cabling for those speakers if you choose to have them anyway). Nearly twenty speaker systems, at prices of $129 to $1,700, are designed to give you a surround experience from a single speaker. At least eight companies make systems that combine 1- or 2-box surround speakers with a DVD player or other signal source. And a handful of companies (including LG, Panasonic and Sony), make home-theater systems that use wireless links to the surround channels. Logitech makes one for “multimedia” (i.e., computer) use, but it should also work well for close-in listening to other systems. Some of these speakers, and all the systems listed, bear familiar brands; most of the ones that don’t come from people who worked at or even started such companies as a/d/s, Epicure and Nakamichi.
Whether you want to do without surround-channel speakers depends on what you want surround for and what room you want to put it in. If what you want from surround is spacious envelopment, these speakers can bring it to you; if what you want is to know just where behind you that gun is being cocked, they probably can’t. The manufacturers know these limitations; some manufacturers’ systems (such as Polk and Sony) concede that separate surround-channel speakers yield the best results, and include connections so you can add some if you want to enhance your system.
Another enticement: in the process of simplifying, you may save, because an all-in-one system will usually cost less than five separate speakers. The most expensive one I know, for instance, Yamaha’s YSP-1000, is $1,700—a big chunk of change, but not bad for five channels’ worth of speakers and their amps. Most of the amplified speakers have several inputs, with remote controls to select them, so you can use the speakers as the hub of your home theater system, at least if the inputs they have match the outputs of your other components. You can also use many TVs for signal-switching, and control them from their own remotes or from the universal remotes most of these systems come with.
Bear in mind, though, that the amps and surround processors supplied with most one-box surround speakers only save you money if you don’t already have that stuff. And those amps and processors, especially the latter, may not be as good as the ones in receivers and other components.
Many of these surround systems include “subwoofers,” usually in enclosures of their own. I put that word in quotes because many of today’s subwoofers would be called just plain “woofers” if they weren’t in a separate box.
How do single-speaker and two-speaker surround systems work? Most manufacturers of these systems are close-mouthed about it. But many work by bouncing surround signals off the room’s side walls, by using psychoacoustic techniques to fool your ears, or both. Surround that depends on wall reflections can be compromised by the acoustical impact of doorways, drapes, picture windows, and similar room features. (I once had a stereo system that delivered surround by accident—until I moved it to a different room.) So, many systems use psychoacoustics to misdirect your perceptions of what you’re hearing.
For example, the folds of our ears alter the frequency balance of sounds according to the directions those sounds come from. If you alter a sound the same way your ears would if it came from, say, behind and to the left, it will seem to come from there even if its source is actually in front of you. These signal alterations are known as head-related transfer functions (HRTFs).
A few cautions are in order: any particular all-in-one speaker may not work in all rooms, or for all listening positions. Many listeners say that a lot of speakers don’t sound equally good with both stereo and surround recordings. And because no speaker, even a conventional one, is perfect, you have to find a speaker whose imperfections don’t bother you. So, as with conventional speakers, you should try not to buy one you haven’t heard somewhere (admittedly difficult, outside major metropolitan areas), and check the seller’s return policy in case it doesn’t work for you. Make sure you check the sound across the entire width of your listening area.
Some of these speakers have unusual features. The Altec Lansing GT50151, for instance, has left, right, and center speaker boxes instead of a single box. Banshee makes a model for use with iPods and MP3 players and a model for use with a PlayStation Portable, each with a docking cradle for its respective signal source. The Niro Movie Mouse is a small box with angled sides, designed for quiet, late-night listening; to use it; it draws its power from any of the amplifiers supplied with other Niro models, and has a 6-foot cord so you can set it right in front of you, even in your lap. Yamaha’s three Sound Projector models are the most elaborate, with 21 or 42 speakers, depending on the model, each with its own 2-watt amplifier and digital signal processing circuit. And Zvox has optional battery packs and car power adapters, so you can use their speakers on the go.
With simplicity as a selling point, it’s no surprise that more and more packaged home-theater systems offer a surround experience without rear speakers. But, except for the SurroundWorks 200 and Sony’s RHT-6200 and Esprit, they do it with two satellite speakers (plus a sub) instead of a single unit. That helps them get each part small enough to fit most shelves, helps you get the best possible speaker placement even in asymmetrical rooms. The satellites of KEF’s KIT100 system use unique drivers: Facing forward are KEF Uni-Q speakers, coaxials whose tweeter and midrange are exactly equidistant from any listener; behind each Uni-Q is an NXT flat-panel driver, a dipole facing right and left, which supplies the surround effect. Bose’s 3.2.1 GSX system has a hard drive that stores 200 hours of music.
Sony’s Esprit TAV-L1 is actually a 32” flat-panel, HD-ready, Bravia TV on a stand that also holds an all-in-one surround speaker panel. The panel slides up to ear level for music listening, or down to reveal the screen for video. The RHT-6200 is similar, but without the TV; it will hold flat-panel TVs weighing up to 200 lbs. yy
Related Posts