What Does 5.1 Surround Sound Mean?

Here are a few questions we will try to answer together.

• What in the world do those numbers actually mean?
• Which else do I need to know about before hand?

Lets Take That First One...What Do All Of These Numbers Actually Mean?

To put it simply the number represents the total number of speakers contained in the surround sound setup.

First lets look at the 5.1 set up for instance:

5.1 Surround Sound

If your living room,family room, den or keeping room was pre-wired for surround sound, chances are you have a 5.1 surround sound set up. This would include the following speakers:

1. (1) Center Channel speaker that you hear the actors dialogue come through. (Many times this is physically set on top of, above or below your TV set or projector screen)
2. (2) Front channel speakers for left and right audio sound tracks. (These are placed on either side of your television set or projector screen.) These serve to give you all of the exciting music that is happening during those action scenes. They also produce the sound effects of the screaching tires in an automobile chase or the explosions blasts of a war movie.
3. (2) Rear channel speakers for left and right audio. These come in handy for the back ground noises you may hear like the man yelling "peanuts" while you are watching the game.They also fill the room as the sound effects of a helicopter encircle the room from one front speaker to the next to the raer two speakers.

1+2+2= 5 speakers...

So what is the .1 in a 5.1 speaker system for?

This simply is for your subwoofer. It is known techniclly as the "LFE" channel (Low frequency effects) . This speaker sits under a table or in the corner behind the drapes. It provides all of the deep base required to shake the room during those T-Rex chases during a movie like Jurassic park.

Which Surround Sound System Is Best For Me?

Well it depends on a few things...

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

• Was your home pre-wired for surround sound? The industry standard for a standard room is 5.1.
• On the other hand If you have a big room dedicated to a home theater room you may want to use a 7.1 surround sound package In smaller rooms it just isn't practical to use a 7.1 system.
• If you are not already pre-wired how will you get wires to the rear speakers? . Either run them behind the baseboard betwwen the molding and the carpet. Or perhaps you may have an unfinished basement or crawl space to run the wires below you.
• Are wireless speakers your only option?
• Will you use satellite speakers that hang on the wall, book shelf speakers that are a little bigger, Tower speakers that sit on the floor or will you use some of the beuutifully sounding inwall speakers that can be painted to match the wall decor?

If you have any other questions about home theater visit my home theater atlanta website and blog.

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