Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Surrounded

I don't know how many of you have home theatre setups, but many of my tech-savvy friends are amazed that I (who buys most gadgets under the sun) have yet to splurge on surround-sound components. Yes, it's true - yours truly is still watching movies in good old-fashioned 'stereo'! What gives? For one thing - designed obsolescence. Every time I was ready to buy the next version of surround, something newer, better (and requiring more speakers) came out. When I developed my basement family room, I even thought ahead and pre-wired surround speaker outlets at the rear sides of the room - for 2 speakers. Obsolete! Second - price. Even to get a solid 5.1 surround setup now, I'd want 4 new speakers that match the sound of my original main 2 stereo speakers, which considering that they're 12+ years old, would be near impossible. So I'd want to spring for 6 new speakers. That quickly adds up. I have a better plan. The biggest problem with surround is speaker placement. It's very hard to achieve decent placement even in a perfect room. So a new design is emerging where all the speakers are contained in a long, wide strip that sits under (or over) your TV. It contains all the speakers needed to replicate surround, with techology embedded to throw the sound around you as if the speakers are scattered around the room. This is new (translation - expensive) technology, but I have a feeling it will catch on and drop in price. When it does, I'll be getting it.

Meanwhile, for people looking for the cheapest way to upgrade your existing stereo speaker system, I have one word - subwoofer. I bought a 'quality' sub to augment my existing Paradigm speakers and let me tell you, it's like night and day. Music sounds rich and full and movie soundtracks shine with all the bombastic bass you could ever hope for. Of course a sub is not practical for everyone - especially if you have neighbours and not much sound insulation between you.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This has got to be the best line ever: "shine with all the bombastic bass you could ever hope for". Love it. Gotta find ways to work it into conversation! Heidi

Unknown said...

Hey Karl,

Thats the same set up I have and it's all I need. My father has a massive home theatre set up with like 8 speakers AND 2 subs!!! He has each speaker placed and configured perfectly. Talk about overkill, and who has that kinda time to set all that up anyway? Oh yeah I forgot - he's retired :)