Educate me on different surround sound setups please?

[reaper2794]

Hey guys. Id like to be educated about surround sound setups. I know there is 2.0/2.1/4.0/5.1/7.1

I just know the higher the number is the more speakers there are, can someone please teach me more about these different setups?

 

[rexter]

Surround set up start with three speakers not including subs. Adding sub on the setup means your sound properties can rich very low frequency that usually the other speakers cannot produce. It is actually simple logic. More speakers mean you get the sounds coming from more directions. That is if you are actually setting at the center of the scene or the source disc, examples: Movies, Multi-channel audio, Concerts are encoded with surround system. You can have as many speakers surrounding you but if your source is not encoded with surround system then you will not get surround sound, unless your equipment can process a VIRTUAL surround, which means it can create a surround sounds on its own from a single channel or two. A discreet signal from the source usually comes labeled on the disc or the cover with DD 5.1, DTS 5.1 Surround 3 etc. Here is a link; you can read more about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surround_sound

Setting up a surround is a preference. Some don’t care much of it and some are very accurate on how they want theirs setup. First, equipment quality usually plays a major part of the sound quality. Second, you need to place the speakers where it is hard to pinpoint where the sound is coming from and the rest is up to you.

 

[reaper2794]

So what does the 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 etc actually stand for?

You can have surround sound without a subwoofer then?

Im talking more bout the physical speakers rather than the virtual stuff but yeah, I don't get how headsets can really have different surround sound options since there's only 2 directions the sound can come from

 

[rexter]

2.1 means there two satellite and a sub, where a .1 on the is the sub. Therefore, a 7.2 means there are two subs on the system with seven satellites.

 

[reaper2794]

So how does that work with headsets, how can they have 2.1 surround sound and so forth?

 

[rexter]

A 5.1 on a headphone is more of a gimmick than actually is. However, a properly designed surround headphone can be of two things, one with specifically design multi speakers or the left and right speakers with its own sound driver aside from the sound card. Both will give you a simulated surround. Unfortunately, that discussion is debatable since 6 speakers, properly positioned is the same as 5.1 system from full speakers. Arguing factor is we only have two ears anyway. Therefore, the headphone is a true surround sound in close proximity and normal 5.1 speakers is…. So one with two speakers can now be argued to be a true surround since it produce similar characteristic given how we perceive the sound wave when it reaches our brain. Base on that reasoning then we can now bring the Surround Soundbar as a true surround since it is hard to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. ect. ect.

 

[reaper2794]

Interesting, thank you. Razer Megalodon is interesting, it has 2.1 surround sound but virtualized 7.1 I believe

 

[rexter]

the Surround Soundbar as a true surround since it is hard to pinpoint where the sound is coming from. ect. ect.

I meant to say that ...the Surround Soundbar as a true surround since it is hard to pinpoint where the sound is coming from, when the speaker is at the front. ect. ect.

 

[reaper2794]

This surround soundbar you speak of, what is it? A huge bar that provides surround sound o.o?

 

[rexter]

Yup!

http://hometheaterreview.com/equipment-reviews/audio-reviews/sound-bar-reviews/

 

[astrallite]

2.1 means there two satellite and a sub, where a .1 on the is the sub. Therefore, a 7.2 means there are two subs on the system with seven satellites.

7.2 would require 8 discrete channels so at the very minimum you need some sort of multichannel DSP capable of producing presence channels.

 

[rexter]

Surround set up start with three speakers not including subs.

Sorry, this was an error. I meant to say two or more speakers with a matrix processing system creating virtual surround sound. So, a surround sound is consist of 2 or more speaker system creating 3 dimension sound like the Bose 3.2.1 or like the Niro SSS (Spherical Surround System). On a note side, 4 speakers in quadraphonic or the 4.0 is the first surround sound which some people think surround sound sysytem started with 5.1.

 

[garytonner]

Hey guys. Id like to be educated about surround sound setups. I know there is 2.0/2.1/4.0/5.1/7.1

I just know the higher the number is the more speakers there are, can someone please teach me more about these different setups?

If you would notice there are categories on different type of sound setup. Obviously, it always depends on how many satellites do you have as well as what modification are you going to do. Technically, surround sound setup is a modification of your sound environment experience. For instance, you do have 5 satellites and one sub. to maximize your sound environment, you can mod it to "5.1" 5.1 refers to the number of satellites "5" and number of sub ".1". Moreover, it can be setup into lower sound environment such as 4.1 (using 4 sats and 1 sub) or 3.1 or 2.0. This modification is usually done in home theater system like what i did in my stuff bought in Ottawa.

 

[reaper2794]

Best answer selected by Reaper2794.