May 14 Podcast #425: Surround Sound - The New Formats
Podcast Tags: Audysssey, Dolby, Speakers, Surround Sound 
We came across an article at Home Theater Magazine about the various 7.1 speaker configurations available today. It got us thinking. Do we take the standard 7.1 configuration: 3 in the front, 2 on the sides, 2 in the back, for granted? If we could put the speakers anywhere we wanted to, where would they go?
Listen to the show
Today's Show:
News:
- FCC Will Allow Movie Studios to Broadcast Directly to Your Home; What Does This Mean For Theaters?
- Wi-Fi to come in a much faster, short-range flavor
- Cox Introduces Advanced TV Plus Package - A Superior TV Experience Enabled By New Trio Program Guide
- Kaleidescape Introduces Next Generation Movie Players
- HDHomeRun CableCARD will feature three tuners in time for the holidays
Other:
- Visit www.TheSundayHauler.com for an awesome selection of NASCAR collectible diecast; tell them Keith J. and the HT Guys sent you.
- Bucks County Piano: the Phila. area's family-owned and operated piano shop, a friendly place for great pianos
- Go to CalTrout.org to help fight to keep fish in California... soon Salmon back in the Los Angeles River?
- Warren's spectacular DIY Theater
- Goodbye CableCARD, hello "AllVid"
Surround Sound - The New Formats
We came across an article at Home Theater Magazine about the various 7.1 speaker configurations available today. It got us thinking. Do we take the standard 7.1 configuration: 3 in the front, 2 on the sides, 2 in the back, for granted? If we could put the speakers anywhere we wanted to, where would they go?
5.1 to 7.1
Traditional 5.1 surround sound systems place three speakers in front of the listening position, a left speaker, a center speaker and a right speaker. The additional 2 speakers were meant to add sound around you, and were traditionally placed immediately to your left and right, maybe slightly behind the listening position. The 7.1 speaker configuration added two more rear surrounds, they are meant to be behind you to the left and right.
Hearing is Important
So with 7.1 setups, you have more speakers off to the sides and behind you than you do in front of you. The human ear is very accurate at pinpointing sounds when they're in front of you, that accuracy diminishes quickly as the sound wraps around behind you. You may be off by a couple degrees in front, but as many as 20 degrees behind.
Couple that with the fact that there is almost no 7.1 content available today. DVDs max out at 5.1, so they're off the table. According to the website blu-raystats.com, roughly 7% of the available discs include a 7.1 soundtrack, only 162 of almost 2300. So if you can't really hear it, and there really isn't anything to hear anyways, how important are those extra 2 channels? That's exactly what the folks at Dolby and Audyssey would like you to think about.
New Options
Dolby Pro Logic IIz
We've mentioned Dolby's new Pro Logic IIz format before. The main takeaway is that it adds height channels to your home theater. To do that they move 2 of your 7.1 speakers from the back to the front, and raise them up above the listening position, pointed down. Obviously it's easier to run a few more wires in the front than it is to run them all the way to the rear of the room, so that's one plus right away.
Since there aren't any movies mixed in IIz, the Pro Logic technology fills those two height speakers with ambient sounds from other channels in the track. Pro Logic can create the IIz effect from a 2 or 5.1 channel source. Eventually it will support a 9.1 configuration, the standard 7.1 plus the two height speakers. The results of the Pro Logic processing are mixed. A reviewer from Home Entertainment Magazine loved the effect, whereas the reviewers at CNET were underwhelmed.
Audyssey DSX
Another entrant in the modified 7.1 arena is Audyssey's DSX technology. In addition to the height channels, DSX adds additional width channels to the front of the room. A additional speaker is placed on each side of the room, wider than the existing front left and front right speakers. Audyssey believes the extra width is more important than height, so they'd tell you to add those first.
Like Dolby IIz, there isn't any content encoded to take advantage of the new channels, either width or height, available in DSX so you have to rely on Audyssey processing to fill them with sound. We haven't reconfigured our setups yet, so we can't comment on how well it works. In addition to the 7.1 with new width or height setups DSX will support 9.1 to use both, or either in conjunction with a standard 7.1 system, and of course there will be an 11.1 system that has them all. DSX requires a 5.1 source track.
Our Thoughts
This is a rare dilemma. First off, we can't really hear that stuff behind us very well, so it makes sense to move the speakers up to the front of the room. Secondly, there really isn't much content taking advantage of those speakers, so it makes sense to move the speakers up to the front of the room. That said, there's absolutely nothing encoded in IIz or DSX, so you have to rely on the processing to get anything from those speakers. How well it works is something your ears will have to tell you.
We don't think content will be coming out anytime soon that supports the new height or width channels. Movie theaters are reluctant to add new speakers and new processing, so the cinema mixes won't include them. If the cinema mixes don't include them, odds are the home mixes won't either. For the short term, it's really up to you: leave the speakers behind you and enjoy the 7% of movies that use them, or move them to the front and hope the processing works well enough to make a difference.
But in dream land, where would we put the speakers? We've always liked the idea of multiple center channel speakers like Sony uses in SDDS. Screens are getting so big these days, it make sense to put dialog on either side. We'd use 2 in the center. The we'd take the 7th speaker, the one we have left over, and finally implement the often whispered about "god" speaker. Mount it right above your head. That really gives you a sense of height and the feeling that things are falling on you or flying over you.
That, of course, won't happen anytime in the foreseeable future, but that's how we'd do it.
Ask Home Theater: Surround Formats
Reader Comments (3)
Hi Guys,
I believe the reason that the FCC became involved with these premier release movies was that the studios want to plug the "analog hole" with these movies to prevent the so called piracy thing. I also heard that they will be able to enable the "Do not record" flag on DVRs so you will have to watch these movies live or not at all..
Paul is close. The studios want to release ppv movies at or near the same time as they are in theaters. They are going to cable and sattelite providers versus vudu or the internet because they are already in most homes.
The reason the FCC got involved was because they want the analog outputs turned off when they do it. The FCC agreed that they could do this for any movie that hasn't been released on disc for up to 90 days.
Hey guys,
This is such an interesting topic. I love the idea of the "God Speaker". It's given me some inspiration for adjustments to my Yamaha RX-A2000 Review. Shameless plug I know:( I really don't know cos I haven't tried either, but the Audyssey DSX wider speaker setup sounds like a better idea than Dolby's higher set up to me.
Awesome site by the way.