The meteoric rise in flat-panel television sales and the increasing affordability of projection television have brought big-screen HDTV to millions of homes. But many of those households are missing out on the other half of the home theater experience. To complete your home theater systems, you need to complement your investment in video with an investment in audio. Why?

Surround for Movies: Today's movies have surround sound encoded into their soundtracks. The purpose of surround sound is similar to that of a big picture. By dominating the senses, it suspends disbelief and pulls you more deeply into a cinematic story. This can make movies scarier, funnier, or more moving.

Surround for Television: Like movies, high-def TV programs often have surround sound encoded into their soundtracks. With primetime dramas, surround works the same way as in movies, pulling you into the story. With sporting events, it puts you in the heart of the crowd. With late-night talk shows and Saturday Night Live, it gives you the same immersive feel as being in the studio audience.

Surround for Music: High-resolution audio formats such as Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio (DVD-A) require a high-quality audio system to sound their best. Concert videos delivered via Blu-ray, DVD, or HDTV broadcasting may have high-quality soundtracks encoded in Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital, or other formats that would benefit from a good system.

---

What Kind of Audio-for-Video System Do You Need?

To decide what kind of audio-for-video system you need, let's start with a few basic decisions:

TV Speakers vs. Add-On Audio Components: TV speakers are only for watching the news and other talking-heads material. To get the best out of movies and primetime programming, you’ll want the option to switch to a higher-quality audio system.

Multi-Purpose vs. Dedicated Room: Most people will want to fit their audio and video gear into a room that can also be used for other purposes—for example, children at play, entertaining guests, just relaxing. The room must be optimized for social purposes, though the scale of the home theater system may vary according to room size and taste. Those who want a true movie-theater experience will go for a dedicated screening room with dark walls, fixed seating, and cutting-edge gear.

HTiB vs. Receiver vs. Separates: Home-theater-in-a-box (HTiB) systems are suitable only for small rooms and relatively undiscriminating tastes. They always include speaker packages plus amplification and sometimes include a built-in disc player. For a medium-sized room, build your system around an audio/video receiver with surround capability. For a large and/or dedicated room and the ultimate in performance, split the receiver's functions into an outboard power amp and surround preamp-processor to obtain the maximum in power, dynamics, and realism.

Real-World vs. High-End Systems: Whether your system is based on an HTiB, receiver, or separates, you'll be able to choose from products that vary in price, performance, cosmetics, and marketing mystique. Sometimes the best values are in "real-world products," or the "low end of the high end"—designed by people who care, with a favorable performance-to-price ratio. But consumers who want the ultimate in performance will not hesitate to hold their home theater systems to the same high-end standards that they set for their limited-edition cars, their custom-tailored clothes, and their wine cellars.

---

How Can Audio Complement Different Types of Video Displays?

If you're not sure what kind of audio-for-video system you want, maybe the nature of your video choice will lead to the correct audio choice:

For flat-panel TVs, the most appropriate match is a stealth speaker system. Look at in-wall, on-wall, and the more compact stand-mounted satellite/subwoofer speaker sets.

For rear-projection or direct-view TVs, satellite/subwoofer and larger stand-mounted speakers work well. You'll want a center channel speaker that sits atop or below the screen—look for a design that angles the speaker downward or upward toward the listening position. Floorstanding speakers are an option for the front left and right channels.

For front-projection systems with fixed screens, such as you'd have in a dedicated home theater, speakers of just about any size can be placed behind a perforated, acoustically transparent screen. This puts them completely out of sight, so they can be of any size, and you needn’t worry about their appearance.

For front-projection systems with retractable screens, such as you'd have in a multi-purpose room, speakers can be of any size or type. A performance-oriented audio/videophile might prefer a larger and more powerful kind of system.

For any kind of video display, regardless of what decisions you make for the front speakers, don't decide against having surround sound just because you're worried about the side- and back-surround speakers intruding into the room. Wall-mounted and in-wall speakers can cover the seating area with surround sound without intruding a single inch into it.

Continue to Page 2