What Are the Components of Surround Sound Systems?
Some TVs come with surround sound as one of the features. However, if your television does not presently have surround sound, it is possible to create a sound system which comes across as surround sound. You can usually tell if your TV has this type of system by pressing your remote’s audio settings button. If you presently have surround sound, it will appear on the screen’s menu.
If your TV is simply a stereo set, you can create a rather realistic surround sound effect by adding particular components at particular locations around the room in which you want surround sound to be experienced.
Surround sound systems need to have special A/V amplifiers. They also require several speakers positioned around the room. The minimum number would be five although seven speakers provide even more realistic surround sounds. The other speaker component required is a subwoofer. The five speakers need to be placed at the positions of left, right, center, left surround and right surround. If you are using seven speakers, the other two speakers would be placed at right rear and left rear positions.
The subwoofer can be placed anywhere in the room since it has non-directional bass frequencies. The left and right surround speakers are best if placed on either side of the sofa of the listener and at nearly ear-height level.
If you plan to use your DVD player or Blu-ray player with your surround sound television system, you should hook them to your amplifier using a digital connection. Digital connections will provide the most realistic surround sounds from the movies to the amplifier.
Lastly, surround sound systems work best when the volume of the various speakers is set correctly. You do not want to set the volume too high or too low on any particular speakers. You want a balanced audio presentation to acquire the most realistic surround sound effect.
