Tutorial Surround Sound Set up

You want to build an impressive surround sound to watch you DVD or to Impress your friend in a party. Are you lost in all the equipment specifications, Ohms, Voltage, RMS, frequency. Here is an overview of what you are looking for in a surround system. A surround sound is compose of the following equipments:

1. - Amplifier
2. - 5 speakers
3. - subwoofer
4. - DVD Player
5. - TV Screen

Additional equipment can be added.

1. - PC
2. - VHS Video
3. - Cassette Player
4. - XBox

To suggest other surround sound equipment equipments please tell us.

Amplifier

The amplifier is the central hardware for a Surround Sound System. It converge all video and audio inputs of your electronics system (DVD, Video, XBox, etc). It manages all your audio input and directs them to all your Speakers with its audio output.  Also the video input, images, is directed into a fiber cable or SVideo output connected to your TV.

What should you be looking for in a good Amplifier? An good Amplifier must have two things (high put quality and multiple inputs). First it must have high output power. This will allow you to have good sound coverage which can be influence by the size of the room (outdoor), number of people in the room and your personal preferences.  

Second it must have multiple input. This will allow you to add new electronic equipment as the year goes by without reconnecting cables. If this is not the case you can buy Audio or Video splitters. 

Normally, the manufacturer gives the Output Power of each channel, the MFR, S/N, THD. This is used for Amplifiers connected to MP3/DVD players. They gives also the Input sensitivity and Input Impedance which are used for Analog equipment. 

Higher the Output Power, the louder the sound will be. The measurement unit is Watt RMS per Channel. This is a personal preferences base on the room size, how loud you listen your music or movie, on the number of people at your party, etc, therefore it cannot be measure. The only measurable way of comparing prices is with the following equation: 

Prices / (Nb of Watt RMS * Nb of Channel). 

Normally, good amplifier offers 2.75 $ US per Watt RMS of the channel at 8 Ohms or 1.90 $ US per Watt RMS of the channel at 4 Ohms.

THD is the Total Harmonic Distortion express in % for the test frequency of 1000Hz. The lower the distortion, better the quality. Normally, good amplifiers have a THD lower than 0.5%

S/N is the Signal to Noise Ratio express in dB. The higher the S/N, the better the sound quality is. Normally, good amplifiers have S/N higher than 70dB.

The types of input connectors of your Amplifier.

Amplifier have multiple types of connectors. The major ones are simple RCA audio and video connectors. For the best performance it will depends of the type of electronic equipment you want to connect to your amplifiers. 

DVD/MP3 player to Amplifier. 

For the best quality, you must have a fiber optic connection. This will dramatically increase the quality of your images and your sound. 

Amplifier to TV

RGB connectors is the best connector type in order to have great images quality for any type of screen.

Amplifier to Speakers

Well, you will be surprise that the quality comes from the cable it self. It must be gold plate in order to have best conductivity.

Speakers

The speakers are very important in order to have good sound quality at loud level. If you have a good systems with a lot of Watt RMS per channel you may blow up your speakers. Therefore you must select good speakers. 

 For Surround Sound, Unfortunately, all speakers are not highly solicited. For instance, in a 5.1 Dolby movie, your rear speakers are, normally, not solicited. They are simply used for background noise and some occasional special effect surround sound. Because of those sudden burst of sound, you still need a good quality speakers for your Home Theater, but as you can see it is not you best buck!.

Humans can hear sound within the 20-20000 Hz. Therefore, in order to have a good sound system, you need a group of speakers that can support this range. It is not necessary to have each speakers to support that ranges. For example, your subwoofer will takes care of you low frequencies, and your front speakers will take care of the high frequencies. Any this bellow or above those ranges is a waste of money.

In Subwoofer, this is completely different, because you are not interested in listening to the low frequency, but rather felling it. Thus, it is not the frequency range should be looking, but rather the Output Power (Watt RMS). Believe me, the more power, the better the sensation. 

You may wonder what is the difference in the diameter of the subwoofer speaker? Well, the bigger the diameter the bigger the more Watt RMS you will have. But be careful, some subwoofer model has no difference, oddly enough. Make sure to have the spec and understand them correctly.

Normally, manufacturers gives Overall Frequency Response, Lower -3dB Limit, Upper -3dB Limit, Nominal Impedance, Recommended Amplifier Power, Efficiency, Crossover mid-high array and Inputs Type.

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