HOME THEATER
It had long been the practice of stereo buffs to connect their television to the stereo system. The advantage was the use of the larger speakers and more powerful amplifier of the stereo system. Even though the sound was greatly improved, it was still mono and limited by the broadcast signal.
In the late 1970’s and early ‘80’s two new home movie formats became widely available to the public: VCR and laser disc.
By 1985, both formats had developed into very high quality audio/video sources. In fact, the sonic performance of some video formats exceeded
Fortunately, "Dolby” and “DTS" encoded movies (which include almost all movies) have the same surround sound information encoded on home releases as the theater films. All that is required to retrieve this information is a decoder and additional speakers and amps to reproduce it.
Home theater is a complex purchase and we recommend that you consult your local MartinLogan dealer as they are well versed in this subject
Each piece of a surround system can be purchased separately. Take your time and buy quality. No one has ever complained that the movie was too real. The following list and descriptions will only give you a brief outline of the responsibilities and demands placed on each speaker.
Front Left and Front Right
If these speakers will also be the same two used for your stereo playback then they should be of very high quality and able to play loud (over 102 dB) and reproduce bass below 80 Hz.
Center Channel.
This is the most important speaker in a video system, as almost all of the dialogue and a large portion of the front speaker information is reproduced by the center channel. It is important that the center speaker be designed by the same manufacturer as the front speakers, and that it is recommended for use as a center speaker. This is not the place to cut corners.
Surround Speakers.
We recommend that the surround speakers play down to 80 Hz or below. The surround speakers contain the information that makes it appear that planes are flying over your head. Some may suggest that this is the place to save money and purchase a small inexpensive speaker. If you choose to do so, be prepared to upgrade in the future as discrete six channel digital encoding becomes available and the demands on the surround speakers increase.
Subwoofer.
With any good surround system you will need a high quality subwoofer (the .1, in a 5.1 channel surround system). Most movie soundtracks contain large amounts of bass information as part of the special effects. Good subwoofers will provide a foundation for the rest of the system.