Best Home Cinema Surround Sound Speakers: Soundbars Vs. True Surround Sound

In the home cinema world there are two main sound options: the soundbar or a surround sound system (usually 5.1, i.e. 6 speakers). If you're trying to put together the best home cinema in your living room, which of these two options should you choose? Keep reading to find out more.

Why Soundbars Have Become So Popular For Home Cinema

Traditional surround sound speakers are composed of a number of elements, including speakers designed to be placed behind you. In order to do so, you'll usually need to run wires across your living room, or pay more money

for a wireless set of speakers. This isn't ideal in many living rooms, depending on the layout of your room and how much effort you want to put into the setup.

Soundbars have been developed as a way to deal with this problem. They are composed of a long, slim bar that can simply be placed above or below your television screen. All elements of the surround sound speaker system are housed within the bar itself (though you'll need a separate subwoofer for bass tones).

The Difference Between Real And Virtual Surround Sound In Home Cinema

The key difference between soundbars and surround sound speakers is the fact that the former creates "virtual" surround sound through clever engineering. All of the required speakers are housed within the one slim bar, and are projected at different angles so they bounce around the room. This makes it appear as though the sounds are coming from different angles, even if they all originate directly in front of you. Soundbars also make use of clever audio delays and volume controls to fool our brains into thinking we're hearing sounds from certain locations.

Surround sound speakers, on the other hand, are literally placed all around us. We hear the sound coming from behind us because we've placed the speaker directly behind us. Although some soundbars can mimic this very successfully, they work best in square rooms with a standard TV-to-couch positioning (where the couch isn't far from the back wall). Surround sound speakers, on the other hand, can be placed exactly where you want them, making for a better overall experience.

Which Should You Choose For The Best Home Cinema Setup?

For some, the best home cinema setup means top quality sound, in which case you should opt for true surround sound rather than a soundbar. That said, for most of us there are usually other factors at play. Perhaps you don't want to fiddle around with cabling, or you want the ease of use of a soundbar? If this is the case, then a good quality soundbar will most definitely sound a lot more immersive than your standard TV speakers.

Home Cinema Speakers Guide To Sound Formats

There are so many specs to consider when shopping for home cinema speakers: the price tag, the various features, the design, the power. But one of the most crucial aspects is the audio format the set uses. Here's a guide to the various speaker setups and the most common formats they each use.

5.1 Channel Surround Sound Home Cinema Speakers

This is the most common surround sound format found in home cinema speakers. 5.1 means that there are five speakers accompanying the bass subwoofer. The position of the speakers is usually: front left and right, center and left and right, though you can also get 6.1 and 7.1 to add in extra channels.

5.1 surround sound is available in two different formats, both of which are featured on most audio/video receivers:
* Dolby Digital is the most common sound format used in standard DVDs, HDTV shows and games. In its 5.1 channel format, this is a discrete surround sound format which can produce excellent results.
* DTS is the second format commonly using a 5.1 configuration. Because it uses less compression than Dolby Digital, it's considered to be slightly more accurate to the way the video was recorded.

6.1 Channel Surround Sound Home Cinema Speakers

There are a couple of surround sound formats that add an extra channel to the mix, helping to make the sound even more realistic and making the listener feel even more as though they're in the middle of the action. DTS-ES is less common than Dolby Digital EX.

7.1 Channel Surround Sound Home Cinema Speakers

For an even more authentic 360 degree sound option, there are 7.1 surround sound systems. Many of the newer Blu-Ray disc players can take advantage of this high quality audio, but not all discs will be able to make use of the function. Two of the 7.1 channel surround sound formats - Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD - are known as "lossless" surround sound. On standard DVDs, sound formats had to be compressed to fit onto the space of a standard disc. Because HD Blu-Ray discs offer more space, the audio formats have gotten bigger too. Lossless surround sound is true to the original sound recording. Other 7.1 formats, such as Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD, are very high quality but don't match the level of lossless surround sound.

Bottom Line

If you're not going to play Blu-Ray discs then the more detailed surround sound options won't matter to you at all. If, however, you opt for a Blu-Ray disc player that supports lossless audio - and you want to be able to hear it in all its glory - you'll need to purchase a surround sound system to match. Most home cinema speakers today make use of 5.1 channels, which is perfectly adequate to bring you into the center of the action.