George Lucas famously said “sound is 50 percent of the movie-going experience,” and he ought to know. But what if you want to bring the full excitement of the movies home? How can you ensure you’re getting an audio performance that will do justice to the pictures you’re watching?
By investing in a surround sound setup, that’s how. A well-sorted surround sound system can offer the cinematic scale and sonic immersion that makes movie night an authentic event. Sure, you could choose one of our best soundbars and make a significant improvement on your TV’s sound, but if you’re looking to get closer to the movie theater experience at your home, a surround sound setup is what you need.
Below you'll find everything you need to know about getting started with surround sound, and the kind of setup you will need in order to achieve it. Once we’re done, you might never feel the need to set foot inside a cinema again.
What Is Surround Sound?
This shouldn’t take too much explaining, because the answer is in the question: surround sound is an audio set-up designed to surround the listener with sound. Unlike watching TV or listening to a stereo system, where sound is coming from in front of your seated position, a surround sound setup uses multiple speakers arranged in as close to a circle as is possible around your seat.
This is the reason surround sound is sometimes referred to as “multichannel,” because it splits sound into more individual “channels” of sound than the two channels that constitute a traditional stereo setup. Each of these channels carries different audio information—and usually to an individual speaker too.
Naturally, a surround sound setup also requires more channels of sound to be amplified—you can’t attach more than two speakers to a stereo amplifier, so you’ll need an amplifier that can deal with the number of speakers in your home cinema setup.
Common Surround Sound Setups: 5.1 and 7.1-Channel Systems
You may have seen surround sound setups described numerically—most commonly as 5.1-channel or 7.1-channel surround sound systems, but sometimes, in the case of spatial audio setups, with an extra number on the end, like 5.1.2 (more on this shortly). Simply put, these numbers refer to the number of speakers in the system.
For example, you can express a stereo system as 2.0. This means it consists of the “left” and “right” channels we’re all familiar with—and if they’re carefully positioned, these two speakers will create a convincing stereo image. This makes it possible to perceive a soundstage, and to understand the position the individual elements of a recording, like voices or instruments, occupy within it.
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