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  9. Best sound for home cinemas: 3 systems and their advantages and disadvantages

Best sound for home cinemas: 3 systems and their advantages and disadvantages

Comparative winner of the editors Bose TV Speaker - compact soundbar with Bluetooth connection, Black

Best sound for home cinemas: 3 systems and their advantages and disadvantages

The acoustics play a major role in the living room at home. In order to be able to enjoy films and series with optimal sound quality, you need high-quality equipment. We present three systems that allow you to experience impressive sounds and literally immerse yourself in the film.

 

Best sound for home theaters
Best sound for home theaters

Soundbars: unobtrusive, inexpensive and convenient

Many surround sound systems have one major disadvantage: They require a hodgepodge of speakers that need to be perfectly positioned to work together. Otherwise, the acoustic quality is lacking and the sound experience suffers. If you are one of those people who don't feel like cluttering up their living room with technical elements and dealing with the optimal alignment of the speakers, a soundbar is just the thing. Unpack, connect, done. That's all it takes to install this acoustic equipment.

Another advantage relates to the space requirement: although soundbars are relatively long, they take up much more space overall than surround sound systems with numerous boxes. In this way, residents of small apartments can also enjoy impressive acoustics. Soundbars usually fit easily on any lowboard and can be placed directly in front of the TV set. The integration with a sound deck, on which the television can be placed directly, is particularly compact. Disadvantage: Sound decks usually involve significantly higher acquisition costs.

As the selection of recommended soundbars from leading brands in the home cinema guide shows, there are good soundbars for less than 200 euros. In the product arrangement, for example, inexpensive models from well-known manufacturers such as Samsung and Bose. By the way, you don't have to do without surround sound with soundbars. It's not real surround sound, but a simulated and reputable manufacturer manages to do it quite convincingly. The technologies for this vary from brand to brand, but the objective is always the same: It is about distributing the sound waves of the soundbar in the room and reflecting them off the walls in such a way that the listener gets the impression of a spatial sound sensation.

Benefits

  • favorable
  • save space
  • no further Loudspeakers necessary
  • quick to start, minimal effort
  • good value for money
  • solid selection

Disadvantages

  • no true surround sound
  • without Subwoofer relatively weak bass

7.1 surround system - defined sound

The technical arrangement of 7.1 surround sound systems is much more extensive. To clarify the advantages, first a short detour to the 5.1 surround system. This includes the following main channels:

  • 1 bass channel (e.g. subwoofer)
  • 1 Center Speaker
  • 2 surround speakers
  • 2 front speakers

Two Loudspeakers are located to the right and left of the listening position and are slightly angled. The center box is below and the two front boxes next to the TV set. The bass channel is located between the front speakers. With the 7.1 surround system, two additional boxes are added, which are set up behind the listening position at least one meter away from the side boxes or mounted on the wall. The heart of 7.1 surround systems are AVReceiver. These components serve as the elementary control center and multi-channel amplifier. Which AV receivers are recommended, CHIP has summarized in a test report.

Loudspeakers
Loudspeakers

Because of the numerous Loudspeakers and the well thought-out placement creates an excellent sound experience. Conversations, explosions, engine noise and many other types of sounds are reproduced very realistically. Since the sounds come from different directions, it almost seems as if you are right in the middle of the action.

Benefits

  • well defined home theaterKlang
  • the surround backs optimize the surround effect
  • Sound improvements from premises with approx

    30

  • large selection

Disadvantages

  • Often more expensive than soundbars because many components are required

  • increased space requirement
  • complex to install
  • not every film and series is mixed for 7.1 surround sound

3D audio format Dolby Atmos - intensive sound events

Dolby Atmos goes a step further in terms of the sound experience. Unlike soundbars, 5.1 and 7.1 surround sounds, the object-based 3D audio format Dolby Atmos does not produce sound on just one level. Instead, sounds are perceived from the front, sides, back, and top. The overhead dimension guarantees an incomparable all-round cinema experience. However, you have to dig much deeper into your pocket for this than is the case with soundbars. A Dolby Atmos set from Teufel (Ultima series), for example, costs between 1.800 and 4.500 euros.

Benefits

  • intensive involvement in the sound
  • many blockbusters have already been produced accordingly (a movie list in Dolby Atmos provides Dolby online)

Disadvantages

  • expensive
  • comparatively complex structure
  • the speaker placement must be right so that the realism does not suffer

In the video, home cinema expert Patrick Schappert from Grobi.TV discusses the increasing selection of Dolby Atmos productions and provides an insight into the associated sound quality:

Additional information about home cinema and acoustics hi-online.net:

sound formats
Beamer
Teufel Ultima 40 5.1 sound system in test

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