Videopoker Haven

For years, the staple of a surround sound home theater system was 5.1 audio, in which the audio of the TV program or movie you were watching was split into 5 channels (center, left, right, left surround, and right surround) as well as a subwoofer which sends out the LFE (Low Frequency Effects). In recent years, technology has evolved (as it tends to do) and has brought about a new staple in the surround sound experience: 6.1 home theaters. 6.1 home theaters are similar to the setup of 5.1 systems. They have the center speaker, the right and left speakers, and the right and left surround speakers that go on either side of the viewer. The addition however is the “rear center surround” speaker (also known as the “back surround” speaker). This speaker is placed directly behind the TV fan in addition to the subwoofer, creating a superior surround sound experience and more three dimensional sound. Whereas 5.1 surround sound made use of surround sound formatting such as Dolby Digital and Digital Theater Sound (DTS), 6.1 uses extended surround sound format such as THX Surround EX and DTS-ES. This gives it a much fuller, richer sound to come with the extra channel of audio. Very recently, 6.1 home theaters were “upgraded” again into 7.1 surround sound. This is actually more of a smoke and mirrors improvement than an actual upgrade. 7.1 surround sound gives the illusion of an improvement of 6.1 both with it’s higher number (which generally marks an upgrade has occurred as with software editions) as well as an extra speaker (center, right, left, right surround, left surround, right back surround and left back surround), but this is where the foolery comes in to play. The right back surround sound speaker and left back surround sound speaker are not actually separate channels! They are in fact merely matrixes of the extended surround sound from the 6.1 design. What this means is that in the 6.1 surround sound system, you have 6 completely separate audio channels, where as in the 7.1 systems you still have only 6 separate audio channels with one audio channel coming out of two speakers. Think of it as taking the rear center surround speaker, cutting it in half, and then sliding each half back and slanting it toward the listener. Without a doubt, 6.1 home theaters are superior to their predecessor the 5.1 system. However, the 7.1 systems are essentially the same as 6.1 but configured differently with an extra speaker and a higher dollar amount. A 6.1 system is your best bet for quality, price, and the amount of space taken up in your room.

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