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13.1 Surround Sound Coming to a Home near you?

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i'll-believe-it-when-i-hear-it dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Need to see the anatomy of a codec? Dolby Digital plus is starting to make inroads in the audio world and this article gives you the technical insight into the Enhanced AC-3 codec. Will consumers soon be getting the full 13.1 audio system that we hear in movie theaters?"

4 of 387 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Wow by Phosphor3k · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "I guess if you spend money to buy all those speakers, it BETTER sound better, or at least you've going to tell yourself it does."
    "with 25 foot length Monster Cables."
    Right. Buying cables from the same company that sells a 50$ phone cord.
  2. We don't need more speakers. by Reverend528 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    More speakers in home theatre set ups will just waste money and space. Sound can be easily projected with as few as 4 well-placed speakers (plus one subwoofer), and its a great deal easier to set up. I can safely guarantee that 99% of homes with 13 speakers will have them placed wrong.

    --
    Badass Resumes
  3. Acoustics by Red+Flayer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    While 13.1 may be appealing to people who need to have the next greatest thing, this will be useless for any significant market. How many home theaters have the correct shape, paneling, furniture placement, and size to take advantage of the acoustical advantages of so many channels? Even at 5.1 channels, I can tell that the acoustic signature in the seat next to me is different -- and less perfect. How will this change with 13.1?

    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  4. Re:Why? by timeOday · · Score: 3, Insightful
    People living in this universe are, sadly, limited to 3 spatial dimensions. You can pinpoint any point in 3-space with 3 scalars. (And for that matter we only have 2 ears, perhaps because we live mostly on the surface of the earth)


    13.1 is just silly for a single listener. The speaker system in a theater is doing a different job - it can't be set up with just one sweet spot, because there are people spread out over a huge area in the room. In your living room, you only need the sound to be right in one place. It's entirely possible a 5.1 system does a better job for one listener than a 13.1 in a theater.