5.1 Speakers

With impetus from the rapid technological advancements, audio entertainment has changed drastically in the last five years. Today, wall mounted speakers, home theatre systems and even in wall ceiling speakers have surround sound facility that can be compared with the surround systems fitted in the movie theatres.

The first ever surround sound system was implemented by the Walt Disney studio’s for their film Fantasia in 1940. They used a multichannel audio mechanism that used three audio channels and speakers. Surround sound can be created using various technologies. The simplest method is by surrounding the listener with a number of speakers that are connected directly to the audio player.

Today, most of the 2.1 speakers and 5.1 speaker systems that employ surround system make use of the matrix systems to produce surround sound. This system maps each source channel to its own speaker. Also, the 5.1 speaker system directs the bass content of the audio to the main speakers that are capable of handling the intensity of the sound. The bass audio content is also at times directed to the specially created low frequency speakers. These low frequency speakers are generally called subwoofers.

Along with the bass and subwoofers, surround systems speakers, namely 2.1 speakers, 5.1 speaker system, and 7.1 speakers make use of a Low Frequency Effect (LFE) channel. Normally, people misinterpret the term subwoofer channel with LFE channel. The LFE channels are used to carry extremely low-bass sound on their own channel. Similar to the bass management system, the LFE channels in absence of a sub woofer, directs the low-bass audio content to main speakers.

The notations of the surround sound speakers such as 2.1, 3.1 and 5.1 indicate the number of full range channels and the restricted range of LFE channels. For instance, the 2.1 speakers indicate that there are 2 full range speakers and .1 LFE channel. Similarly for the 5.1 speaker, there are 5 full range speakers and 1 LFE channel.

Even in the surround sound system, there are a few variations that are available in the market. For instance, there are at least four variations in the 5.1 surround sound speakers available in the market.

These four variations are:

This system has:

• Four channels for speakers for the front-left (L), left-center (LC) and right-center (RC), and right (R).
• One channel for speaker for the center (C)
• One channel for surround speaker for the rear (S)

This system has:

• Two channels for speakers at the front-left (L) and front-right (R)
• One channel for speaker at the center (C)
• Two channels for surround speakers at the rear-left (LS) and rear-right (RS)
• One LFE channel

This system has:

• Two channels for speakers for the front-left (L) and front-right (R)
• One channel for speaker for the center (C)
• Two channels for surround speakers for the rear-left (LS) and rear-right (RS)
• One LFE channel

This particular variation of 5.1 surround sound speakers is also usually referred to as the 3-2 stereo sound. The 3-2 or the 3/2 refers to the configuration of speakers in the front and back. For instance, 3/2 means 3 speakers in the front and 2 speakers at the back.

This system has:

• Two channels for speakers at the front-left (L) and front-right (R)
• One channel for speaker at the center (C)
• Two channels for surround speakers at the rear-left (LS) and rear-right (RS).
• One LFE channel

In contrast, to the 5.1 speakers system, there is only one variation for the 7.1 speakers where there is an eight channel source for seven audio channels and one LFE channel. The distribution is as follows:

• Two channels for speakers at the front-left (L) and front-right (R)
• One channel for speaker at the center (C)
• Two channels for surround speakers at the left-side (LS) and right-side (RS)
• Two channels for surround speakers at the rear-left (LB) and rear-right (RB)
• One LFE channel.

There is yet another layout variation for the 7.1 speakers that are applicable for the wide screen movie format. In this format, four channels are kept in the front, one channel at the centre, two channels at the rear, and one LFE channel. The wide screen format requires additional speakers, because the standard speakers will not be able to cover all the angles. The additional speakers will help create adequate sound for the audience seated in various corners of the hall thereby increasing the satisfaction of the sound system. One novel idea is to set these up as in wall stereo speakers.

These surround sound speaker systems can also be connected to the home computer system. Or you can find a monitor with speakers attached. You can pick up some of these cheap pc speakers quite easily. I have some mp4 speakers just like these that work great. While connecting the speakers, care should be taken to ensure that the color coded cables are attached to correct color labeled slots in the CPU as well as in the speakers.

Some of the well known companies that manufacture 2.1 speakers, 5.1 speaker system, and 7.1 speakers are Creative, Philips, and Logitech.