Gizmodo
Apparently, home theater systems around the world are falling short of greatness because their owners are failing to hook up their rear speakers (properly at least). Not surprisingly, the main culprits are that many customers who purchase home theater gear and attempt to hook it up themselves either have no idea what they are doing, or aesthetic issues like exposed cords force them into an meaningless existence bereft of sweet surround sound.
Research conducted by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) and various consumer electronics manufacturers and suppliers has determined that "surroundophobia" is becoming a widespread problem—even among those who did not purchase out-of-the-box systems. Some of this research puts the number of crippled systems out there at around 25-35% while others like retail giant Best Buy put the problem at 40-50%.
Potential solutions to the problem include soundbars and wireless speakers, but there are still shortcomings and a learning curve associated with both. So, in the end, it really comes down to consumer education. That having been said, for the love of God do some research—because good surround sound is a terrible thing to waste. [Sound and Vision]
Comments
I know that it took me 5 years to hook up my rear speakers due to unsightly wires.
Dolby 2.1 stereo sound baby!
Sounds great IMO...
Sound is so important, I have a decent home theater and I haaate watching movies at friends houses who have bad audio. It's like missing out on half of the movie.
This just in: most buyers are clueless fucks.
@IUSEAMACSOSUEME:
Very true. Without spending too much on a system and hand-in-hand with proper speaker placement it really makes a difference. Mine forced my to upgrade my TV cause it saw 'smaller' than the rest of the commotion going on.
I'm still a "stereo" man myself. I listen to a lot more music than I do watch movies, and so 5.1 or 6.1 or whatever isn't that useful to me... and it's definitely not worth added footprint and unsightly wires. My stereo speakers are sexy.
umm... just buy a rug that covers from the TV to the couch and go under the rug with the wire.
And I hate when my GF makes me watch a movie in the bedroom where I only have stereo. I need my surround sound.
my only issue is not being able to find an acceptable pair of speaker stands for my rear speakers. i have them set up but i guarantee that they aren't being put to their full use. that being said, i think a good crisp subwoofer is the key to successful movie watching.
I ran my surround wires under the carpet before we moved in, and I can't imagine watching movies without them. I'm sure it can be a pain in the butt thought.
@jaydez You and your GF are watching the wrong kind of movies in the bedroom if surround sound is important! :P
My friend said he always has to turn the subtitles on when he watches a movie cause he cant tell what the movie was saying so i finally decided to witness this for myself. He was using a really old tv (the one that only has RF connectors!) and the single mono speaker on it. O my it was bad, either that or im just spoiled with a center channel and 7.1 surrond sound. Bad thing is im really the only person within my friends that has surrond sound so you can bet whenever a game or new movie comes out on blu-ray it means party at my house (and nasty cleanup).
I didn't hook up my rear speakers either. I payed someone to do it for me.
subwoofer. end of story.
Lots of folks with a new HDTV also watch standard def broadcasts because they don't realize the HD version of shows are broadcast on a different channel.
News Flash: 50% of Home Theater Buyers are below average intelligence!
@klrobinson: Exactly! A subwoofer during an action movie or a basketball game adds sooooo much.
My 5.1 setup has its rear speakers more towards the side. This is definitely due to the cords being way too short.
It is so fucking annoying, because everyone does this.
I would gladly take them if no one wants them. :3
Man, I'm guilty of this. My main issue is that my living room is shaped weird, so the speakers would be in an inconvienent place. That and the speaker wires would be a pain in the butt. I need to run wires through the attic, but my ceiling is vaulted so it's tricky to get where I need to run them.
Anyone have any good ideas here?
basically.....exposed speaker wire is ugly, and hiding it well is a huge pain in the ass.
my god dam center speak won't work
I didn't hook mine up for over a year due to the icky wires. I have them hooked up now, but it's not in any sort of normal placement bullshit. Really I would be happier with two sets of stereo speakers a right and right over there and over there and a left and a left over here and here.
This is what I did:
Bought a house that needed some remodeling. I put all my speakers in the walls and subwoofer jacks at the back of the room. Tv is wall mounted and all my a/v equipment is in an adjacent room connected through the wall. No wires no equipment in the living room. One harmony 880 remote, and my wife loves it.
@Mizzle fo Shizzle: same here. In this case, less is more. If you have great "stereo" speakers and you enjoy a soundstage, I don't see the bother of having a home theatre that you don't need.
A drill, a coathanger, and a willingness to make holes in your walls will take care of this problem. If you're not willing (or allowed) to make some holes then tapewire can do the trick. Stick it to your wall (or floor), paint over it, and you're done!
I don't have surround sound because I never bought a speaker setup, and I don't like loud volumes. I prefer to use the lowest volume setting and subtitles.
Surround sound is definitely a pain in the behind and pretty much overrated. A good 2.1 stereo is very nice to have, but the extra three small speakers don't do all that much.
I have 5.1 properly setup now (I think) and have definitely had it working well in the past. It is cool when it works to have sounds behind you and seem to move around the room. But to do it I need to run wire along nearly every wall and spend a while tuner the receiver to properly distribute the sounds.
On the other hand, a stereo setup takes just a couple wire behind the entertainment center and will easily sound excellent. So it really makes more sense for many people.
My parents are hilarious with their sound system. They have went through a few sets of speakers and had 5.1 for a while. But even though the rear speakers were placed and wired properly, something was wrong with the receiver and they never produced any notable sound. Now they have a nice Bose stereo setup, but they are so funny, they refuse to use it most of the time. We go to watch a movie and they insist we don't need to bother turning on the stereo and just use the TV audio.
You haven't lived until you've watched The Hours in its full, surround sound glory.
I have 7.1 and I set it up as intuitively as I could. However, I have yet to see a movie where something happens from the rear speakers. Everything tests out fine when I run it through the calibration. Even when I set the iPod to play "all channels", I get sound from all 7. It's only during movies, I get nothing from the rear.
All about the dipole speakers
@ashwinmudigonda: Try the different settings for surround sound: Theater, Hall1, Hall2, etc...
I had the same problem with my speakers but when I put it on Hall, it worked great
@ashwinmudigonda: Many movies only have 5.1 (or 6.1) sound tracks. You may need to have your receiver "matrix" the 5.1 into 7.1. Visit an AV forum like avsforum for help.
It depends on the kinds of movies you watch. Most action movies have good surround channels, because there's a lot of stuff going on. Other movies, though, aren't worth the aggravation of setting up the rear channels.
A test: remove all your speakers except your surrounds. Most of the time you won't hear anything. The times you do are neat, but they're hardly integral to the movie.
@klew: You don't need to set the volume at high, but if you're reading the subtitles and not hearing all the subtle sound fx then you're missing 1/3 of the movie (at least). You really can't downplay the importance of sound in movies.
@ashwinmudigonda: Are you being sure to select the correct sound output from the DVD's audio menu? If you're watching a broadcast (even HBO, Showtime, or the like) they probably aren't sending a 7.1 signal or your cable company is downconverting it.
most people have no idea what a speaker cable is.
"OMG I WAS S'POSED TO PLUG IT IN?"
...
"and what's this "enstrucshun man-well" that you speak of?" :/
alright. here's my deal.
i have a kick-ass set of front (stereo) speakers and a dual-10" sub hooked up to a carver m-400 pushing about 350-watts/channel into 4 ohms. it's a sweet gig. and holy hell...is it loud and thumpy.
in october, i bought a 50" panny plasma thinking that i could just use the variable audio output of the tv as an input for the amp. all of my audio/video gear could then go through my tv. guess what!!! no variable audio output of the plasma. only a line out.
so now i HAVE to buy a surround sound (pre-out capable) receiver to enjoy my speaker setup again. here's my question. within a decent (relatively meager) budget, what are some good choices for the four surround speakers? i have a center channel speaker, the two fronts and the sub already good to go.
i knew i'd have to step into the 90's and get a surround receiver. i'm thinking the Onkyo 705 should do the trick. but i don't want a lame surround setup. i emailed www.madisound.com to get some specs on a "full range" speaker and the reply was that "full range speakers won't give enough clarity at the correct volume" in my setup. do surround sound speakers provide that much volume that i need a $150 speaker at each location? can't i just build them myself with correct cabinet volume (sealed or ported)?
any ideas would be AWESOME.
peace.
ashwinmudigonda
What kind of reciever do you have? On our HK735 using Logic 7, Dolby PLIIx or DTS:Neo 6 gives great rear channel sound. However, you can't really expect the rear channels to fire too much; I notice it best when bullets whizz past the screen or something like that
God i deal with this a lot. When we sell surround sound systems it's most of the time (not bashing women) the wife that doesn't want the rear speakers due to the wires running across the floor. If you can get to these groups fast enough they won't settle on Bose but have a professional do the in wall speaker runs. Most of the time running a demo of rear speakers on and off will do the trick. I for one will never have my main home theater system without rear speakers.
Suck it up and snake the wire like a Man for godsakes. A fiberglass snake is under $50. Go through the basemet or the attic last resort through the walls with as few notches as you have to. Sometimes you just have to pay up.
Now..
No Soup For You!!!
Next!!
The main reason people is putting all speakers in front is that they can't afford 100ft spool Moster Cable speaker wire that the Best Buy guy tries to sell them!!!
@CaptainCynic: maybe think about moving yout tv to better accomidate your speakers. Or Do what i did for my old man and invest in a good set of canned speakers that mount directly into the ceiling like canned lighting does.
i'm running 3.1 right now, i'm hating the wires on the ground and i'm far too lazy to hide them, so no rears for me
I've got 5.1 surround now, but it was a process. I had stereo speakers in the days when getting stereo FM sound from SDTV broadcasts was a big deal. Then, with 5.1 more common, I decided a center speaker would help us hear the dialog over all the thundering music and sound effects, so I bought a center and two surround speakers. Paid someone to run the surround speaker wires out of sight. For a time I thought that since my left and right speakers had 12" woofers, I didn't need a subwoofer. I was wrong. Finally got a subwoofer and am now happy. It may be that others are midway in this process.
hiding back channel speaker wire behind crown moulding is your best friend. Your wife thinks you're doing her a favor
I can't remember which TV does it (pretty sure I saw the review here on the Giz around E3 time) but I thought that this was a particularly brilliant idea:
Left, right, and center channels are incorporated into the TV itself. The rear surrounds are connected to the subwoofer, which is connected wirelessly to the TV. So, once your TV is set up, plug the subwoofer into an AC outlet behind your couch and plug the surrounds into the subwoofer.
The main drawbacks I see are having to turn your TV on to listen to music and being stuck with the TV manufacturers speakers (Sony, LG, whatever...).
Lucky for me, I was able to run the speaker wires through the wall down and across the basement to the other wall on the other side of the room. I have nice wall plates with speaker wire clips and everything! :D No visible wires!
I wish I had the technical knowlege and ability to invent wireless back speakers. Talk about an untapped market opportunity.
I can understand the ones that neglect to do it due to unsightly wires (I'll even admit that I once postponed this chore a good 5 months for this reason) but HOW on EARTH could the excuse be that they don't know what they're doing? How hard is it to plug in a wire? Blindfolded monkeys on crack could handle a task that simple.
[www.amazon.com]
Surround sound is so much more important than a big screen. When you can hear a plane fly over you or echos of voices off walls it brings you into the movie.
Most of the time the problem is the "spouse" factor and not a technical or knowledge issue.
The funny thing is that most people, even if they do "man up" and run wires to their surrounds, put them in the wrong place. They think that because they are "rear" channel speakers that they're supposed to go behind you. They're supposed to go on either side of you pointing directly at you. If you don't have them set up like that, they don't sound the way they were mixed to sound, and you might as well not have them. Personally, I like the sound have the sensation of coming from the picture.
@axiomatic: Speakers can't be a WAF problem if you already own them!
Hard wood floors, room where there are gaps and hallways in the walls on all sides of the tv, house is a rental and we have been denied the ability to run cables through the walls...
*sigh*
Trying to find a rug that actually doesn't look like it was placed just to hide cables (one that when it runs from under your tv display stand straight across the room under a couch it doesn't make people say WTF?)
I'm an apartment dweller so no hiding wires under the carpet, no going through the walls, etc. My current solution is a Yamaha soundbar that I'm really happy with-just need to get a subwoofer. I'd really like to see more wireless technology deployed on the surround sound front, though.
Less is more.