What to Look For

Looking for a surround sound set up is a personal choice. The look, sound, size, cost and connections will change with each system. If you do you set a budget, research and compare systems within that budget and you will end up a lot happier than trying to jump into an ocean of surround sounds and spending more than you wished to.

Speaker Size

When I'm talking about speaker size, I'm not talking about total dimensions of the speaker and cabinet; I'm talking about the size of the driver, the moving part actually making the sound. The size of your speakers can make a major impact on how it will sound in your room. Too small and you are more likely to overload the speakers and get distorted sound. Too Large and you will have to much bass making peoples voices sound muddy. If you have a large room you will need larger speakers and a larger subwoofer to fill that room with sound. Most people will not need to go over 6” unless you are planning to do a dedicated home theatre room that is 7m x 15m and in that case you need to do a lot more reading up on the subject.

Subwoofers are also very sensitive to the size of a room; typically the size of the subwoofer should mirror the size of the room. If you have a large room you will want a 12” subwoofer minimum. If you have a small bedroom an 8” subwoofer will do the job just fine. But like all speakers, listen to each subwoofer you are considering. Some sound really boomy while others sound slightly flat. Find which you like better before you buy.

Inputs

Optical and HDMI inputs are now essential for getting good and real surround sound from your gaming consoles. If sadly, you have just a Wii, you won’t need to worry about any of this because your console only supports Dolby Pro Logic II which is achieved from a L and R RCA input. But if you’re of a more sensible nature and have a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 you will want to be able to connect your console to your surround sound with at least one of these inputs.

Toslink Optical cable is capable of carrying any audio signal, except Dolby True HD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS HD which are only supported by the Playstation 3 and other Blu-Ray players.

HDMI, which stands for High Definition Multi-Media Interface, is now the accepted standard for most electronic equipment. The beauty of HDMI is that it allows you to carry High Definition Audio and Video over the one cable. HDMI supports any Audio signal that your PS3/360 can throw at your receiver.