Dolby Home Theater® V4

[Patricia]

Bringthe joy and magic of the movies right to your living room with a home theater. Our guide will help you create the right setup for your space, with tips on choosing the type of TV, speakers, and audio electronics that best meet your needs. We'll also cover where to place your speakers for the optimal sound.

Learn about different kinds of home theater setup and plan your space. Find out what you'll need for your optimal setup and discover how to choose the right equipment to get the best sound within your budget.

Dolby pioneered high-quality audio first in the recording studio and at the movies and then in the living room. Dolby Home Theater v4 benefits from decades of experience in areas like noise reduction, speaker optimization, and surround sound. It's a complete solution and improves audio performance whether you choose to listen through your PC's built-in speakers, your favorite pair of headphones, or by connecting your PC to a home theater system.

Designed into a PC, Dolby Home Theater v4 first applies processing that fixes any problems with the source material. It then fixes playback issues by compensating for mechanical constraints of the PC itself.

Because Dolby engineers custom-tune each PC model that includes Dolby Home Theater v4, the audio processing ensures that you enjoy optimal sound for the specific combination of speakers and amplifier in your PC.

The Surround Decoder in Dolby Home Theater v4 creates a surround sound experience by converting two-channel stereo audio into 5.1 channels and converting 5.1-channel audio into 7.1 channels.

Dolby Home Theater v4 is one of two Dolby technology suites that are part of the Dolby PC Entertainment Experience v4. Dolby Advanced Audio v2 is designed to deliver a personal surround sound experience.

A 7.1 system adds left and right rear surround speakers. The ".1" in these designations is for a subwoofer (sometimes called the low-frequency effects, or LFE, speaker) for the lowest bass. Our speaker setup guide has all the details on placement.

Dolby Atmos layouts parallel the traditional 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound setups and add height speakers. Adding two height channels creates a 5.1.2 or a 7.1.2 system. Dolby Atmos systems with four height channels are designated 5.1.4 or 7.1.4.

There are two basic ways to add the height channels. One is to use two or four in-ceiling speakers. The second way is to use special Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers that can be floor or stand mounted. From a placement perspective, these replace the left and right speakers and the left and right surround speakers.

While there are thousands of speakers out there, most stores only carry a few and side-by-side comparisons often aren't that useful. For one thing, the showroom will sound much different than your listening area at home. So make your room size your starting point.

Take a look at the Dolby Home Theater speaker guide for complete information on speaker placement for any configuration. You'll learn the advantages of each configuration and the role of each speaker.

You can't have too much power, but you can have too little. Underpowered amplifiers can damage speakers, particularly high-frequency drivers, if the volume is turned too high. Check the power ratings for your speakers and don't go under that. It's a good idea to get more power than you think you'll need.

Nearly all A/V receivers now include room calibration to help you fine-tune your speaker placement. It uses a microphone, which is usually included, and self-generated test tones. The more expensive the receiver is, the more sophisticated the calibration circuitry is likely to be.

Although owner's manuals for AVRs can seem more complicated than the products themselves, going through some before you buy can help you make a better choice and save you a lot of time later. Many manufacturers make their manuals available online.

Soundbars are an increasingly popular alternative to separate loudspeakers, thanks to their room-friendly designs. Many models offer "virtual surround," simulating the sound of a multispeaker setup and making soundbars a solid home theater choice.

Choose all your speakers from the same manufacturer so they have similar "sound signatures" which will create the most convincing surround effects.

Most of the major manufacturers now offer prematched home theater sets, saving you the trouble of finding the separate speakers yourself.

Strangely enough, MP3 music recordings that sound great through earbuds on your commute probably won't sound as good on your home theater, especially at higher volumes. MP3 files are highly compressed, losing both high- and low-frequency information. On a high-quality system, you'll quickly hear the difference compared to, say, a CD or DVD.

Every 3 decibel (dB) increase in sound level (the minimum increase you can hear) requires doubling the power. A change in sound from 85 to 105 dB could easily mean going from 1 to 100 watts, even for an instant.

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