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A few plaques I designed for my home theatre: (click on images for larger view)

If I was abroad, I would've bought them...but in a place like Nepal, where you can't buy jack s**t, I have to design my own and have them printed out and mounted.

The ones you see here have been compressed both in file and image size to save download time. If you want me to send you the link to the original file, please let me know through my Guestbook

WHAT IS HOME THEATRE?

It evolved from a theatre near you.

The term Home Theatre includes a swag of truly revolutionary home entertainment technologies that bring evenings in front of the TV ever closer to the relaxing and  rewarding experience of a night at the movies.

Sounds at the movies has been in stereo for decades (and in Nepal it still is). Since the 1960's this original two-channel sound has evolved into multi-channel  systems that direct specific sounds and moving directional effects between as many as 22 speakers placed strategically around the theatre.

Home Theatre Sound

Home audio technology now allows the full cinema sound experience to be brought right into your living room. As in the cinema, 3 speakers are used at the front of the room:  two main speakers for Left and Right channels plus a Centre Channel speaker positioned above or below your TV.  The multiple 'surround' speakers used in the theatre are replaced by 2 speakers positioned in the rear (or sometimes the side) of your favourite viewing position. The speakers are all in place, and the TV replaces the cinema screen. 

Finally, the very heart of the system is the 'surround sound' processor (amplifier) that decodes the movie soundtrack and feeds audio information to each speaker in precisely the way that the film director intended.  There are several formats available for processing the movie soundtrack, including Dolby Prologic, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Lucasfilm Home THX, and DTS.

Getting Started

Apart from a TV screen (the bigger the better), the major 'must-have' of Home Theatre is stereo video sound to give your Home Theatre amplifier access to the encoded surround sound information. 

The most cost-effective solution is a Stereo Hi-Fi VCR. Remember, a stereo TV set can't 'read' the stereo soundtrack of a videotape played in a mono VCR. And no amplifier can decode true surround sound from a mono source. So next time you're shopping for a VCR, opt for a Stereo Hi-Fi VCR.

Speaker Options

The 'typical' Home Theatre system requires a minimum of 5 speakers. Left / Centre / Right plus 2 rear Surround speakers. Many manufacturers (My Wharfedale Diamond Cinema series, for example) now offer complete matched speaker packages to simplify selection of a system to meet your exact listening preferences. In some cases it's possible to use your existing stereo hi-fi speakers for the main Left & Right channels. So only the centre channel and rear surround speakers need be added. 

Give careful consideration to including  a sub-bass unit (subwoofer) because this greatly enhances the Home Theatre experience. Since bass signals are non-directional, they may be placed virtually anywhere in the room (under a coffee table for example).

The Heart Of Your Theatre

The processing and amplification components that you choose will form the very heart to drive your new Home Theatre system, so it is worth taking a careful look at the options available.

The simplest and most popular approach is to invest in a full-featured, integrated Home Theatre Receiver which provides everything that you will need in a single unit.  These typically combine a home theatre processor (Pro Logic, THX, Dolby Digital or DTS), an AM/FM tuner and five built-in power amplifiers. Good quality units should also include a pre-out terminal to feed an external powered sub-bass unit. A well-designed and constructed Home Theatre Receiver will also effortlessly assume the role of a conventional stereo hi-fi amplifier and provide all the inputs you need for components such as CD players, cassette decks and more.

Several receivers may look very similar but that's where the comparison often ends. A comparative listening test is time well invested. 

Many music and movie lovers may already have some of the basic elements in their hi-fi system, so you could build up a home theatre system gradually by adding components as they can be afforded.

Dolby Pro Logic

Undoubtedly Dolby's Surround and later Dolby Pro Logic processing systems brought the dream of true cinema sound into the home.

The original Dolby Surround system was introduced to cinemas in 1970 with smash hits like Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. This revolutionary format required two-speaker stereo front channels plus two identical rear channels delivering a general sense of directional and space. Note - it didn't require a centre channel - hence Dolby Surround and not Pro Logic.

The next generation system, Dolby Pro Logic, introduced in the late 1980's, was much more advanced in its ability to accurately steer directional sound effects around a room.  As a four-channel system (Left / Centre / Right / Surround), Dolby Pro Logic introduced a special centre speaker to focus vital dialogue sounds onto the screen itself. The result was that highly localised sounds could now be piloted with pinpoint accuracy while speech remained clear and intelligible.

Today, Dolby Pro-Logic is by far the most common format used to encode multi-channel 'surround sound' information onto stereo video tapes, television broadcasts (again, not in Nepal) and laser discs.

Dolby Digital (also known as AC-3) is the 'six'-track (5.1) format first heard by theatre audiences in 1992 with the release of Batman Returns.  The home version of Dolby Digital uses highly advanced digital technology to keep the original five audio channels (Left / Centre / Right / rear right & rear left) completely separated and in the digital domain. The 6th channel (the "1" in 5.1) is a digitally derived sub-bass-only feed called Low Frequency Effects or LFE.

The main benefits of Dolby Digital include unprecedented separation between all five (or 5.1) channels, true stereophonic rear surround effects instead of Pro-Logic's diffuse monophonic rear field, and full-range sound from all five speakers.  The overall effect is one of subtly realistic, noise-free soundfields worthy of direct comparison with the very best movie experience.

DTS

The preferred choice of Steven Speilberg. It is similar to Dolby Digital in that it is a 5.1 system, but uses different compression values, supposedly given better frequency ranges and music dynamics.

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