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I have a friend who prides himself on being on the cutting edge of technology. Several years ago, when the technology was new, he hired a specialist to go to his house and set up his surround sound speakers for him. He invited a group over to watch a movie that night and being new to surround sound, when the movie started, one member of our group was fooled. Each time she heard a footfall, she would turn and stare into the dark hallway behind us searching for the sounds that were part of the movie, but came from the speaker behind us. The purpose of surround sound is to make the movie watcher feel like part of the action. So the system did its job.

The technology is fairly simple – for movie sound, three or more tracks are recorded, each taken from a different direction, and then the tracks are combined in a mixing studio. Things become complex when you bring that technology home and try to set up your own surround sound speakers. There are no rules to proper surround sound speaker placement because there are so many variables. The type of speakers you have and the shape of your room can profoundly affect the performance of your system. That’s why it’s important to contact a professional who is familiar with the variables that can affect performance and who can place your speakers in a configuration that will work best for your needs whether you’re interested in using your system for watching movies, listening to music, or both.

By: Certified Connection



Based on its acoustics, you’ve chosen the best room to transform into your home theater. The next thing you should think about that will affect the sound quality of your system is speaker placement. First, place the center channel speaker. The center channel speaker anchors sound to the screen that belongs on the screen, like dialogue, so it should be near your television – either on top of it or below it. It should also be the same distance from your listening position as your left and right speakers.

Left and right speakers are doubly important because they have two jobs; they handle your movie soundtracks and play stereo music. There should be an equal distance between the left speaker and the center channel and the center channel and the right speaker. The speakers should all be the same distance from the listening position and should form a slight arc with the left and right speakers aimed at the listener’s ears.

For help with the subtleties of speaker placement that will help you get the most out of your home theater experience, contact Certified Connection. We’ll cover surround sound in a separate post.

By: Certified Connection

If you’ve got a reasonably new surround sound system set up, odds are you’ve got some iteration of Dolby in it. Or would it be more accurate to say “on it”? Through it? You know Dolby is involved somehow. Even the newest of newbies in the audio world knows that everything sounds better with Dolby. So then what is Dolby, exactly?

Well, let’s start by defining what Dolby isn’t. It’s not a consumer product. Dolby doesn’t manufacture them. It licenses its technology to manufacturers of consumer electronics. Dolby isn’t a thing you can see or touch. But you can certainly hear it.

In its early years, Dolby Laboratories marketed its proprietary noise-reduction technology to record companies. Those who were around during the early 8-track/cassette/record album days will recall that there was often a white noise-type hiss that one would hear before or between songs. The Dolby technology eliminated that with Type A Dolby Noise Reduction, a simple compander (a device that compressed the dynamic range of a signal before transmission and expanded it to the original value at the receiver).

Dolby sound technology next surfaced in movie theaters. The first film with Dolby sound was A Clockwork Orange in 1971. Less than 10 years later, more than 6,000 theaters around the world were using Dolby Stereo sound. Dolby reworked the system for home use and introduced Dolby Pro Logic, which was the domestic equivalent of the theatrical Dolby Stereo.

Dolby then developed a digital surround sound compression scheme for theaters. Dolby Stereo Digital (now simply called Dolby Digital) was first featured in the movie Batman Returns, and then came into the home theater via the laserdisc for the movie Clear and Present Danger in 1995. Dolby Digital is now in the U.S. HDTV standard, DVD players, and many satellite TV and cable TV receivers.

Dolby has become synonymous with quality sound and an immersive audio experience. To get the most from what Dolby has to offer, get in touch with the experts at Certified Connection and get a speaker setup that’s music to your ears.

By: Certified Connection

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