Spaces Issue 7

TIPS
LIVING THE ELECTRONIC LIFE
HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Time is short and the search for easier and
faster methods of accomplishing things
related to daily chores has opened up vast
choices. Entertainment being one of the
major parts of daily life, it plays a very
important role with respect to balancing
one’s state of mind - more so with the ever
increasing pace of living. As the saying
goes ‘All work, no play, makes Jack a dull
boy’-a certain amount of entertainment is
paramount to the conduct of a perfect
and healthy life. With the advent of
television, watching movies has never been
easier. The hassle of queuing up in long
lines for tickets to watch your favourite
movie, or the pain of having to cough up
more than you can afford when having to
buy tickets in the black-market (specially
on a date), is a thing of the past. One may
argue of course that there is nothing like
watching a movie full screen in a public
theatre. True, but this section of
entertainment is developing so fast that the
cinema hall will one day surely be a very
expensive and time consuming luxury that
few can afford.
The Home Theatre: A true Home
Theatre is a custom designed room with
projector, large screen and surround sound
system (usually built in and hidden). This
dedicated environment is a mini movie
theatre complete with serious theatre seats,
climate control, noise control, and remote
control. Here we apply the term loosely
to any system that integrates TV, video
sources, and surround sound.
Surround Sound: is basically a collection
of speakers placed in such a way that a
sound field is created that totally envelops
the listeners. Typically, five speakers are
used but more may be used in difficult
environments. Besides the usual left and
right front speakers, left and right
surrounds are added to create the sound
field. A fifth speaker called a centre channel
is placed near the television and used when
you watch a movie. This speaker helps to
make movie dialogue clearer and locks the
voices to where you see the mouths move.
Normal speakers have limitations in terms
of how low a frequency they can
reproduce and so, nowadays, an additional
speaker (called a subwoofer) is added to
cater for the low bass that normal speakers
just can’t play. Movie soundtracks especially
contain a rich low bass content that adds a
tremendous amount of atmosphere if you
can hear it.
Processors: in home theatre amplifiers
decide which sound must be heard where,
to create a coherent, believable sound field.
Essentially, the processor contains
computer code which tells it how to
interpret the signals from your DVD, video
or whatever. What it doesn’t know
however, are things like speaker placement,
room size, how loud they play and the
location of the listeners. So to get your
system working properly you need to tell
the processor these and a few other things.
Text: Pradeep K Upadhyay
Changing a few parameters in the set-up
is a far from daunting task if you can read,
but it is amazing how many quality systems
out there disappoint for lack of proper setup.
Besides quality of components and
proper set-up there are a number of factors
that influence the quality of sound field a
system can create. Often overlooked is the
room, and the need to match components
to the environment. You don’t go to sea
in a dinghy and conversely you don’t float
an ocean liner in a pond.
Setting up a Home Theatre: If you have
invested in some home theatre kit, then
no doubt the question of where to put all
this stuff has arisen. Correct placement of
speakers and screens relative to the room
and the audience makes a huge difference
to the performance and enjoyment of the
system. Wiring the system and calibration
of the set-up parameters is the next step.
If you are planning to build a house and
want to incorporate a home theatre, then
70 NOV-DEC 2005 SPACES