wILL 2 SPEAKERS GIVE A SURROUND SOUND EFFECT?

Kashkai

Christmas is coming and I want to get a home theatre system for my old man. Problem is that there's no way to run cables around his room for rear speakers (unless he rips off the skirting boards or takes up the wooden floor which will mean a slow and nasty death from my mother).

I was in DID and Harvey Normans at the weekend and they suggested a new system that has a sub woofer and two tallboy speakers that supposedly give a surround sound effect (Samsung HTQ 100). I was highly skeptical to say the least but they were adamant that it would work and if so would suit my pop. Has anyone come across something like this or are they talking manure???

subway

why not take a look at these http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/152610/art/logitech/z-5450-5-1-speakers.html

Slaphead07

Prosperous Dave wrote:

I was highly skeptical to say the least but they were adamant that it would work and if so would suit my pop. Has anyone come across something like this or are they talking manure???

They are talking manure but some people are happy with that compromise. It's not surround sound really but some trick circuitry can throw the high frequencies aroudn a bit. To me it sounds awful but your Dad might just love it. (no offence meant to your dad!)

godtabh

Slaphead07 wrote:

They are talking manure but some people are happy with that compromise. It's not surround sound really but some trick circuitry can throw the high frequencies aroudn a bit. To me it sounds awful but your Dad might just love it. (no offence meant to your dad!)

Why are they talking shit? I doubt Dolby and the other companies would let them use their names if it was a load of crap

Slaphead07

kearnsr wrote:

Why are they talking shit? I doubt Dolby and the other companies would let them use their names if it was a load of crap

Dolby is a licensed audio format. It's not a guarentee of quality.

godtabh

Slaphead07 wrote:

Dolby is a licensed audio format. It's not a guarentee of quality.

Yeah but I couldnt buy a license and put it on my wooden box and call it a Dolby surround sound system. Surely Dolby and who ever else would want to keep their good name and not let any cowboys use it

Slaphead07

kearnsr wrote:

Yeah but I couldnt buy a license and put it on my wooden box and call it a Dolby surround sound system. Surely Dolby and who ever else would want to keep their good name and not let any cowboys use it

Put some wires in that box and they just might. They don't "vet" equipment with their name on it, it's not a craftsmans guild or anything.... if it produces a Dobly signal you can put the "Dolby" logo on it. You can buy the logo for your living room door if you want. It doesn't have to be good Dolby. Some amps are **** but they too carry, correctly, the Dolby logo.

It's like "Intel inside" - it doesn't mean it's a good PC, just that it uses Intel chips.

Sparky

Prosperous Dave wrote:

Christmas is coming and I want to get a home theatre system for my old man. Problem is that there's no way to run cables around his room for rear speakers (unless he rips off the skirting boards or takes up the wooden floor which will mean a slow and nasty death from my mother).

I was in DID and Harvey Normans at the weekend and they suggested a new system that has a sub woofer and two tallboy speakers that supposedly give a surround sound effect (Samsung HTQ 100). I was highly skeptical to say the least but they were adamant that it would work and if so would suit my pop. Has anyone come across something like this or are they talking manure???

Depends on the technology and design of the speakers. One example I have is a sony tv with virtual Dolby.
The tv did feel like it gave a surround affect, as it was bouncing sounds of the rear wall behind me. Of course this also depended on where the TV was located.
Second example was a set of PC speakers that claimed to have SRS technology. I got no surround feeling at all. In fact the sound seemed a lot more thinned out with a concert hall filter on it.

I'm not blowing boses trumpet here, but I have listened to an install with 2 bose cubes with a sub woofer and it felt like surround from 2 speakers. Technically you could say 4 speakers as each unit had 2 speakers pointing left and right.

Try and demo a few systems for yourself and see what you think.

rasper

subway wrote:

why not take a look at these http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/152610/art/logitech/z-5450-5-1-speakers.html

I too highly recommend this system I've the wired version and it's the exact same unit/connections and it's an amazing system.
Virtual surround is fairly basic unless no other option , btw the rear speakers are not wired to the amp but do need a power source so you need two available sockets

melekalikimaka

Slaphead07 wrote:

They are talking manure but some people are happy with that compromise. It's not surround sound really but some trick circuitry can throw the high frequencies aroudn a bit. To me it sounds awful but your Dad might just love it. (no offence meant to your dad!)

the systems are actually excellent

Slaphead07

melekalikimaka wrote:

the systems are actually excellent

They actually aren't (when compared to a real surround system) but if you're happy with it then that's all that matters.