The

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Surround sound prornises
a

theater in ertery horne

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he rock band The \Vho coined the
soar frighteningly past you, from front to back. It means that ambient audio such as traffic noises,

name for it, even if they didn't

intend to, Quadrophenia-the state of addiction to quadraphonic (fourchannel) sound. Unfortunately, the 1970s version of "quad" failed so miserably that
quadrophenia quickly became quadrophobia.

rainfall, and rattling casino chips can swirl behind you while dialog plays up front. For anyone who's seen and heard such home-video extravaganzas as Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome or the surroundencoded percussion-fest Sheila E. Live: Romance
1500, the difference between surround sound and

Today, just like The

Vho,

quad is back. And

again like The \(/ho, it's back with some changes. For one thing, we call it "surround sound," and it's established itself not on records or CDs, but on video cassettes and videodiscs. And for another

conventional stereo is like the difference between

stereo and mono.

More than 1,500 video movies, TV shows, and long-play music videos are encoded with
the dominant surround-sound technology, Dolby

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. . . well, it works. It works so well, in fact, that surround sound has become de rigueur in any serious home theater or media room. As the generic term for four'channel (or, in some cases, for more than four-channel) audio, surround sound uses rear-of-the-room speakers in addition to the usual left and right front speakers. Surround sound also involvBs a milliseconds-long time delay between the front and rear soprnds, preserving the proper time relationship between sounds coming from behind and sounds coming from the front. At its best, surround sound places you in a 360-degree audio environment. This means that with a surround-sound decoder and a pair of extra speakers in your media room, the roar of chopper blades in Apocalypse Nou can
AuDro/VtDEO

Laboratories' Dolby Surround. Not surprisingly,

most makers of home surround-sound decoders employ licensed Dolby Surround circuitry. But non-Dolby decoders from such established companies as Aphex can also decode Dolby Surround. And even Dolby licensees usually offer at least one non-Dolby surround mode (with names like "hall"
or "matrix") since Dolby Surround's monaural rear channel intentionally rolls off most of the high treble frequencies-fine for movie soundtracks, but undesirable for stereo concert-videos.

Now add the latest wrinkle, a computerized sound-steering technology called "Dolby ProLogic," appearing in more and more mid-priced
decoders. Proprietary non-Dolby steering cir-

Irrenrons 107

types ofsound. Even TV sets have entered the sur-

cuitry is also available, most'notably in equipment from Fosgate and Shure. Dolby-licensed or not, steering logic not only directs but automatically adjusts the level of sound going to every speaker, and also decodes a front-center channel that locks dialog firmly where it belongs. As Gary
Hoffman, owner-partner of San Francisco's Home Theater Designs, says about the new technology,

round-sound fray, with models from Pioneer, NEC, and Sony offering built-in decoders. For simplicity, we'll describe three approaches
to a surround-sound setv1 living room, media room, and home theater- The living room approach takes your existing stereo amplifier or receiver and your front speakers and adds a pair of rear speakers powered by a basic amplified decoder; small bookshelf or in-wall speakers suffice for the rear. Next up the ladder, the media-room approach eschews the inevitable compromises of integrated components. Here you opt for a dedicated, more powerful rear-channel amplifier and a decoder with a subwoofer output, which allows for the

"lt's far more exciting than any other form of

surround sound."

The Equipment
Depending on your budget, programming preferences, and hearing, you can bring your ears into the 1990s with a variety of surround-sound
gear chosen from an acres-wide price range. Denon,

Aboue: Cdruer's

CT-17 tunerf
preamp with Dolby Pro-I-ogic. Below:

NEC\PLA-710
amplifed ProI-ogic ilecoiler.

Fosgate, Kenwood, NEC, Sansui, Shure, SSI, Sony, Teac, Technics, Yamaha, and others offer stand-alone decoders. In addition, integrated amps, preamps, and receivers-available from Onkyo, Philips, Kenwood, Mitsubishi, NEC, Toshiba, Yamaha, Carver, and others-contain built-in surround decoding. Like the stand-alone decoders, more and more of these come equipped with

simple acidition of a powered subwoofer to bring out those gut-wrenching cinematic lows. Finally, for purists with home theaters and their own popcorn machines, substitute a decoder containing steering logic, and add: one front-center speaker for dialog; a monaural amp for the dialog channel; and a pair of side-channel speakers and an amplifier to power them. (Only a few high-end decoders derive side-channel signals, particularly effective for filling out the sound in large rooms.)

Pro-Logic. And then there's the ne plus uhra' "audio environment processors" such as the Yamaha DSP-3000 and Lexicon's Dolby ProLogic model CP-1, each offering tremendous customizing capabilities for different rooms and

Setting Up
\X/hile the challenge of connecting all the electronics in a surround-sound system may send you to an installation expert, the job does not end there. Most homes, after all, do not have the per-

fectly

proportioned in theory make it easy to find optimal speaker placement. And with surround sound, one has
spaces that to arrange four to eight

speakers

while jug-

gling such rules-ofthumb as' . place front speakers

at least six feet apart . place rear speakers at ear level or higher . the center-dialog speaker should be as close to

the screen as possible (in front-projection setups it can be placed behind a flat, "acoustically transparent" viewing screen custom-cut from movietheater supply companies)

and parcel

of installation. Unfortunately,

some

Aboue:

. subwoofers should be placed along the

same

plane as the front speakers, although ideally their sound output is non-directional On top of all this, you have to adjust speakerleve! balance and front-to-rear time delay carefully. A 5- to 10-millisecond delay often seems

architects and interior designers are still ignorant of surround sound, and they may design media rooms without regard for equipment placement and optimal seating arrangements. If you want surround sound, insist they design for it with the aid of a professional installer. The media rooms in this
magazine are proof that it can be done beautifully.

Mitsubishi's Home
Theater System
eomes

in seueral

eonjgurations. Below: Proton's

SD-1000 usa
proprietary surround ilecoiling.

"shallow"; a S0-millisecond delay will be somewhat echoey. A delay of lo milliseconds is considered "natural" in most cases and is, in fact, the amount designed into Dolby decoders lacking
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Many audio/video installers simplify matters of space by using "audio environment processors," space-age acoustic manipulators that shape room sound in almost infinite ways. Lexicon's highly rated CP-t Digital Audio Environment Processor, for instance, is not only a surround decoder with Dolby Pro- Logic, but offers countless

processing modes that create an

Itxicon
CP-2 : Dolby Pro-Logic, digital processing

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almost limitless range

environments.

of

sound

adjustable delays. Some better decoders emit a calibration signal that simplifies level and timedelay adjustments. Moreover, cautions Gary Hoffman, "you often find too little power for surround speakers. Rearchannel amps in receivers lwith built-in surround sound] and in stand-alone decoders are frequently

Another method for simplifying a surround-sound setup is to choose a good onebrand package. A perfect example, The Mitsubishi Home Theater System, a mix'n match affair with a choice of a 3S-inch direct-view or a 45-, 50-,

60-, or 70-inch rear-projection stereo TV

set;

and, among many other componentsr audio/video

surround-sound receivers with built-in rearchannel amplifiers.

insufficiently powerful, especially on sciencefiction and adventure movies which bank on

explosions and runaway trains. If you get what sounds like lumber moving through a circular saw, then you know the amplifier has run out of power
and is distorting." Fortunately, speaker placement is generally part,

The Shure HTS Home Theater

Reference

System is less mix 'n match than a building-block approach, with one of each of several types of audio components. (Shure does not make television sets.) The total system consisti of three

power amplifiers, five speakers, a subwoofer, and

Dolby Surround
procasing in variety
a oJ packages,

the highly regarded HTS 5300 Dolby Surround decoder with Shure's proprietary 'Acra Vector [steering] Logic." At nearly $10,000 completer the Reference system aims to set a benchmark for
home-theater-system performance. No matter what you choose, remember that surround sound, like fine wine and escargot, takes an educated palate to appreciate. You'll need more

from top ta botum:

Sony\ KV-

27FX10 TV set; SSI's 400U1

amplifed decoder;
Kenwooil's

than a single visit to a store-especially

since

KA-

V7000 audiof
video amplifer.

audio/video showrooms may be inadequately set up due to lack of space or initiative. Rear channels may be set too loud, or with an improper time delay. So go with an expert or, at least, a surroundsound-educated friend who can adjust the demonstration system properly. Then sit back and

How do you know which tapes and discs are surround-encoded? That's a little tricky, and it'll continue to be until the video software companies
get their acts together. The preferred term, says Dolby Labs, is the trademarked "Dolby Surround." Yet a diferenl trademark, "Dolby Stereo," typically appears in movie ads (as does yet another movie-theater technologyr "Dolby Spectral Recording"; see sidebar.) And yet another, "Dolby System," appears on video cassettes, but not on videodiscs. Here goes' On a video cassette or disc, "Dolby Stereo" always neans there is Dolby Surround encoding, even if a particular filmmaker or audio engineer/producer chooses not to utilize it fully. "Dolby System" means something entirely different and prosaic: that the additional "low fidelity"

listen. Literally, it'll open your ears. Once you get your surround system home, once your speakers have been carefully placed and tested, once the decoder and the amplifiers are dancing in tandem like Fred and Cinger, remind yourself, Your audio/video environment is only as good as what you play in it. This is no time to skimp on source equipment or software' Cet a videodisc player (optimal) or a stereo VCR (Hi-Fi type required). And though some say that surround sound makes your television screen seem larger, test out that theory with a big-screen TVif it's true you'll feel like you're in a theater.

track of a Hi-Fi video cassette (put there for compatibility with "low-fi" VCRs) has Dolby B
noise reduction, as on an audio cassette tape.

discs marked either "Dolby Stereo"

Surround encoding appears on tapes or or "Dolby Surround." Compounding the confusion is the fact that not all tapes or discs that contain sur-

round encoding are even marked as such. Vhy? Video software companies reason that since most people play video through tinny, tiny TV speakers rather than through their audio systems, and since home surround sound is still new, why bother to promote it? Of course, this only con-

tinues to make surround sound like a toy of the cognoscenti-a self-defeating process if software companies want to make this marvelous technology readily accessible and make some money at the same time. Since surround

encoding appears onlway on a film transferred to tape or disc, why not anticipate a time when hi-fi audio/video will be the norm, and begin labeling tapes and discs properly now? For the moment, the surest method to find out what's encoded is to examine newspaper movie ads for films with the Dolby Stereo trademark, and to jot down the information for the time when

those movies come

to video. For surround-

(MCA Home Video) are not surround encoded. But the sedate British TV drama Upstairs, Downstairs (first l4 volumes, Thorn EMI/HBO) isthough the tapes don't say so. All this confusion will likely sort itself out as surround sound becomes as popular with the general public as it is among audio/videophiles. And certainly, that will happen soon. Because now in our media rooms-just as in the outside worldwe're surrounded by surround sound. I Frank Louece, a contributing editor of this magazine, is a syndicatcd columnist and has written for Village Voice, Penthouse, and American Film.

encoded TV shows and long-play music videos, however, it's still pot luck. For example, both the

pilot episode and the second-season opener of the highly musical, often pyrotechnic Miami Vice

lUhere

[iil Surruunf, Snunfl fiume Frnm?

including 6,000 in the U.S.-are equipped for it.

Take one part stereo film soundtrack (which began to be used in the mid-1950s, with such movies as Around the World in 80 Days and The Role), and one part Sensurround (a sort of aural Cinerama cooked up for Universal Pictures in 1974 andused for such films as Earthquake[tSz+), Midway lnzel, and Rollercoaster ft977f). Mix them with inventor Ray Dolby's namesake audio noise-reduction system. Shake well, and you have Dolby Stereo-which replaces the magnetic track of early film stereo soundtracks with a matrixed

Dolby Stereo always left filmmakers the option of encoding rear-channel surround information. But untit recently, surround sound had been actively utilized so rarely that Dolby Labs didn't even give it a separate logo-it was just assumed
to !e part of any movie advertised as Dolby Stereo. And eventually, techy home-video hobbyists found they could make a few modifications to their systems, hook up a rear pair ofspeakers, and retrieve

four-track, two-channel optical method that provides better sound with less wear on theaters'
film-projection gear. The first movie with Dolby Stereo was Ken
although the British(1974), in mono, was the first to spy drama Callan use Dolby noise-reduction. Actually, Monterey Pop, the 1968 concert film, included a rudimenRussell's r isztomania

surround information from video cassettes and discs of Dolby Stereo movies. Small companies then started making surround-sound decoders, and by lg82t a company called, appropriately
enough, Surround Sound Incorporated (SSI), was marketing the first Dolby-licensed version. Today, a handful of theaters also offer "Dolby

$utroundsound

hrs beoome e$$onttol

(tlzs),

tary surround channel although, according to

director D. A. Pennebaker, the rtar-channel was used for only about three minutes. Until the tre-,
mendous showcase of Sur Wars (tszz), only 16 films were Dolby Stereo-encoded, and the process was little-known to the general publicbarely t00 theaters had the equipment to decode and offer it. Less than a decade later, Ileartbredk Ridge (Sae) became the 1,000th Dolby Stereo

Spectral Recording," an evolutionary, non-digital noise-reduction process first used on a couple of songs on the Ruthlas People soundtrack. Since then, it's appeared on Star Trek V: The Final Frontiu,
Chostbusters

in ary mntemrurary

media room.

II, Great

Balls of Fire, and other movies.

The process gets decoded before these films are transferred to tape or disc, leaving a normal surround-sound soundtrack for home processing. Meanwhile, music appears to be the next target

for surround sound. The first surround-sound

audio CD has arrived, Mr. Drums: Buddy Rich'Liue on King Street' (Cafe Records).

film, and more than 10,000 theaters worldwide-

-F.L.

AuDro/VrDEo lNrERloRS

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