Here is how to create excellent surround sound without fancy decoders or expensive equipment.
As they say "necessity is the mother of invention". Without the money for a proper setup (they (The Man) overcharge us (consumers) in Australia) my dad and I got his old speakers and amp and wired up something that sound like the real deal.
This instructable requires some (not much) knowledge about wiring speakers (plugs and whatnot)
As they say "necessity is the mother of invention". Without the money for a proper setup (they (The Man) overcharge us (consumers) in Australia) my dad and I got his old speakers and amp and wired up something that sound like the real deal.
This instructable requires some (not much) knowledge about wiring speakers (plugs and whatnot)
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Signing UpStep 1: Equipment and materials
Materials:
Amp (nothing fancy)
2 main speakers (pick these up cheap from garage sales/ flea markets or family)
2 car speakers (I used a $20 set)
Speaker cabling
Speaker mounting for main speakers (optional)
Tools:
Drill / screwdriver
Saw (regular or plasterboard type)
Pliers
Amp (nothing fancy)
2 main speakers (pick these up cheap from garage sales/ flea markets or family)
2 car speakers (I used a $20 set)
Speaker cabling
Speaker mounting for main speakers (optional)
Tools:
Drill / screwdriver
Saw (regular or plasterboard type)
Pliers
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Two more speakers go in back of you. 2+2 stereo. usually done by the R/L RR/RL outputs of the amplifier.
The trick is, instead of hooking them up to the RR/RL outputs, which merely gives you more speakers... by running the differential feed though the rears, you get a sort of reverse echo.
It's only really "surround" in the placement of the speakers.
The rest of the "poor man's surround" is creating your own faux center channel!
Tie the - channels together into a speaker with an appropriate ohm rating, and put it smack dab in front of you.
Oh, who am I kidding, of course someone else has explained it much better than I could ever hope. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/surround-sound7.htm
It was called Quadraphonic Sound!
- (LF+LB)+(LF-LB)=2LF or Left Front
- (LF+LB)-(LF-LB)=2LB or Left Back
- (RF+RB)+(RF-RB)=2RF or Right Front
- (RF+RB)-(RF-RB)=2RB or Right Back
What we are doing, in this set-up instead, is muxing both side channels into one(LF+LB=Left, and RF+RB=Right) aka Stereo, then- Left(+)+Left(-)=Left Front
- Right(+)+Right(-)=Right Front
- {Left(+)-Right(+)} + {Right(+)-Left(+)} = Left Rear + Right Rear
What this does is, gives us normal stereo operation up front.For quadrophonic, we'd need more signals, like a true surround,
but what we get from the "rear channels" is a monaural unified rear channel coming from both sides. Think of it as the 3½.0 surround.
You COULD use a SINGLE rear speaker, to accomplish the same thing, but you'd have to use a speaker with an impedance of BOTH main speakers... so you don't cause harm to the amp.(we want that amp to be happy @8 ohm, not unhappy @6ohm)
In any case, Whatever sound is supposed to come from the front does. Whatever sound doesn't come from "front"(aka from both speakers) then gets played from the front AND the back. Since we humans have only two ears... our brains get a little fooled.. and we "hear" the "non-front" sounds as coming from behind us. And since our directional hearing from behind kinda sucks...our brain interprets for us, and the visual clues from the movie fill in our mental gaps. It's "all smoke and mirrors" like the old saying goes, but it's particularly cheap and effective smoke and mirrors. And if you don't have the cash for a 5.1 or higher system, it does a bang up job of one-upping a standard stereo set-up.
I don't have specific numbers for you... but I can tell you, while watching starwars on laserdisc with a setup like this... you don't know where the tie fighter comes from, but it definitely feels like it comes from behind left, and zooms to in front right.
My amplifier actually does have 4 speaker terminals...but they're 2 pairs of stereo outputs.
So, I use the mains to drive to front speakers...
Then from the other terminals, I use the -R-L to drive a rear speaker, and the +R+L to drive a "center channel" speaker.
Sorry to think so disjointedly, but one thing to note.
This fake surround set-up does put double the stress on your amplifier.
Basically, what the practical side of this is is...well, if you only have to turn the stereo up to 20% for a nice loud movie, you'll be fine.
If you need to turn your stereo setup over 50%... THEN THIS IS NOT THE SET-UP FOR YOU. A stereo setup driving at 51%, converted to a poorman's surround at the same volume, will be demanding 102% from your amplifier.
and we shouldn't even be asking 90% of it for more than brief bursts. That's just bad karma.