What makes 5.1 surround sound

A subwoofer is a large, powered speaker that produces bass tones and other low-frequency sounds. A subwoofer uses air pressure to create a deep, rumbling sound to fill a room with bass. Subwoofers are most often placed on the floor in the corner of a room or theater for maximum effect. When you're in a room or theater with loud bass that makes the floor rumble, that's the subwoofer you're feeling.

On a PC surround sound system, a subwoofer helps create fantastic bass tones when playing music or a particularly exciting movie. The center speaker in a surround sound system is often considered the most important speaker of all the speakers in a surround sound system. It is usually larger, more versatile, and contains more individual speaker cones than the satellite speakers. Most of the important sound—such as dialogue and key sound effects—is channeled through this speaker.

High-quality surround sound systems have a center speaker that is different from the left and right satellites. A satellite speaker is a general term used for any of the speakers meant to be placed on the left or right sides of the room. In a standard 5. That's a total of four speakers plus the center speaker, which makes five. The ". Usually, the equalizer or mixer will be a part of your PC or audio receiver, for home theaters. Most computers have built-in equalizers or mixers as part of the sound card output specs.

Most audio software, such as iTunes, also comes with a mixer. On high-end systems, or on systems that require a lot of power, you may need a separate equalizer as part of a powered amplification system. There are several typical types of surround sound speaker systems:. As with 5. This is because the five speakers allow for two left and right front speakers, two left and right rear speakers behind your head , a quality center speaker, and a powered subwoofer for deep, rumbling bass tones.

When digital surround sound signals such as Dolby or THX are played through a system like this, you enter a new realm of sound, with thundering explosions, dynamic music, and subtle, encompassing sound effects all around your room.

Other common configurations include 6. The configuration doesn't matter a great deal and is mostly dependent upon your room size and personal desire. Machine Intelligence. Techopedia Terms. Connect with us. Sign up. Term of the Day. Best of Techopedia weekly. News and Special Offers occasional.

Table of Contents What Does 5. Techopedia Explains 5. What Does 5. This technique uses five full-bandwidth channels that operate at a frequency of , hertz, targeting the front left, right, center and right and left surround, as well as one subwoofer channel that operates at a frequency of Hertz for low-frequency effects. Some receivers recognize automatically whether a 5.

With others, this must be set in the menu. This means that no discrete soundtrack for additional surround back speakers has been mixed. Movies have traditionally been mixed for 5. Newer movies, however, are more likely to include 7. The audio technology companies Dolby and DTS have both developed codecs that use information from 5. Certainly, the difference between a 2. The addition of surround back speakers, however, will noticeably enhance the sense of sound immersion.

Especially with soundtracks specially mixed for 7. The precondition is that there is enough space for the sound to properly unfold. If the speakers are cramped into a small space, the effect of a 7. A true 3D experience, however, requires a different speaker arrangement run on different audio technology. Dolby Atmos is a new surround technology that employs either ceiling mounted speakers that direct sound from above or Atmos reflection speakers that bounce sound off the ceiling.

The resulting sound from above as well as the use of sound objects which can freely move between channels opens up a new dimension of sound.