Make a sound choice

Designing the ideal home theatre system.

Nothing beats watching a film on the big screen with booming surround sound that makes every plane sound as if it's flying overhead and realistic special effects that make you duck and dodge in your seat. However, with the right set-up, the home theatre experience can be as real as it ever gets.

When it comes to deciding on the ultimate home theatre system, there are a few factors that need to be considered: Firstly, the perception of loudness is logarithmic. Power output is often the biggest selling point for receivers and stand-alone amplifiers. But power-output specifications don't tell us all we need to know about an amplifier's capabilities; speaker sensitivity is a more telling number. Empty rooms with bare floors and walls ensure a thin and even echoing sound output, while rooms with thick wall-to-wall carpeting and plush walls deaden sound and make dialogue difficult to understand. And lastly, most people don't listen to music, or even movies, all that loud.

"When the movie presents a rain scene, your cat should run for cover and when a bullet is fired, the neighbours should be really worried about what you do in your spare time," says Fouad Abdel Malak. "However, a note of caution: I have experienced a 20 mega subwoofer M&K system which made me sick to my stomach with the bass thunder projected by the speakers. The system should live comfortably with you and you should be able to view different movies without losing your hearing - or food for that matter."

Hidden pleasures

An Associate Creative Director with TBWA RAAD by day, Malak is a nocturnal A/V fanatic who seeks to bring out the hidden pleasures of the A/V experience. He says "You should be enthralled by the sheer scale of sound staging and mesmerised by the vivid picture quality. Your viewing pleasure should be as real and uncompromised as having a cinema in your home." Designing the perfect home theatre system is all about "a marriage of components: make sure they work well together."

The ultimate audio-visual experience, of course, starts off with the location of the system. "One of the least understood areas in surround sound is room acoustics," says Sunil VG, Systems Analyst with ADOC, and an active musician and multimedia specialist. "In order to ensure the best sound out of your system, you need to prepare your room sonically using sound absorbers, reflectors and diffusers. Also, one of the most philosophical of home theatre enigmas has always the question of whether one should buy a receiver or separates. That formerly distinct line between the top of the receiver market and the bottom of the separates market has today become increasingly blurry, with no generic, one-size-fits-all answer. So the final decision about anything you bring into your audio/video system should ultimately hinge on you - your ear, your budget, and your system and space restraints."

"The heart of any home theatre system, if you ask me, is the AV receiver," says Sunil. "Go for a THX certified receiver with up to 7.1 channels with some of the most preferred audio processing such as Dolby Digital -EX, DTS, DTS-ES (matrix and discrete), Dolby Pro-Logic IIx, etc. Additionally, one could go for a Dolby surround head phone system for those late nights. Another important factor for a great sonic experience is high-quality cables. Do not compromise on these."

Quality cables

Malak agrees: "10 to 15 per cent of the total A/V budget should be spent on good quality cables for the best sound and vision. Make sure your components are compatible and cable connections are carried out by professionals. Good cables are a must and connections can seriously improve both picture quality and sound. Designing a system is a marriage of components. Make sure they work well together; ask for a demonstration from your local dealer," he says.

"A subwoofer adds much needed oomph for smaller speaker packages and enhances the viewing pleasure. An ideal addition would be a digital video input via an HDMI connection from the DVD to the screen which, if available, gives vastly superior quality."

For Sunil, a dream home theatre experience would comprise excellent picture quality, preferably on a 42-inch LCD screen, and 7.1 channels of clean audio signal without interference. This would be supported by an acoustically treated, dimly lit room, a comfortable reclining chair with footrest and a small side table plus, of course, a great movie. He confesses to being a huge B&W and Marantz fan, and for his personal favourite, he says: "I would pick different brands for each of the components. This is because most of the companies specialise in a particular area, be it subs or receivers. By choosing different brands for components, you end up having a great (but expensive) system. So for me, as far as receivers go, it would be a Marantz, NAD, Onkyo and Denon, while Tannoy and B&W are the cream of the speakers spectrum. As far as TVs go, Marantz HD and Sony would be key to my viewing experience, accompanied by a NAD or Denon DVD player."

Futuristic looking

As for Malak, "I'm a big fan of B&W speakers, especially the futuristic looking, awesomely gutsy, spine-chillingly powerful 500W PV1 Active Sub. Meridian, if the budget allows, would make an excellent dream choice for the DVD player and surround sound processor (at close to Dh80,000). B&W DM 805 surround speaker package is a solid buy at Dh30,000. Van Den Hul and Nordost make my favourite cables. Copland's gorgeous steel CD player would be part of my dream team with a matching pre-2x power amp combo. All of the above, plus a valve amp, for music pleasure only matched with the exquisitely beautiful B&W 805s."

The choice of screens is the hardest, and as Malak admits, "...the most difficult choice of all, since I personally feel the technology could be far better."

Like all market segments there are the innovators, the players and the followers. "Panasonic simply keeps coming up with winners when it comes to plasma and LCD, while Yamaha and Denon are unmatched for their surround sound processor know-how," says Malak. "Sony's budget surround sound speakers packages and receivers are stunning for the price. They just keep coming up with sharper and more user-friendly products."

Consistent performance

Sunil is also an admirer of the Sony options. "Sony comes up with consistently path-breaking technologies, especially the Blue Laser DVDs that, to my mind, are going to create quite a flutter in this segment. In audio, I feel the biggest innovator probably is Bose, with some incredible new offerings like the cylindrical radiator speakers for commercial use."

Malak agrees: "Blue Laser DVDs, when connected to a decent surround sound system, will give gaming fans the most awesome rush since Sonic the Hedgehog became 3D. PS3 should be here next fall. The advent of Hi-Definition TV promised DVD quality TV broadcast and incredible features that turn your telly into an interactive entertainment system."