A home theatre system that produces surround sound using a single speaker unit has been unveiled by a US company.
Film soundtracks are normally mixed for five or six separate speakers arranged around a cinema. This can be used to create the impression that action is happening all around the audience.
Many DVDs include this sound data so that the effect can be recreated at home. But a listener normally has to wire up five or six speakers in set positions around a room.
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Nirotek鈥檚 DVD player, the NIRO 1.1 PRO, achieves the same effect with five individual speakers packed horizontally into a single case. To achieve the surround sound effect, an on-board computer manipulates the signal to each speaker using algorithms that mimic the effects used by the brain to identify the direction a sound is coming from.
Transfer functions
These 鈥渉ead related transfer functions鈥� take account of differences in the time at which a sound arrives at each side of the head, as well as subtle distortions caused by the shape of each ear.
The signal manipulations require 600 million calculations per second. Nirotek also claims its system does not require the listener to be directly in front of the speaker to be effective.
Clare Newsome, of UK magazine What Hi-Fi, believes that there could be substantial interest in such a system. 鈥淎 lot of people love surround sound in the cinema but don鈥檛 want speakers all around the room,鈥� she told 快猫短视频. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 done well, it can work incredibly.鈥�
The NIRO 1.1 PRO DVD system costs $799 and is being sold exclusively online. 鈥淣o rear speakers means no cables and no clutter,鈥� says Nirotek鈥檚 Lonnie Pastor. 鈥淭he NIRO 1.1 automatically gets spouse approval.鈥�