Sound
 

In article , Alan

wrote:
In message , Stephen
Wolstenholme wrote

A problem using external speakers with small TVs is the apparent
misdirection of the sound relative to the picture. The best place for
speakers is just under the screen or a balanced pair, one on either
side of the screen. I find using separate hifi or surround sound
systems distracts from the picture. I like the sound to come from the
same direction as the screen.


That's why a proper surround sound system has a centre front speaker.

Well, a 'proper' stereo will also give a clear centrally located central
location to material correctly recorded/broadcast to be so.

Even without a centre front speaker decent AV amps will use the front
left/right speakers to project any centre front (speech) encoding from
the centre.

.... much like stereo can.

But I guess you are making a slightly different point. i.e. That 'surround'
multichannel material may carry info that allows the user to arrange for
sounds *meant* to be 'front center' to come from there over a 4-speaker
system with no center-front unit. i.e. much like stereo can do. And so far
as I know, normal SD broadcasts generally use stereo rather than
'surround'.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html

Sound
 

On Tuesday, July 17th, 2012, at 11:15:17h +0100, Roderick Stewart explained:

Many years ago in (the now, sadly, doomed) Television Centre

Surely it was doomed from the day it was built?

And who mourns over the destruction
of the more modern ATV Centre, B1 2JP?

Sound
 

In article en.co.uk,
Roderick Stewart wrote:
Many years ago in (the now, sadly, doomed) Television Centre, the
maintenance area for Studios 6, 7 and 8 had a separate room for fixing
and testing monitors. There would nearly always be a working one, ready
to go if needed, showing a picture, and there was a loudspeaker unit on
top of a shelf on the opposite side of the room. I was quite surprised
how easy it was to get used to this. I suppose if you see a person's
lips move and hear a synchronised voice, even if the voice comes from
behind your own head, the brain makes the mental adjustment that is
necessary to enable this scenario to make sense.

Well, TV sound control rooms never had the speaker particularly close to
the monitors in later days - although the earlier ones had the speaker
slung from the roof.

--
*(on a baby-size shirt) "Party -- my crib -- two a.m

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Sound
 

On 17/07/2012 11:22, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Alan wrote:
That's why a proper surround sound system has a centre front speaker.
Even without a centre front speaker decent AV amps will use the front
left/right speakers to project any centre front (speech) encoding from
the centre.

Which will mess up the balance as determined when the prog was dubbed.

It won't be half as messed up as a 2-speaker system listened to from off
centre.

Andy

Sound
 

In article ,
Andy Champ wrote:
On 17/07/2012 11:22, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Alan wrote:
That's why a proper surround sound system has a centre front speaker.
Even without a centre front speaker decent AV amps will use the front
left/right speakers to project any centre front (speech) encoding from
the centre.

Which will mess up the balance as determined when the prog was dubbed.

It won't be half as messed up as a 2-speaker system listened to from off
centre.

Of course it will. No such thing as a 'virtual' speaker. It is still a
combination of left and right speakers - but (usually) the mono component
enhanced in some way. A discrete central speaker may help if you're really
into 'home cinema' stuff - but never integrates properly with the main
speaker pair, so is a compromise I couldn't live with.

--
*Work is for people who don't know how to fish.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Sound
 

On 17/07/2012 20:31, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Andy Champ wrote:
On 17/07/2012 11:22, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Alan wrote:
That's why a proper surround sound system has a centre front speaker.
Even without a centre front speaker decent AV amps will use the front
left/right speakers to project any centre front (speech) encoding from
the centre.

Which will mess up the balance as determined when the prog was dubbed.

It won't be half as messed up as a 2-speaker system listened to from off
centre.

Of course it will. No such thing as a 'virtual' speaker. It is still a
combination of left and right speakers - but (usually) the mono component
enhanced in some way. A discrete central speaker may help if you're really
into 'home cinema' stuff - but never integrates properly with the main
speaker pair, so is a compromise I couldn't live with.

I disagree.

With two speakers if you are off centre the sound moves to your side -
which means that unless you are bang in the middle the voices don't come
from the person talking.

With three (or more) speakers at least the voices sound right, even if
the background is all squashed over.

Andy

Sound
 

In article ,
Andy Champ wrote:
Of course it will. No such thing as a 'virtual' speaker. It is still a
combination of left and right speakers - but (usually) the mono
component enhanced in some way. A discrete central speaker may help if
you're really into 'home cinema' stuff - but never integrates properly
with the main speaker pair, so is a compromise I couldn't live with.

I disagree.

With two speakers if you are off centre the sound moves to your side -
which means that unless you are bang in the middle the voices don't come
from the person talking.

They don't come from the person talking anyway as dialogue is usually
mono. So comes from the screen.

With three (or more) speakers at least the voices sound right, even if
the background is all squashed over.

No point in having stereo if you're not fairly close to the sweet spot.
So if you have widely spread listeners, just have the one mono central
speaker.

--
*What am I? Flypaper for freaks!?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Sound
 

In article , Dave Plowman (News)
wrote:
In article , Andy Champ
wrote:
Of course it will. No such thing as a 'virtual' speaker. It is still
a combination of left and right speakers - but (usually) the mono
component enhanced in some way. A discrete central speaker may help
if you're really into 'home cinema' stuff - but never integrates
properly with the main speaker pair, so is a compromise I couldn't
live with.

I disagree.

With two speakers if you are off centre the sound moves to your side -
which means that unless you are bang in the middle the voices don't
come from the person talking.

They don't come from the person talking anyway as dialogue is usually
mono. So comes from the screen.

With three (or more) speakers at least the voices sound right, even if
the background is all squashed over.

No point in having stereo if you're not fairly close to the sweet spot.
So if you have widely spread listeners, just have the one mono central
speaker.

Also worth pointing out that if you use speakers with appropriate polar
patterns, etc, then a central source may stay central even when you move
your head away from the bisector by some amount.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Please use the address on the audiomisc page if you wish to email me.
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Armstrong Audio http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/Armstrong/armstrong.html
Audio Misc http://www.audiomisc.co.uk/index.html