10.2 surround sound

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10.2 is the surround sound format developed by THX creator Tomlinson Holman of TMH Labs and the University of Southern California (schools of Cinematic Arts and Engineering). Developed along with Chris Kyriakakis of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, 10.2 refers to the format's slogan: "Twice as good as 5.1". However, there actually may be 14 discrete channels if the left and right point surround channels are included. He states that 5.1, a name which he himself came up with in 1987 was chosen as it was "the minimum number of channels necessary to give a sense of spaciousness". [1] Holman and others state that higher sampling rates, which is a recent trend in digital recording, does not have a significant perceivable effect and that the next frontier in sound engineering is to increase the number of discrete channels to meet human spatial sound perception. [2] As of 2015, several decoding, UHD, or virtual expansion processors have approached numbers as great or greater than 10.2.

Contents

Channel configurations

.0.5 surround sound would add four more channels to the front listening area and only one surround channel. This is because human spatial perception of sound is much more precise in the front than in the back. In addition it adds depth to the sound field with two of the front channels being height channels, located above the listening area at 45 degrees relative to the listener. [3] Lack of vertical information has long been considered one of the largest obstacles to realistic sound reproduction. [4] Existing systems such as Dolby Pro Logic IIz simulate this with matrixed height channels, which are derived from ambient sounds from the left and right channels.

The ".2" in 10.2 refers to the fact that an additional Low Frequency Effects channel is added, not just a second subwoofer, to enhance the sense of envelopment. All bass from the left channels are directed to a left LFE channel while right channel bass is directed to the right LFE channel.

10.2

The 12 channels of 10.2:

10.2 may also augment the LS (left surround) and RS (right surround) channels by two point surround channels that can better manipulate sound—allowing the mixer to shift sounds in a distinct 360° circle around the movie watcher. This would actually make it 12.2

12.2

The only addition with 12.2 from 10.2 are the "point surround" or "diffuse surround" channels. These would be placed at the same angles as the standard surround speakers at +/-120 degrees, but would be diffuse radiators using dipole speakers. They would emit sound to reflect off the walls before arriving at the listening area. [3] The 14 discrete channels are:

Setup with point surround channels Sound-10 2.svg
Setup with point surround channels

The .2 of the 10.2 refers to the addition of a second subwoofer. The system is bass managed such that all the speakers on the left side use the left sub and all the speakers on the right use the right sub. The Center and Back Surround speaker are split among the two subs. The two subs also serve as two discrete LFE (Low Frequency Effects) channels.

Installations

A 10.2 surround sound system was demonstrated at Audyssey in Los Angeles and at Bjorn's Audio Video in San Antonio, Texas. [5]

New York University claims to have two 10.2 surround sound systems set up in their new $6.5 million music technology complex at Steinhardt School. One in a recording studio and one in a screening room. [6] [7] Products are already being sold to accommodate 10.2 surround systems such as in-wall speaker jacks. [8]

Currently, there is only a standard for 5.1 surround setups. 6.1 and 7.1 have no real standard, and add channels to the rear instead of the front, which can only be conceived as a marketing tool as sonically the front needs more channels[ citation needed ]. Audyssey has stated that one fear of marketing 10.2 systems will be that ironically quality might be decreased instead of increased. This is because marketers will push to keep prices relatively the same and to do that with four additional speakers and two subwoofers will almost certainly cost quality. [9]

Media

There is currently only one film available which uses this format, a 30-minute short called Seven Swans. [10] The other 10.2 mixes were created by Holman and others at the demonstrations.

There are some receivers that claim to be "10.2 channels" such as the Pioneer Elite SC-09TX but just have multiple 6, 7, or 8 channel decoders. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subwoofer</span> Loudspeaker for low-pitched audio frequencies

A subwoofer is a loudspeaker designed to reproduce low-pitched audio frequencies, known as bass and sub-bass, that are lower in frequency than those which can be (optimally) generated by a woofer. The typical frequency range that is covered by a subwoofer is about 20–200 Hz for consumer products, below 100 Hz for professional live sound, and below 80 Hz in THX-certified systems. Thus, one or more subwoofers are important for high-quality sound reproduction as they are responsible for the lowest two to three octaves of the ten octaves that are audible. This very low-frequency (VLF) range reproduces the natural fundamental tones of the bass drum, electric bass, double bass, grand piano, contrabassoon, tuba, in addition to thunder, gunshots, explosions, etc.

Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3, is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression. The first use of Dolby Digital was to provide digital sound in cinemas from 35 mm film prints. It has since also been used for TV broadcast, radio broadcast via satellite, digital video streaming, DVDs, Blu-ray discs and game consoles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Home cinema</span> Home entertainment system that aims to replicate the experience of a movie theater

Home cinema, also called home theaters or theater rooms, are home entertainment audio-visual systems that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood using consumer electronics-grade video and audio equipment that is set up in a room or backyard of a private home. Some studies show that films are rated better and generate more intense emotions when watched in a movie theater, but convenience is a major appeal for home cinemas. In the 1980s, home cinemas typically consisted of a movie pre-recorded on a LaserDisc or VHS tape; a LaserDisc Player or VCR; and a heavy, bulky large-screen cathode ray tube TV set, although sometimes CRT projectors were used instead. In the 2000s, technological innovations in sound systems, video player equipment and TV screens and video projectors have changed the equipment used in home cinema set-ups and enabled home users to experience a higher-resolution screen image, improved sound quality and components that offer users more options. The development of Internet-based subscription services means that 2020s-era home theatre users do not have to commute to a video rental store as was common in the 1980s and 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quadraphonic sound</span> Four-channel speaker audio

Quadraphonic sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for the reproduction of sound signals that are independent of one another.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surround sound</span> System with loudspeakers that surround the listener

Surround sound is a technique for enriching the fidelity and depth of sound reproduction by using multiple audio channels from speakers that surround the listener. Its first application was in movie theaters. Prior to surround sound, theater sound systems commonly had three screen channels of sound that played from three loudspeakers located in front of the audience. Surround sound adds one or more channels from loudspeakers to the side or behind the listener that are able to create the sensation of sound coming from any horizontal direction around the listener.

The low-frequency effects (LFE) channel is a band-limited audio track that is used for reproducing deep and intense low-frequency sounds in the 3–120 Hz frequency range.

Dolby Pro Logic is a surround sound processing technology developed by Dolby Laboratories, designed to decode soundtracks encoded with Dolby Surround. The terms Dolby Stereo and LtRt are also used to describe soundtracks that are encoded using this technique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5.1 surround sound</span> Sound systems that use 5 speakers and one subwoofer

5.1 surround sound is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel. Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II, DTS, SDDS, and THX are all common 5.1 systems. 5.1 is also the standard surround sound audio component of digital broadcast and music.

Matrix decoding is an audio technology where a small number of discrete audio channels are decoded into a larger number of channels on play back. The channels are generally, but not always, arranged for transmission or recording by an encoder, and decoded for playback by a decoder. The function is to allow multichannel audio, such as quadraphonic sound or surround sound to be encoded in a stereo signal, and thus played back as stereo on stereo equipment, and as surround on surround equipment – this is "compatible" multichannel audio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DTS (company)</span> Series of multichannel audio technologies

DTS, Inc. is an American company. DTS company makes multichannel audio technologies for film and video. Based in Calabasas, California, the company introduced its DTS technology in 1993 as a competitor to Dolby Laboratories, incorporating DTS in the film Jurassic Park (1993). The DTS product is used in surround sound formats for both commercial/theatrical and consumer-grade applications. It was known as The Digital Experience until 1995. DTS licenses its technologies to consumer electronics manufacturers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">7.1 surround sound</span> Sound systems that use 7 speakers and one subwoofer

7.1 surround sound is the common name for an eight-channel surround audio system commonly used in home theatre configurations. It adds two additional speakers to the more conventional six-channel (5.1) audio configuration. As with 5.1 surround sound, 7.1 surround sound positional audio uses the standard front left and right, center, and LFE (subwoofer) speaker configuration. However, whereas a 5.1 surround sound system combines both surround and rear channel effects into two channels, a 7.1 surround system splits the surround and rear channel information into four distinct channels, in which sound effects are directed to left and right surround channels, plus two rear surround channels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AV receiver</span> Consumer electronics component

An audio/video receiver (AVR) is a consumer electronics component used in a home theater. Its purpose is to receive audio and video signals from a number of sources, and to process them and provide power amplifiers to drive loudspeakers and route the video to displays such as a television, monitor or video projector. Inputs may come from a satellite receiver, radio, DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, VCRs or video game consoles, among others. The AVR source selection and settings such as volume, are typically set by a remote controller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DTS-HD Master Audio</span> Lossless audio codec for home theater

DTS-HD Master Audio is a multi-channel, lossless audio codec developed by DTS as an extension of the lossy DTS Coherent Acoustics codec. Rather than being an entirely new coding mechanism, DTS-HD MA encodes an audio master in lossy DTS first, then stores a concurrent stream of supplementary data representing whatever the DTS encoder discarded. This gives DTS-HD MA a lossy "core" able to be played back by devices that cannot decode the more complex lossless audio. DTS-HD MA's primary application is audio storage and playback for Blu-ray Disc media; it competes in this respect with Dolby TrueHD, another lossless surround format.

The fundamental principle of bass management in surround sound replay systems is that bass content in the incoming signal, irrespective of channel, should be directed only to loudspeakers capable of reproducing it, whether the latter are the main system loudspeakers or one or more subwoofers.

22.2 or Hamasaki 22.2 is the surround sound component of Super Hi-Vision (a new television standard with 16 times the pixel resolution of HDTV. It has been developed by NHK Science & Technical Research Laboratories. It uses 24 speakers arranged in three layers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Center channel</span> Audio channel

Center channel refers to an audio channel common to many surround sound formats. It is the channel that is mostly, or fully, dedicated to the reproduction of the dialogue of an audiovisual program. The speaker(s) connected to the center channel are placed in the center of and behind the perforated projection screen, to give the effect that sounds from the center channel are coming from the screen. In many home surround sound units, the center channel is positioned above or below the video screen.

Audyssey Laboratories, Inc. (Audyssey) is an American-based company specializing in technologies that address acoustical problems in sound reproduction systems used in homes, cars, studios, and movie theaters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surround channels</span>

Surround channels are audio channels in surround sound multichannel audio. They primarily serve to deliver ambience and diffuse sounds in a film or music soundtrack.

Height channels are audio channels in surround sound multichannel audio. Height channels are located above the listening area and increase the sound field beyond the horizontal plane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soundbar</span> Type of loudspeaker

A soundbar, sound bar or media bar is a type of loudspeaker that projects audio from a wide enclosure. It is much wider than it is tall, partly for acoustic reasons, and partly so it can be mounted above or below a display device. In a soundbar, multiple speakers are placed in a single cabinet, which helps to create stereo sound and surround sound effect. A separate subwoofer is typically included with, or may be used to supplement, a soundbar.

References

  1. ↑ "Audyssey DSX 10.2 Surround Sound Overview — Reviews and News from". Audioholics. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  2. ↑ "Introducing the 10.2 Surround Format — Reviews and News from". Audioholics. 2006-09-24. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  3. 1 2 "10 Audio Recording". Tonmeister.ca. 2011-10-23. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  4. ↑ "Holman Conducts First Public Demo of "10.2" Surround Sound". Stereophile.com. 1999-07-11. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  5. ↑ "The Ultimate Room". Archived from the original on 2010-07-24.
  6. ↑ Howard Sherman (2009-12-14). "NYU Unveils $6.5 Million 21st Century Music Technology Complex at Steinhardt School". Blog.digitalcontentproducer.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-01. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  7. ↑ "NYU Music Technology Facility: Audio Slide Show". YouTube. 2010-01-26. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  8. ↑ "Structured Cable 4 Gang for 10.2 Surround Sound - White". Opentip.com. 2012-04-18. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  9. ↑ "Part Two - The 10.2 Room — Reviews and News from". Audioholics. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
  10. ↑ Seven Swans , retrieved 2015-06-19
  11. ↑ Scott Brennan (2010-04-02). "Computers, Electronics Sales & Service". Alpha Electronics. Retrieved 2012-11-09.
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