Surround sound and music playback

Surround sound for music playback.

April 2020,

On the left, there’s the Dolby recommended speaker placement for a 7.1 system.

This where most of the movie industry is at today. (in 2020)

Dolby Atmos is there, and gaining popularity, but hasn’t achieved mainstream status yet.

(Dolby Atmos added four extra speakers on the ceiling)

The movie catalog of Dolby Atmos releases keeps growing, and eventually Atmos will be the standard for pretty much everybody.

Back to 1976, and the year the new Dolby 5.1 was released. (standard was pro-logic before, 5 channels total)

On the left, is the older Dolby recommended speaker placement for a 5.1 system.

For music reproduction, 5.1 is our standard.

The reasoning was that multi-channel SACD are encoded in 5.1 as the SACD medium only offers six independent channels.

Yes, the SACD use a 44-year-old standard. Quite old, yet most audiophiles haven't tried or accepted it.

The newest digital files and Blue Ray have native 7.1 option, but the catalog of music is very slim. Most music would have to be processed and reconstructed for creating a 7.1 signal.

Typical symphonic orchestra layout

I highlighted six positions on the floor plan. (blue pointer)

Where would you like to sit?
What position would provide the "best" experience?
Would one position provide a more "realistic" experience than another?
When the sound engineer records a performance, where do they aim to recreate the performance from? (a viewpoint if you wish)

Additional evaluations are in progress….

Stay Tuned :)