Having spent many years with stereo receivers at the heart of their audio systems, people felt the need to include better TV sound as their most used source.  At first REALISTIC and others included an extra TV band on receivers and since early receivers with surround sound made a hissing noise, were fitted with a DOLBY noise reduction system like Stereo Cassette Tape recorders.  One of the most useful features to watchers of satellite TV is multi-channel stereo surround, as it offers the best volume.  Some satellite boxes were being fitted with DTS but these effects programmes may require more audio power for normal dialogue and thereby produce such surges of peak sound that people prefer them for Movies and not general satellite listening.  -So how come?  Well, in Dolby Pro Logic II, the voice dialogue will be real quiet, you'll turn up the volume to hear what's being said and say it was a Duke film, when someone fired a gun or the music started, 'oh my gawd', did you know it could go that loud?  In let's say 7-channel stereo mode, that's predictable!

Holes for eyes, ears and in the U.S.A. -a mouth hole drilled for cigarette!

So what's with the African images?  Well another Ebay Guide - 'Avoid crap electronics the definitive guide' has gotten this old idea that the best audio is also the heaviest!  Now is that not just how Africans judge a good audio product?  LoL!  But are they right?  The idea is that Stereophile magazine is full of only super dreadnought audio, called after battleships, now has anybody got any idea, just how heavy battleships really were?  So how about Home Theater multi-channel receivers versus stereo?  If joshhunsaker00 is right, could be 7-channel surround ought to be seven times heavier than Mono - and some folks think Mono is best!

SPEAKERS

All speakers used in a quality Home Cinema system must ideally be of omni-directional type except for the sub-woofer, itself being omni-directional to the human ear below 150Hz and therefore often mono, in 7.1 etc systems the '.1' refers to an active mono sub-woofer, powered by the Receiver's sub-woofer output.  Folks thinking all omni-directional speakers are spherical and on a stalk have got it wrong, a speaker driver has an omni-directional aspect and some designs are better than others.  Many Home Cinema speakers are not omni-directional, those styled after the KEF Carina II below are more omni-directional thanks to having smaller mid/bass drivers.  These may seem like center channel speakers put up on end -and SONY have used that idea in their SONY Pascal Sub/Sat speaker, but only due to KEF studio monitors. 

Some older late 1970s Cerwin Vega are magnificent speakers, but later 1980s models are real nasty, bass in these 'rotten ones' is slow and hideous, with most speakers you need a pretty good idea of what you're buying on Ebay, Brand isn't enough!  While the 400 watt D-9 below is just like a satellite with an individual sub-woofer, think of the space saved with a real satellite and sub-woofer system!  Satellites don't need as much power as the D-9 bass driver format!

 The REALISTIC Minimus-7, 2-way sealed die-cast aluminum box

See bottom right it has the correct type of rubber roll surround for fast response dialogue and explosion sounds matching the on-screen action and a wide dispersion tweeter but is not omni-directional, it is not a real satellite or surround speaker but a small long throw bass 2-way studio monitor speaker needing a full range 50-20,000Hz amplifier input.  See the KEF Coda III below, you still get this arrangement of speaker drivers as a satellites, since they are most suited to being high on the wall above the listening area, if the ceiling is low their bass will be re-enforced there, but this style of speaker with the tweeter above, beams the sound down the way, but between day and night the sweet spot shifts due to a planet Earth phenomenon.  So the KEF Carina II is a better bet for the sweet spot and if you don't gamble -best then buy an automatic sensor programmable type AV Home Cinema receiver. 

The REALISTIC Optimus X-100, 3-way sealed box, horn hybrid

See below near right it has wide dispersion horns and the right type of rubber roll surround for Home Cinema use, it has bass to 20Hz not requiring a separate sub-woofer but is not omni-directional, furthermore it is large and in multiples would require a very large room.  A floor sub-woofer and SACD tweeter satellites seems to make much more sense than the using of 70s quadraphonic horn hybrids for Home Cinema, but there will always be folks who like the looks of the X-100 in their rooms.  These are the kinds of folks we see buying Hot Rods from TV shows, spending maybe $66,000 on a Dodge Dart when those cars aren't built to modern safety standards and Ralph Nader was once so important in determining the course of US customer choices.  They're just beautiful cars on the road and 'different strokes for different folks' and all that, old speakers look cool...

The GLL IMAGIO IC120, 3-way bass reflex, short horn I.C.T. dual concentric

As the IMAGIO name suggests single-point source speakers have similar effects to the KEF Carina II, sounds seem like they're coming from everywhere!  The GLL IMAGIO have the correct type of rubber roll surround for Home Cinema with a 6-ohm impedance, for most power with DENON Receivers and bass to (like Optimus Mach Three - only 35Hz folks!) 35Hz, it has rigid polypropylene drivers for stable images in bass reflex cabinets and an 'Inductive Coupled Technology' I.C.T. short horn tweeter to 20KHz.  Some JBL multi-channel sub/sat systems have bass to only 35Hz, the Celestion Ditton 15 and UL 8 do only 35Hz, but the sub/sat system 'hides' in the listening room, while boxy tower speakers can be ugly, (the UL8 or the more common Ebay Ditton 15 are fascinating to hear in reality, people just don't see UL8 much, maybe they're even extinct - CD destroyed the tweeters).  These JBL all-in-one active sub/sat systems have a treble to 35KHz, the hissing noises produced by on-screen sound effects are as important as deep bass notes and the Sony Pascal has that ultrasonic type dome tweeter.  35Hz lowest note, as in the Optimus Mach Three speaker is quite useful in Home Cinema, but not ideal!  The 35Hz note on these is telling you these systems are intended for a smaller room, where you're likely to hear only 35Hz, remember unless you use some real heavy sub-woofers based on organ pipe theory, you won't hear low notes near a sub, some fold up the bass wave inside the enclosure, so it comes out near the speaker, as though you were sitting much further away, but the easier way is to have a bigger room with the sub sitting far from the listening sweet spot.

Like the KEF Carina II see below, note central ultrasound tweeter 

SONY PASCAL SACD satellite, a 2-way omni-directional bass reflex with die-cast aluminum box

Above right the SONY Pascal speaker is of the more omni-directional type began by KEF in the Carina II (below) and later adopted by Heco of Germany without any mention of KEF, just as a new system developed by Heco!  This layout of drivers was originally employed by KEF for professional high level monitoring loudspeakers, making it difficult to tell where the sound was coming from, omni-directional design was started by Bose and others in the early 1970s, the Sonab OA-14 adopting the American belief that Live sound need be 89% reflected.  GLL IC120 single point, Optimus Linaeum tweeter speakers and dipole speakers are omni-directional types not of the reflected Bose sound concept, all omni-directional speakers are best suited to Home Cinema and 'Surround Sound', but may not match for reaction speed.  Some subwoofers have knobs allowing the reaction speed of sub-woofers to be delayed or increased, so it starts like all the runners on a race track, at the same instant.  If all speakers don't start and stop at the same time, you aren't going to think you like Home Cinema!  This is the folly of using old speakers for Home Cinema, they may not react at the same speed as the other speakers in your system.  Some Ebay Guides have gotten the idea, that since rear speakers didn't sound very good in the early 90s, Hey, why not use any old nasty speaker?  These Guides may have thought up a real good market for selling garbage speakers but Home Cinema has gone one better!  Some receivers can listen to the actual speaker sound and set the delay for the reverberation in automatic mode, these 'real clever' receivers may get over the need to have all speakers of identical specifications and suited for ideal Home Cinema behavior.  But often this is not so, as some Japanese brands like Sony, have quirky limitations on what can and cannot be done.  Be real careful you know your needs and follow through.

Sony S.A.W. active sub-woofer sitting beside its C.R.T. television

SUBWOOFERS

The role of the subwoofer in Home Cinema is mainly to reduce the size of the satellite speakers so they are hardly noticed in the listening room, unlike the KEF Carlton III below, the bass units are located in a separate heavy box, out of sight on the floor -ie, behind the sofa next to a wall!  The larger size and weight required for bass is carried by the mono .1 active subwoofer (with its own amplifier inside) like the SONY S.A.W.  .1sub above or stereo passive subwoofers (with no amplifier inside and powered from the receiver) like the SUB-700 below. 

Old REALISTIC passive twin duct sub-700 for Minimus-7 and 11 

The REALISTIC SUB-700 above, powered via a main speaker subwoofer crossover inside the subwoofer.  BOSE had used their old early 1970s reflection technology for an 'omni-directional' Home Cinema sub/sat speaker system, these satellites twisted at the 'waist', so that located in a room corner, sound was bounced off each wall, hiding the source of the sound.  Satellites are usually located high on the wall near the ceiling where there are less reflections from furniture to block the sound dispersion.  Other subwoofers for Home Cinema produce 'infrasound' that your body actually hears rather than your ears.  These infrasound subs make reproduced Lion and Tiger roars very frightening, while poorer subs will not have as marked an effect on the hearer!  Old subwoofers based on church organ pipes and intended to reproduce stereo chamber music, may be adapted for Home Cinema, not in tiny flats, but in larger bachelor type dens.  Most modern Home Cinema sets are made to fit unobtrusively into the decor without being noticed. 

In the Cerwin Vega D-9 below you can see the KEF Carina II influence adopted by the Sony Pascal.

With the Cerwin Vega D-9 it will be harder to place where the sound is coming from - thanks to KEF! 

Although the SONY S.A.W. type subwoofers above right appear to be extremely expensive, they go down to 24Hz, like the REALISTIC Mach Two and it is important to know that the given lowest frequency does not describe the bass power or quality of a subwoofer.  These active subwoofers are described in magazine guides as living befind sofas far from the TV and out of sight, but the cables to effect such a dream are not in their plans!  Besides the active subwoofer would have to be turned on wherever it lived and beside the TV is offered as one place.  I would suggest a location as far as possible from the listening position to hear the deepest possible bass, but this means making up a long line subwoofer cable and that would be costly, costly, costly -and that's only three joined up cables!  Audio power is related to room size and the speed of the subwoofer must be similar to the speed of the other speakers - all surround speakers, having to be of the same quality brand and model.  Few Vintage speakers are suitable for Home Cinema use although some agents would tell and sell you anything!  The REALISTIC SUB-700 near above right is a subwoofer, that has had it's day as a REALISTIC Minimus-7 passive subwoofer but is still in use as the plant stand, it also provides light bass support to the Front Pascal Speakers from the receiver, so using all available Receiver power!  By mistake, the SONY subwoofer is not always turned on and at these times, the passive subwoofer offers at least some bass support.  Although this MOD SUB-700 could do a great deal better than the SONY S.A.W. sub, the receiver doesn't allow the SUB-700 to perform at its best, due to the active sub settings not being duplicated - if low bass is going to the active sub, it's not sent to the surround speakers!

M&K 12-inch subwoofers.

A few years ago the M&K 12-inch and 15-inch active subwoofers were not the best sounding types, they simply didn't blend-in to the picture, but made their presence very obvious indeed!  For this M&K introduced their push/pull type subwoofer.  It is important to hear roughly how a subwoofer sounds as they are all so very different, matched systems of sub/sat like JBL or SONY Pascal suit smaller rooms!

Using FM? -check it's as good as the rest of the receiver package

RECEIVERS

Not everybody knew the harman/kardon AVR 330 receivers are styled after late 70s tuner amplifiers.  But in Britain even the most basic of these - the 330c was in 1977 regarded as the best sounding receiver the panel ever heard.  -And these truly beautiful 20 watt per channel amplifiers, (pix can't hardly do justice) were aimed at AlNiCo magnet speaker owners, AlNiCo speakers more watt efficient and louder per watt than the higher power grade of ceramic magnet speakers.  The 330 is not a twin powered like the similar 730 but has a Hitachi output stage and double chassis and on CD the series are just the most stunning sounding stereo receivers of all time, but not on FM!  Console-dial-scale-looks let it down with some folks, a bit like a '57 Chrysler 300C passes for any other American fintail, few folks know better what's hidden under that hood, so long as there's no speed limit as they could do 150 mph. With old harman and Carver tuners, if your FM, uV micro volt sensitivity is above 1.7uV, 'uVe' got a stereo hiss problem, unless you fit a BIG roof antennae.  Old Carver receiver control amplifiers, like the CT5 were just beautiful in the way of a Union Pacific 844 or in Alberta, a 6060 locomotive and they made about the same hiss with distant stations, cause old Carver CT5 had just 25 microvolts on FM sensitivity!  Now that's called gilding the Lilly, if you don't mind my saying so!  CT-5 were local station receivers oft seen in Texas, they were wafer thin and real w-i-d-e, they were just the right product for the right customer back then, but as Bob Dylan said 'The Times They Are A Changin'.  He was a famous singer before long before Home Theater.

A value packed 1981 year REALISTIC TM-102 tuner and its partner amplifier the SA-102 are just super-built for AlNiCo speakers, a milliwatt output amplifier - but the FM sensitivity on stereo requires a roof antennae.  With a Carver MXR-150 you can use a 'rabbit ears' or T twin feed or what we call a 300-ohm indoor antennae.  Twin feeds date way back to 1950 consoles, where they were fitted inside the back panel of some 'receivers' for mono -one speaker- FM sound!  Much as what it says about the TM-102 might have you buying '3-ganged FM tuning, a ceramic filter to cut out signal interference and advanced multiplex IC', it is just going to sound like a big 6060, that bit about the multiplexer is interesting though.  -No yawning now, but on the first stereo consoles, in ads, you'll read all about 'the multiplexer'.  The 1962 Admiral Imperial Eighty ad says your multiplex stereo adapter is built in, cause lots of sets then, needed an expensive separate add-on multiplexer for stereo.  The Imperial Eighty even had stereo reverberation, that was something REALISTIC and Technics got around to only in the the early 1980s.  But early 60s consoles before B.B.D., were driving a customer demand for echo systems that would later support hall and cinema modes in Yamaha and other Home Cinema receivers!  Well did I 'jump the gun?'  -Sure I did - some great REALISTIC receivers and equalizers with Sci-Coustics IMX for 'stereo wide', simulated other speakers in the room before Home Cinema receivers got around to actually putting little satellite speakers - like the Sony Pascal - in strategic parts of the listening room.

Some Home Cinema receiver AM/FM tuners aren't their best feature!

Now almost everybody knows a STA-2000D is the Dolby version of the redoubtable REALISTIC STA-2000 and STA stood for Stereo Tuner Amplifier, so not everybody in the United States preferred to talk about a receiver, some folks just think that name is a little old-fashioned, to them it means a console, and we're not talking about consoles but the things that even today, go in console furniture, that is tuner amplifiers.  Often someone particularly British, may ask what a harman/kardon 330c is - cause they never heard anything like it!  You'll reply, it's a receiver and they won't understand you, it's not their word.  Some quick witted soul will add it's a 'tuner amplifier' and Hey Eureka and all that, we know what it is, at long last!  So 'Dolby receivers' weren't yet in those days, Dolby Pro-Logic II receivers, they were just plain old Dolby Receivers and the STA-2000D had a green pilot light completing the row of LED-like filament bulbs on its beautiful brushed aluminum dial scale.  So a STA-2000 doesn't have that there little green Dolby light! 

Dolby was a tape noise system that reduced hiss, caused by the playing back of audio 'compact cassettes.'  Broadcasters got the idea that Dolby might come in handy for cutting down the hiss that Bob Carver's receivers made so ubiquitous.  But Dolby broadcasts never were to be and old Bob Carver got around to his asymmetric FM detector etc, so that on his MXR-150, old harman tuner hiss was cut right out of the picture, even if you were using an indoor 300-ohm twin feeder!  But today Dolby on receivers, means some kind of speaker Matrix noise reduction system.  That's because receivers like the OPTIMUS STA-V3100, around 1992, had a hiss in the multichannel 'surround sound' mode.  These old receivers had some very low power mono 'rear' speakers, they were mono but not single speaker mono, they were three speaker 'rear' mono.  All that has changed and today all seven satellite speakers in a 7.1 receiver system have a slightly different sound. 

Back in the late 1970s Quadraphonic sound was 'in Vogue' and 4-channel receivers didn't 'double-up' stereo, they processed digitally recorded quadraphonic sounds for four speakers a bit like the old Admiral Imperial Eighty console, used its multiplex unit to give stereo FM broadcasts, with only 2 channels!  The modern Home Cinema receiver has a dozen Movie Modes based on reverberation like the old Imperial Eighty, Home Cinema is developed from Quadraphonic and other wizard ways of making recorded program material sound like reality, so you can get lost in the moment.  It's a part of modern life some choose to ignore as was the case even in the 1960s when the Admiral Imperial Eighty console first offered its State of the Art features!

Today there are many, remote control Receivers, the most important thing to be aware of being the relatively short life of their remote control handset compared to the life of the receiver itself.  The new original remote control will cost more to replace than the most expensive after market type so these are good value even when expensive.  Although some after market replacement remotes use in-built manufacturer compatibility, others like that below left are capable of learning the remote keys of makes not in that kind of manufacturer remote list.  Alternatively Ebay may provide an original remote at a more affordable price, but these will last only a couple of years in constant use, before the most used keys will stop working. 

The after market remote below is one of a few, stronger in their infra-red output than the original and able to work through glass, this being particularly important, if the receiver etc is to sit behind the glass door of the television as seen above right, or in 'secure' tamper-free accommodation, some may not recommend the receiver sits below the TV and buyers are urged to beware of particularly large receivers, since if they are not to be located below the TV, they may look untidy and ugly in the living space, worse yet, they may require extra long cables to be operated that aren't an easy part of the plan!  In particular the programming of Home Cinema receivers for time delay and space between speakers can be very tedious.  Some newer systems 'listen' to the sounds in the Home Cinema theater room and thereby programme themselves.  But set-up is still difficult, particularly if the Home Cinema is to support CD and other input sources as well!  The amount of cables deemed necessary with these systems is also likely to cause problems in the living space and need to be hidden.

CONCLUSION

The Home Cinema system is without doubt the first choice digital type audio system to consider for home entertainment.  Anyone with old records or cassettes are best to stick with old stereo systems.  Often these very old formats can be supported in other rooms or ought to be sold on Ebay, as many people are interested in all sorts of articles all too often discarded as junk by their very busy original owners!

After market handset learns remote keycodes before they fail completely