Fresco Speaker - Manual (Page 13)

H
OME
T
HEATER
Home Theater 13
Figure 26. Fresco i loudspeakers as front, center and surround (effects)
channels. Abyss subwoofers as 0.1 (effects) channel.
It had long been the practice of stereo buffs to connect their
television to a stereo system. The advantage was the use
of the larger speakers and more powerful amplifier of the
stereo system. Even though the sound was greatly improved,
it was still mono and limited by the broadcast signal.
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s two new home
movie formats became widely available to the public:
VCR and laser disc.
By 1985, both formats had developed into very high quality
audio/video sources. In fact, the sonic performance of some
video formats exceeded audio-only formats. Now, with
theater-quality sound available at home, the only element
missing was the "surround sound" presentation found in
movie houses.
Fortunately almost all films are Dolby and DTS encoded
and have the same surround sound information encoded
on home releases as the theatrical release. All that is
required to retrieve this information is a decoder and
additional speakers and amps.
Home theater is a complex purchase and we recommend
that you consult your local MartinLogan dealer, as they
are well versed in this subject.
Each piece of a surround system can be purchased
separately. Take your time and buy quality. No one
has ever complained that the movie was too real. The
following list and descriptions will give you only a brief
outline of the responsibilities and demands placed on
each speaker.
Front Left and Front Right
If these speakers will be the same two used for your
stereo playback, they should be of very high quality and
able to play loudly (over 102 dB) and reproduce bass
below 80 Hz.
Center Channel
This is the most important speaker in a home theater
system, as almost all of the dialogue and a large portion
of the front speaker information is reproduced by the
center channel. It is important that the center speaker
be extremely accurate and mate well the front speakers,
and that it is recommended for use as a center speaker.
This is not the place to cut corners.
Surround Speakers
We recommend (along with the film industry) that the
surround speakers play down to at least 80 Hz. Surround
speakers contain the information that makes it appear
that planes are flying over your head. In the past some
people suggested that this is the place to save money and
purchase a small, inexpensive speaker. Now with the
proliferation of discrete multi-channel digital encoding
the demands on surround speakers have increased.
Subwoofer
With any good surround system you will need one or
more high-quality subwoofers (the .1 in a 5.1 channel
surround system). Most movie soundtracks contain large
amounts of bass information as part of the special effects.
Good subwoofers will provide a foundation for the rest of
the system.