This impressive understanding of surround sound was likely fueled by the desire to maintain Dolby B in the business. Its brilliance lies in the simplicity of the solution and the application of existing capabilities, widely available at a very affordable price. Every cinema in the world could afford this modification, and obtaining a Dolby certificate was simply great advertising. This solution was also very beneficial for film producers, and the licensing fee became pure profit. With this source of income, it was easy to work diligently on developments for home use, which capitalized on the videotape rental trend. The next step was the introduction of better capabilities for precise bass reproduction and the emergence of A/52, known as Dolby Digital .
The subwoofer was already unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show in the fall of 1978. Swedish designer Karl-Erik Stahl presented a brilliant concept featuring a number of innovative solutions. However, no one particularly noticed that this could be crucial for spatial music reproduction and liberation from the amplification of bass frequencies generated by four speakers positioned in corners by the floor and two walls. It was Ray Dolby who created the subwoofer standard, and millions of them are now sold. No such moves are being made with Atmos , as the greatest focus seems to be on calculating revenue from licensing fees
The Eclipsa Audio format , presented in early 2025 at the Consumer Electronics Show , will enable more efficient development of spatial audio hardware. Work on Eclipsa Audio began as the Immersive Audio Model and Format within the Alliance for Open Media, a global business elite . The new format is license-free, but coordination is obviously needed to ensure its usefulness and prevent it from becoming merely a platform for more or less wild concepts.
A big surprise might be the Korean program PotPlayer, which is free and already offers a wide range of audio configuration options. It is developed for Windows. A practical solution for home playback of recordings featuring either Atmos or Eclipse is a setup with four speakers and a shared bass unit. The same applies to 5.1, quadraphonic, and stereo recordings, which the software processes accordingly. Such a speaker system can be optimally arranged for music playback in the room.
One of the first two speakers for Eclipse Audio functions like a soundbar, but—as the illustration shows—it features drivers designed to interact with the room's side walls. It is the Samsung Music Studio 7. The 3.1.1 designation indicates that it reproduces three front channels and a shared bass channel (like a subwoofer), while the surround channel is directed toward the ceiling.
The software allows for the convenient wireless connection of the Music Studio 5, which is a stereo speaker. This creates a 3.1.3 system. This speaker set is a great continuation of the surround sound concept envisioned by Ray Dolby. This speaker setup for the home is far more practical than what was recommended for analog quadraphony. It also ensures music playback without uncontrolled bass amplification in the corners of the room.
Playback of the Dolby Atmos remix of the Pink Floyd recording should sound impressive. At the Audio Video Show 2025 in Warsaw, it was demonstrated using a 7.4.4 system—a setup that wouldn't fit in most homes. The 7.4.4 labeling obviously doesn't make sense with the recording. It only emphasized that four subwoofers were used. Dolby Atmos support was provided by the Marantz AV 10, which is configured for a 9.4.6 setup, meaning it has four subwoofer outputs. Thus, the recording signal can be configured with the equipment according to the connected outputs.
A similar situation may apply to the PotPlayer 3/0/1+LFE configuration with a recording from a quadraphonic LP. An undecoded SQ recording played via PotPlayer—using this setting with Expand to Center, Surround, and LFE Redirection (180 Hz) enabled—sounded more interesting than when using the classic method for analog quadraphony.
Audio playback for the front and rear pairs of speakers was handled via analog decoding from the Sansui QS-1. The signal from the LP was extracted using an Ortofon MC 20 Super. A 4-track recording, made some time ago using a high-quality SQ decoder, was also played. For the recordings, the analog signal came from a Dynavector Karat 23R mounted on a tangential tonearm.
Comments
Post a Comment