Home Cinema Systems - DVD, Amplifier, Speakers - Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, JVC
Home Cinema Systems
Welcome to the Home Cinema Systems page, home cinema systems are audio equipment that produce surround sound in the home. They are great for watching DVD's as they are often produced in surround sound so you will hear sound from all directions and as you would expect from the action on the screen, lots of television programmes also use surround sound so a home cinema system can be very useful. Most home cinema systems have an amplifier, a DVD player and all of the speakers that you will need so you can have it set up in no time without the need for additional equipment, you may need more speaker wire if your room is very large and you will of course need a television in order to enjoy your new home cinema system.
Home cinema systems are also very cheap these days so you can enjoy surround sound in the home without having to spend too much, when you consider that they usually include a DVD player and all of the speakers you can see that they are very cheap indeed. We have made buying a home cinema system very easy by listing several home cinema systems on this page, they come from Amazon, eBay and UK Shopping Search which includes lots of top shops such as Argos, Comet, Currys, Dixons and Tesco. There are also lots of home cinema systems available to buy online from brands such as Sony, Philips, JVC, Panasonic and Pioneer.
Most home cinema systems use the Dolby Digital technology which is what is used on most DVD's, there are other surround sound technologies such as DTS and Pro Logic I and II but these are not as widely used as Dolby Digital. You will also see most home cinema systems described as Dolby Digital 5.1, this means that there are five main speakers that produce all of the vocals, music and other sounds in films and the .1 means that there is a subwoofer that produces all of the low level sound (also known as bass). There are some home cinema systems that have more than five main speakers but the Dolby Digital 5.1 home cinema systems are the most popular and offer everything most people will need, there are many brands that offer Dolby Digital 5.1 home cinema systems including Philips, Pioneer, Sony, JVC and Panasonic.
The home cinema system needs to be set up in a specific way that is usually included in the instruction manual of the home cinema system, as a general rule though there will be a speaker in each corner of the room (front left, front right, back left and back right) and there is also a centre speaker that is placed near the television. The television is usually near the centre of the room which is why it is called a centre speaker, the centre speaker produces most of the vocals of on screen characters so having the centre speaker near the television makes it seem that the sound is coming from them (any off screen characters voice will be dealt with by one of the other speakers to give the impression that you can tell where they are). Then there is the subwoofer and as the subwoofer does not provide any directional sound you can place it anywhere in the room as it will sound the same where ever you place it (as long as it is not obstructed).
There are also a few other features that are worth looking out for when buying a home cinema system, wireless speakers can be very useful as hiding the cables can be a problem in lots of rooms. Wireless home cinema systems are more expensive but are tidier and easier to set up, they usually use radio based technology so the wireless speakers will have no problems communicating with the home cinema system. It is also worth looking at the DVD player that is included in the home cinema system as they often have features that can improve the picture quality such as progressive scan. There are lots of brands that offer home cinema systems with wireless speakers or progressive scan with the DVD player and they include Philips, JVC, Pioneer, Panasonic and Sony.
