At one time it was amazing just to hear scratchy wheezy sounds played from a wax disk, then even more amazing to hear much clearer sounds from a vinyl record played on your record deck. Then came the marvel of stereo speakers and a whole new range of audio sources and equipment to play them on. Speakers and equipment became much more sophisticated and listener’s ears with them. These stereo speakers meant, for the purist, being sat in a particular chair in the “sweet spot” to appreciate the stereo effect. Other folks sat around in other places missed out on the finer points of the music production which may not have been noticed with some types of music but with some -say jazz and classical, this could really diminish pleasure. Now there is surround sound, which involves improving the sound reproduction of an AV source by providing further multi audio channels by adding additional discrete speakers. So multi channel surround sound is perceived by the human ear as coming from all round the room – e.g. 3Dsound!

To achieve this surround sound in your home you need an A/V receiver – a special amplifier, and a number of speakers which are positioned around your room – usually 5 speakers (left, right, centre, left surround, right surround) and then ,for the bass frequencies, a sub woofer. It’s probably better to buy all these different elements as one package. Many systems include iPod docks and will also play audio CDs. A wireless surround sound system will look good and be easier to set up. Surround sound systems still rely on sitting in the “sweet spot” for maximum appreciation.