Altec Lansing introduces new surround sound speaker systems

Altec Lansing's unveiled its own entry into the sound bar market, designed to cut down the number of components and match up with that sleek new flat panel TV. The PT8051 consists of two parts, with left center and right channels up front, and left/right channels in the rear wireless speaker, while the PT7031 uses virtual speaker technology from Dolby Labs to give 5-channel surround through one piece with three speakers in it. Whether the sleek design and easy setup can provide a surround sound experience comparable to discrete systems remains to be seen, as both will be available in August: the PT8051 for $999.5 and the PT7031 for $599.95. Check out the latter after the break.

[craziecs @ Jul 2nd 2007 3:05PM]

Noice

[Gordy @ Jul 2nd 2007 3:20PM]

A lot of people crap on these types of systems, but, I'll sacrifice true 5.1/7.1 fidelity for not having to see (or run) no stinkin' wires...or see speakers all over the damned room.

Now, AFA this one in particular, where's the subwoofer? It's in there? Really? How thin? I'll wait for a few reviews, before blowing the dust off my AmEx.

[Andy @ Jul 2nd 2007 4:01PM]

It's easier to run 2-3 wires to the back of the couch than to build or clear a whole room for it to be acoustically fit for these kind of "virtual surround" schemes, and even then the "virtual speakers will seriously underperform a very simple and much cheaper (I bet a $99 home theater sounds better than this one-speaker/3 driver solutions).

It's even easier to get Dolby Headphone and have a VERY respectable surround simulation. It's even easiest to just have Dolby Virtual surround and have pretty much the same crappy surround you'd hear with a one-speaker solution.

[Arnie @ Jul 2nd 2007 4:12PM]

I am I have to disagree with you Andy. A relative of mine has the Yamaha one because he has a reasonably small living room and the sound on them is just awesome and it really feels as it's coming from different directions. They of course do not stand to really expensive and dedicated speakers hooked upto an amp but they are more than fitting for a small to medium sized room and I am not a fan of heavy bass so these types of speakers more than satisfy my needs for a compact sound system.

[Gordy @ Jul 2nd 2007 4:22PM]

The Yamaha system is awesome...I heard it at Best Buy. I'm curious to see how the above wireless rear speakers sound. Philips tried wireless rear speakers with their MIA HTS9800 system, but they got bad reviews.

[Andy @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:36AM]

It's very easy to get a surround "feel" even from stereo speakers. These kind of schemes just play with phase. They can't "direct" sound even to be bounced, unless the drivers themselves are pointing towards the wall or something. You can achieve something like that with more drivers, but again, the room has to be just right.

And that is just the first problem. Then when you're talking about directionality, it's very different. The speaker setup has to recognize which sounds will go to surround-left and surround-right respectively, and then encode the signal properly to be virtually coming from that space. Doby Virtual Speaker and Dolby Headphone both work by detecting each channel separately and doing just that. Dolby headphone works extremely well because you don't need room acoustics. Dolby Virtual Speaker is very unsatisfactory, but it's pretty much the best in directionality.

Whatever "virtual speaker" scheme you have for "proper" directionality, it has to discern first which sounds should go where, and it basically means, either a 5.1 analog input, or Dolby Digital and/or DTS decoding via digital input. I don't think most (any?) of these speakers have that.

[Andy @ Jul 3rd 2007 3:55AM]

Heh, it seems that these speakers do use Dolby Virtual Speaker (I only assume, as it was not mentioned explicitly either in this post or the article). So these are just stereo speakers (maybe with a center channel) which use Dolby Virtual. This should have a Dolby Digital decoder or a 5.1 input at least. It seems Dolby Virtual Speaker is the least bad proposition, but still, what I've heard of it is unsatisfactory. If you have tried out Dolby Headphone, it is A LOT better, but I understand it may not be for every casual situation like stereo speakers with Dolby Virtual.

Other one-speaker solutions, don't use that, and use their own dubious proprietary technologies. Anyway, I'd say at least Altec deserve some kudos for trying tested technology over purely market-speak.

[kuzu-b @ Jul 2nd 2007 3:51PM]

What does this have to do with the iPhone?

[Anthony @ Jul 2nd 2007 7:11PM]

I had a Panasonic (or was it Pioneer) for years. Is it a Sony Dream system? No. Does it make things louder & generally give a surround feel? Yes.

Unfortunately it wouldn't fit in our house so I've been scoping the Yamaha for while. Maybe I'll hold out for this. It looks even smaller & more sleek.

Now. Back to the iPhone.

[Jackson @ Oct 1st 2007 7:40PM]

Andy says: "It's very easy to get a surround "feel" even from stereo speakers."

If this technology can trick my brain into thinking the sound is coming from all around me, that's all that matters. Do you think my brain will feel cheated when it figures out the truth?