Home theaters are showing up everywhere. Gone are the days where home theaters only showed up in palatial surburban entertainment rooms. They are now showing up in cozy apartments in places like Mid-town Manhattan. It is easy to see why they appeal to the masses. The combination of a system that will satisfy your viewing pleasures as well as your listening desires is hard to pass up if you have the money. Money though, is one thing that will limit you in your quest to purchase home stereo components. What helps though, is to go out and find a virutal surround sound system.

For standard home theater systems, 5 speakers are setup which then surround the audience. However, with a small room, you may not have the space to properly setup the speakers and still not harm your guest’s ear drums. For this reason alone, you will need to search for smaller speakers or an alternative to the standard surround sound speakers.

If your space is limited, all is not lost. Technology has advanced to the point where speakers are not only smaller but can be used wirelessly.

Another technological advance is one of virtual surround sound. This technology simulates the sound characteristics of true surround sound systems. Virtual surround sound systems basically come in two flavors that are not too different from each other. These two are the 2.1 surround system and the digital sound projection system.

Traditional surround sound systems are typically displayed using 5 speakers. These speakers start with a center speaker which is placed directly in front of the audience. The other 4 speakers are then arranged in a circle that literally surrounds the audience. These traditional surround speakersd are usually denoted as 5.1 and 7.1 sound systems. With virtual surround sound, at least 2 of the speakers are replaced. Digital sound projectors utilize small speakers that are placed in a line in front of the audience. The 2.1 system places only 2 speakers in front of the audience with a third, the subwoofer, placed elsewhere in the room.

The virtual surround system is designed to take advantage of our knowledge of how humans process auditory stimuli. When the human ear is processing the sound waves internally, these new systems fool the auditory process into thinking that more speakers are in use than actually are.

If you happen to live in a large major city around the world and have wished to have the room in your small apartment to truly enjoy a surround system, virtual surround sound has just answered your prayers.