There are a whole variety of sound systems out there, and when it comes to making a choice, it can be quite an intimidating experience. However, this article seeks to decipher all the mystery surrounding sound systems. Hopefully it will help you decide on the sound system that you need!

Here are a couple of stuff that you should know when you buy a speaker system. Whenever you see a number like 7.1, it means that there 7 separate channels in the amplifier, and the .1 means that there's one subwoofer (the big speaker that plays the bass and makes the floor and room vibrate).

1. AV Receivers

These look typically like hi-fi amplifiers, but with a major difference: they take the audio signals from your computer and decode them and then sends them to the speakers which are placed around your room, to really give you the theatre effect. Therefore, footsteps in the movie would sound like they're actually coming from behind you (or in front, whichever is applicable)!

When you're purchasing an AV receiver, make sure that it supports Dolby Digital and DTS, and that it has identical power amplification for each of the speakers, so that you hear the same amount of sound from every speaker.

2. Speakers

I'm sure there are a lot of you who use the traditional 2 speakers. This is perfectly OK, if you plan to just use the computer for some really basic stuff. There are some companies who claim that they can get surround sound with 2 speakers, which is not entirely false. But, to really enjoy the true surround sound effects when watching movies, I'd recommend a minimum 2.1 speaker set.

Movie watching experiences can be enhanced by having a 5.1 system, which has 5 speakers and one subwoofer.

If you're seriously into watching movies on your computer, and you want to really simulate the effects of the theatre, you have to get a 7.1 speaker system. As the name suggests, it has 7 speakers and a subwoofer, which is the ultimate experience.

Obviously, if you spend more, you get better speakers, but make sure that the sound doesn't change tone when it moves from left to right, or else the whole point of surround sound is lost.

As far as the perfect amp frequency is concerned, the human ear can process only 18,000Hz. Therefore, any speaker which has a speaker with higher frequency, the higher frequency can be used for bragging purposes.

Summery: This article provides some basic information on selecting the sound system that best suites your needs, giving some useful tips on identifying speaker systems and what type of sound experience they will provide.