Sound attenuation may vary from one movie to another as well. Without surround speakersįollowing the same logic, the metadata of a 5.1 soundtrack will be mixed in stereo and distributed between the front left and right speakers. This is why dialogues in certain movies are a lot quieter than the rest of the soundtrack, as they are drowned out by other information in the left and right channels. This is where things get tricky, and if the audio engineer decided to further reduce the sound level during the downmixing process (maximum reduction of -6dB), then the amplifier will have to comply with this obligation. The sound level is reduced to half (-3dB) in order to deliver the original signal at the right volume with two speakers. Without a center speaker, the center channel is mixed in stereo and distributed between the front left and front right speakers. The Sonus Faber Principia C center speaker. All TVs, 4K Blu-ray players and AV receivers use this metadata to downmix 5.1 soundtracks. All Dolby 5.1 soundtracks (Digital, Digital Plus, True HD) contain additional metadata which may be used by the decoder to distribute sounds intended for absent channels between the available speakers. Since the early days of Dolby Digital in the 90s, Dolby-certified multichannel audio soundtracks have been designed to ensure compatibility with systems composed of less than 5 speakers. Meanwhile, not all the information in 5.1 soundtracks goes through the same mixing process? some of it is simply not mixed at all. When one or several speakers are absent, the multichannel decoder integrated into a TV, set-top box, or AV receiver has to downmix the signal from 5.1 channels to match your system?s format: 3.1, 4.0, 2.0, etc. On the other hand, without a center speaker and subwoofer, or with only two speakers to deliver the entirety of a Dolby multichannel soundtrack, you might be missing out on more than you think. If your installation includes an AV receiver, 5 speakers and a subwoofer, (and perhaps Dolby Atmos ceiling mounted speakers), you will be able to enjoy the entirety of the original mix, and you will be fully immersed in the atmosphere designed by the audio engineer.
HD DTV, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, iTunes, and many US networks (AMC, Starz, etc.) now broadcast and stream programs in formats such as Dolby Digital Plus (DD+/E-AC3), stereo surround sound, 5.1 surround sound, and even Dolby Atmos for some content. As you?ve probably noticed, multichannel sound is no longer exclusively limited to DVDs, Blu-ray discs and 4K Blu-ray discs.