I found this posted elsewhere today and I felt it was important for anyone who loves home theater to know the origins of surround sound. Ioan Allen and I go way back. Among other things, he helped me at Dolby to put together the first home theater demonstration at CES in 1982. Here is his brief presentation on 5.1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaXiJSofaMY

Thank you kind sir...
that's some pretty interesting stuff...

Great link, Peter - very interesting history lesson.

PeterT,
Very cool. It is fun to listen to somebody who was there ...... first hand knowledge.

Thanks PeterT.

So, the average suburban HT-er runs his system like a booming car stereo? Waaayyyyy cool observation. I can't help thinking of my stepbrother setting up an HT system for my mother. He got it all connected and let it rip, only to have my Mom walk in and say, "Is it supposed to be shaking my floor? I think you need to unhook that thing!"

Oh, I think there's a bit of truth to his statement about people running their surrounds and subs hot. I don't think it's necessarily true around here or in other online communities that make a point to recommend and explain system calibration, but think about how many folks are likely to have brought home a receiver and set of speakers from Best Buy on a whim, set it all up, played the test tones and calibrated by ear, and then adjusted while watching a couple movies so it sounded "cool" - I bet most of those setups are running both surrounds and sub at least 3dB to 5dB too hot, and who knows what shape the center calibration is in. One thing that I feel that internet-direct companies like Outlaw, Axiom, OPPO Digital, HSU Research, and others have helped promote and assist in is consumer education, both through good manuals and customer support and through communities like this. I'd almost go so far as to say that such consumer education is nearly a duty for those companies due to the nature of their chosen business model, although I try not to go to quite that degree because I realize that is actually an exaggeration based solely on my high expectations - but, hey, it's their own faults for setting high enough standards to allow those expectations to survive! :p