Home Theater Term of the Week- Circle Surround

Circle Surround is a surround sound encoding/decoding format developed and marketed by SRS Labs.

Circle Surround approaches surround sound in a unique way. While Dolby Digital and DTS approach surround sound from a precise directional standpoint (specific sounds emanating from specific speakers), Circle Surround emphasizes sound immersion.

To accomplish this, a normal 5.1 audio source is encoded down to two channels, then re-decoded back into 5.1 channels and redistributed back to the 5 speakers (plus subwoofer) in such a way as to create a more immersive sound without loosing the directionality of the original 5.1 channel source material.

For additional terms and definitions, check out my Home Theater Glossary