What if I dont have an audio system?

[redtornado]

This may have been answered before and if it has, sorry.

I have my setup listed and dont have a speaker setup included. I cant add one due to space limits and was wondering the difference between lossless audio and dolby digital 5.1, and 7.1. Whats the best for a guy like me? Does it even matter since I only use my TV speakers??

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by redtornado

This may have been answered before and if it has, sorry.

I have my setup listed and dont have a speaker setup included. I cant add one due to space limits and was wondering the difference between lossless audio and dolby digital 5.1, and 7.1. Whats the best for a guy like me? Does it even matter since I only use my TV speakers??

Yes it matters big time ! If you are only using you're tv speakers you are missing out on half the experience !

[BIslander]

Originally Posted by redtornado

This may have been answered before and if it has, sorry.

I have my setup listed and dont have a speaker setup included. I cant add one due to space limits and was wondering the difference between lossless audio and dolby digital 5.1, and 7.1. Whats the best for a guy like me? Does it even matter since I only use my TV speakers??

With TV speakers, it doesn't matter. You are limited to stereo input on the TV.

[Rob J in WNY]

redtornado,

Although the rest of your living room is not visible, I believe you could make a modest 5.1-channel system work for you. I can't help but to make that recommendation to you.

Your TV speakers will pale against even a modestly put together 5.1-channel system - but I know you know that already!

As far as lossless audio is concerned, there is much talk about how great it is, but hearing for yourself is believing. If you can demo a 5.1 or 7.1 channel system with lossless running (preferably from a high-end store or a friend's good setup), you may detect a clarity and subtlety to the sound that lossy Dolby Digital just can't produce faithfully. Although the higher bitrate lossy Dolby Digital encode and lossy DTS core available on Blu-ray discs generally do a much better job than their more space-saving DVD counterparts, it can not match the quality of lossless/uncompressed audio.

When you hear resolution down to every grain of dirt falling into Paula Shultz's grave in Kill Bill, Vol. 2, you know you're hearing the beauty of uncompressed audio! And that's just one small example (happened to watch that flick tonight in remeberance of the late David Carradine).

Whereas the quality of it is audible in just about all parts of any movie, more dramatic action scenes and midrange to high-frequency sounds provide the most impact of its benefit to your ears. Simply unparalleled quality which is what you come to expect from the Blu-ray experience.

Even older movies, with older audio that is not up to today's moviemaking standards, sound remarkably open and faithful. In the most simple terms, it's due to the presence of the every detail of the audio, unflawed. There is much more waveform detail to sound than lossy audio provides, and it is these which give lossless/uncompressed audio its purity of perception and superior sonic imaging throughout the soundstage.

As you are probably well-aware, to get lossless audio, most people need a receiver which can decode it - OR, in your case, you must at least get a receiver which accepts audio through HDMI, because your PS3 will decode multichannel lossless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio and send them via HDMI as PCM.

If you decide to go with a speaker system, strive for lossless audio. It just wouldn't make sense not to, especially because you've already got a decent-sized TV as the centerpiece of your growing home theater.

Sorry.....got a little carried away there!