In mid July Spectrum Research, an engineering and development firm specializing in advanced commercial and consumer electronics announced that it had licensed SRS Labs’ patented virtual surround technology, TruSurround and their more widely known SRS technology to use in their Theater 2000 virtual surround device.

TruSurround is a Dolby-certified technology that allows for a virtualized surround sound experience from a two-speaker playback using any decoded multi-channel audio source, including Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround or Dolby Pro Logic.

SRS Labs’ Sound Retrieval System (SRS) on the other hand is a technology that retrieves the spatial information from any stereo recording then processes these specific cues through the patented process resulting in a much fuller, vibrant sound image. Of course, whether or not you like the SRS effects on will vary from person to person. For some, the reproduced sound is much closer to that of a live performance, but its in no way 3D in way that PC audiophiles would use the term.

I found in doing my research of this product that the marketing takes an entirely different approach than what I am used to. What I mean is the whole 2 speaker 3D audio technology, including virtual Dolby surround, is something that is now old hat to us in the PC world but is really new to the home entertainment market. If you stop and think about it, how many people do you talk to, who are not into PC audio, have a clue what you are talking about when you mention 3D audio and especially 2 speaker 3D audio? The fact that companies like SRS Labs refer to stereo enhancements like SRS as "three-dimensional" certainly has not helped with peoples understanding and acceptance that you can create true 3D audio with just two speakers.