Video: Breaking the Sound Barrier

From sports to sitcoms, TV is making the move to stereo

Don Morris, 31, a newspaper graphics editor in Stockton, Calif., hooked up his new television set last November and settled into a chair to watch Miami Vice. During a tense scene set in the Everglades, Morris heard what sounded like an intruder in the house. He turned around quickly, only to discover that the rustling noise was coming from a speaker behind him. That marked the beginning of Morris' conversion to stereo TV. "Television elsewhere," he says, "seems onedimensional and hollow."

Audiophiles have long complained about the poor quality of TV sound. Lush movie scores, rock concerts and opera performances hardly...

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