One aspect of 5.1 sound is the middle channel, typically used for voice. This is fine if your system has a middle channel speaker, but a serious problem if it doesn’t. Some systems with only two speakers will blend the voice channel into both speakers, some don’t. Also, many DVDs, etc. have the option to switch to a 2-speaker mix.
Archive search turns up no column with “Dolby” or “5.1”, and nothing relevant under “surround sound”. I’m stumped.
It’s today’s column.
It’s a problem even if you do have a center channel, but on the upside it means there is an easy fix for the problem of soft voices: just crank the volume on that channel. Most receivers allow a +/- dB adjustment on each channel. IMHO, it’s a better fix than compression (midnight mode, etc.) because it preserves the overall dynamic range while making speech more audible.