What is "Home Theater Shielding"?

What is "Home Theater Shielding"?

Nature is full of elements that can influence the quality of your home theater system. Electromagnetic fields are such elements that can play havoc on your components and wiring. You may have noticed that when your cell phone is near your television and you receive a call, the screen will start to flicker. This is because the signal your phone is receiving has caused interference with your television. There are different methods of home theater shielding that have been developed to combat this type of interference.

Electromagnetics

    Here's a short lesson in electromagnetics. Anytime an electrical current travels through a wire, two fields are created. These are the electric and the magnetic fields, commonly referred to as the electromagnetic (EM) fields due to their close association to each other. This is true for all electrical devices and wiring; if current passes through it then these fields develop.
    It is interesting to note that the reverse of this process is also true; if you were to move a wire through a magnetic field, it would produce a current. This is how power stations create electricity. They pass gigantic coils of wire through a magnetic field to produce the current that eventually makes its way to the wall outlets in your home.

Home Theater Shielding

Home theater shielding can work in two ways. It can prevent the EM field produced by device A from interfering with a signal by blocking it at the receiving device or it can do the blocking from within device A. You may have noticed that some home theater speakers make it a point to say that they are shielded and safe for placement near your television. This lets you know that the EM field they create is blocked from within the device and will not harm your television. Cables can also be shielded. By twisting the wires within the cable, the manufacturer has created a configuration in which the EM field of one wire cancels out the EM field of another.

Final Words on Home Theater Shielding

While home theater shielding for your cables can help achieve a better signal transfer between devices, shielding for your speakers is imperative. This is especially true for the center channel and front two speakers, their proximity to your television can damage it if they are not properly shielded.