NRSC to Explore Surround Sound

The National Radio Systems Committee is investigating the surround systems that have been proposed for use with HD Radio. They decided to form a group for this purpose, which has no members yet, at Friday’s meeting in Las Vegas at CES.
Leaders Charlie Morgan and Milford Smith stressed to RW Online the NRSC is gathering information only and not setting a standard at this time. It is only looking at systems compatible with analog FM, they said.
It’s not mandatory for a standard to be set for the technology, they said and undetermined is what the members might do with the collected information after it is reviewed.
Privately, some members of the NRSC have told RW Online they believe the industry should be in agreement on a surround sound technology for HD Radio. “Let’s decide what our role is, or it will be decided for us,” a source said is one school of thought on the issue.
Other members have said there isn’t any urgency about surround sound. Receiver manufacturers seem to be more focused on getting the basic HD Radio technology into their product lines, goes this line of thinking.