The instructions that come with your speakers will give you recommendation for where to place them within a room but below are a few things to consider as you begin setting up your new home theater speakers.
CENTER CHANNEL SPEAKER This speaker's main purpose is to anchor sounds on-screen, like dialogue.
Tips for placement of the center channel speaker: 1. Center it directly above or below your television. 2. If you place it above the television, the front edge of the speaker should line up precisely with the front edge of the television. This will cut down on any kind of sound ?bouncing around? inside the television cabinet. 3. The tweeter of this particular speaker should be at the same height as the tweeters of the front speakers. If you can accomplish this to within 24 inches, that will allow for the best sound quality. 4. The front speakers and this particular speaker should be spaced the same distance away from your planned listening position.
FRONT SPEAKERS: BOTH LEFT AND RIGHT These speakers have two distinct purposes. They reproduce stereo music sound while also handling a movie's soundtrack.
Tips for placement of the front speakers: 1. Find your optimal listening position. Now space the two front speakers at points in the room that are equal is distance to that position, with one to the left and one to the right. The front right, front left and center channel speakers should all be approximately the same distance from where you are sitting, with the tweeters of each directed at your ears. Don't just eyeball this and get an approximate distance, as even an inch variation in the distance of the speakers can make a noticeable difference in your home audio system's sound quality. 2. These speakers? tweeters should be even to your ear level when seated in the optimal listening position. Smaller home theater speakers can be mounted on the wall or placed on a speaker stand. Floor standing speakers normally have this covered in their design.
SURROUND SPEAKERS The purpose of the surround speakers is to provide low and high level sound from other parts of the room, creating a movie theater feel in your home theater. The surround speaker placement will depend on the size of your home theater, the shape of the room, and the space needed for the actual speakers. Be creative and experiment with the placement of these particular speakers throughout the room.
Tips for placement of the surround speakers: 1. Place the primary pair to the right and to the left of your optimal listening position. This can be done in line with your position or just behind it. When placement to the side is impossible, or when you have a surround system with more than two surround speakers, you may wish to place the speakers behind the listening position, with the sound being directed toward the front of the room. 2. These speakers should be placed at approximately ear level when you are in a standing position. 3. Experiment with the aiming of these speakers when mounted on the walls. Sometimes good results can be achieved when you point them up at the ceiling or back at the rear corners of the room.
SUBWOOFER A home theater subwoofer provides your home audio system with all the low bass frequencies needed for a movie theater, surround sound experience. However, it is one of the least difficult to position. In most cases, you can position your home theater subwoofer anywhere in your home theater and still get good results.
There is no one ?perfect? placement for any given home theater speaker. No two rooms? acoustics will be the same, all speakers will have various sonic characteristics, and no two ears will hear any given sound identically. This doesn't mean you will never achieve the best sound quality from your home audio system. All it means is take the advice given and modify it when you actually install your home theater speakers to accommodate your specific needs.
~Ben Anton, 2007
The best sound systems make you feel like you're really part of the action; to achieve this, you need to properly set up speakers both in front of and behind the listeners. If you wanted to be really thorough, you could do calculations on the physics and sound waves involved.
But that's needlessly complicated. Once you have a grasp of the general idea, you can experiment with different placements until you find the best solution that works for you.
Just remember that unless your room has perfect acoustics (and it almost certainly doesn't), you are not going to have a perfect surround sound system. Don't fret too much about it, and don't demand perfection when your room makes it impossible.
Although you can get valuable information from the manufacturer's guidelines and instructions, you should trust your own ears to judge whether your home theater speaker placement works for you.
Center channel speaker -- The center channel speaker should be centered just beneath the screen. This will output on-screen sound such as conversations, so for the sake of realism you will want it very close to the television.
Front left and right speakers -- When you're sitting down, these speakers should be just about ear level. Of course if you're tight on space, you could place them higher and angle them down towards the listener. However, this won't give you the best sound experience.
The music will be emitted from these two speakers, which will split the stereo sound of the movie soundtrack. You want these speakers to be place the same distance away from the listener as the center channel speaker. All three speakers should form an arc if you were to look down on them from a bird's eye view.
Surround speakers -- These should go right behind the listener, to the left as well as the right. These will go much higher; they ought be about ear level when you're standing upright.
If they are on adjustable brackets or stands, experiment with pointing them at the outside or rear walls. You may be surprised with how realistic the sound is when it's allowed to bounce off the walls before reaching the listeners.
Both Ben Anton & Jessi Janae are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Ben Anton has sinced written about articles on various topics from Software, Home and Writing. Ben Anton lives and writes in Portland, OR.Read more about finding quality home speakers and other. Ben Anton's top article generates over 1220000 views. to your Favourites.
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