Speaker Placement In Home Theatre Setups

Speaker Placement In Home Theatre Setups

People often laugh off the obsession that some people have with home theater perfection … it isn't uncommon for people to build entire new rooms, move furniture, make their baby sleep in the garage, etc (well, maybe for a minute), in their quest to get the perfect home theater experience. It all seems a bit pointless to most of us … until we sit down to finally watch our brand new HDTV, and the actors seem to be speaking two seconds after their lips have moved! Here we go back to the drawing board of setting up your speakers and speaker cables to ensure you get the most out of all the cash sitting inside your television!

Left and Right Channel Placement

These are the most important speakers to have placed optimally, to get realistic and enveloping sound. You should:

* Keep these speakers equidistant from your TV, ideally at least 6 feet apart
* Keep them the same distance from your usual seating position
* Keep them parallel with the front row of seats for group viewing
* If you drew a line from the center viewing position to the left speaker, and then did the same for the right speaker, the angle formed should be around 45 degrees for movie watching, and 60 degrees for listening to music. These are general guidelines only though, and differ with different models of speaker.

Centre channel placement

The center channel is the third-most important speaker to have placed correctly. When placing the centre channel speaker and running the speaker cable, try to:

* Place it further away from you than the left and right speakers are, to avoid unbalancing the sound.
* The center channel tweeter should determine the placement of the left and right channel tweeters – if you move one, the others should move also.

Speaker toe-in

We touched on this when talking about the left and right channel speakers – some people say that a toe in of 45 degrees is best for watching movies, while 60 degrees is best for listening to music. However, not every speaker has the same mechanics. Check out the literature from your speaker manufacturer first; if there are no hints here then simply experiment with the positioning that sounds better to you. If there is no discernible difference – rejoice in your flexibility!

Surround Sound for home theater

Surround sound speakers aim to create a diffuse, enveloping sound environment that makes it seem that you are right in the middle of the action on television. Not always ideal for horror films … but effective, nonetheless! Your surround sound speakers and speaker cables should be:

* Placed slightly to the rear of the usual seating position
* Placed on the walls, if possible
* Two to three feet above ear level when you are seated

Subwoofer placement

Subwoofer placement is the least critical of all of the speaker placements, because the low frequency sounds should not be ‘directional'. If you can tell where you subwoofer is without looking, the volume is set too high. Place your subwoofer directly on the floor for best effect, and try to keep it away from walls or corners. This may mean a little more speaker cable is needed, but will improve the sound quality.