Ideal Home Theater Speaker
Placement
Home theater speaker
placement is crucial when watching movies and when listening to your favorite
music because you want to re-create as accurately as possible exactly what was
originally recorded in the studio.
When you watch movies
though, there is another element added, and that is being able to accurately
reproduce a sense of location to what you are hearing. So when you hear the
BOOM! of an explosion that is happening on the right side of your screen or the
sound of footsteps off to the left, then that is where you want the sound to
come from.
Assuming you have good
quality components to start with, that is why home theater speaker placement is
so important.
Typical Home Theater Speaker
Placement
You don’t want
to feel like you need to look at the speakers that the sound is coming from. It
should all happen seamlessly and meld beautifully just like it does if you go to
a major movie theater with Dolby Digital sound and you find yourself lost in the
entire visual and sonic experience. So to capture that big cinema experience
with your home theater means that you may have to experiment with your home
theater speaker placement.
With Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks, you want your movie dialog to
come from your center channel speaker because normally that is the way it was
recorded. You want the dialogue to seem like its coming right from your home
theater television screen. It it isn’t then you need to move your center channel
speaker a little closer to your screen. Just move it a little bit at at time
until you are satisfied with it.
5.1 Channel
Dolby Digital/Dolby Pro LogicII
Lets talk about the
“standard” home theater speaker placement for Dolby Digital 5.1 first (figure 1
below). This represents the standard for all current DVD’s and HDTV broadcasts.
So if you are sitting in the middle of your couch facing your home theater
television then you want your center channel speaker to be at 0 degree’s and
your right and left main front speakers should be approximately 22 to 30
degree’s from where you are sitting.
Your right and left
surround sound home theater speaker placement should be about 90 to 110 degree’s
from where you are sitting and should also be about two feet higher than your
ear level while you are sitting. This home theater speaker placement applies to
Dolby Pro Logic II also. If your 5.1 channel speakers are doing double duty for
SACD or DVD Audio playback, then you can move your surrounds further back in
order to compromise between the Dolby Digital 5.1 placement and the conflicting
standards for SACD and DVD-Audio.
Fig 1. Standard Dolby
Digital 5.1 / DPL II Setup
Dolby Digital
EX/Dolby Pro LogicIIx/7.1 channels
More and more movie
soundtracks now are being encoded in Dolby Digital EX which adds a sixth channel
in the back. It’s a mono channel and is better utilized by using two rear
speakers at angles of between 135 and 150 degree’s to the front center (figure
2). This home theater speaker placement also serves quite well for Dolby Pro
Logic Iix (7.1 channels).
Home theater speaker
placement like this can also apply to DTS 5.1 and its variations, DTS ES and
Neo:6
Fig 2. Dolby Digital EX 6.1 & Dolby Pro LogicIIx 7.1 channel Setup
Surround
Sound Speakers
The same home theater
speaker placement applies to your surround sound speakers if they are
multi-polar surrounds or direct-radiating speakers. Some receivers will allow
you to use these two different type of speakers as surround sound speakers. Some
people have even used five floor standing speakers as their surround sound
speakers. Tests have shown that this type of speaker for your home theater
speaker placement can work if you are sitting in the “sweet spot” of your home
theater when you are listening with SACD or DVD Audio.
Fig 3. Suggested Corner
Arrangement of Dolby Digital 5.1 Channel Setup
Subwoofer
SpeakersDeep
bass at 80 Hz or below is totally non-directional, which means that your
subwoofer can go almost anywhere in your home theater room. Corners can be the
best home theater speaker placement for your subwoofer if you want to accentuate
the bass. If it makes your subwoofer sound boomy then experiment with it by
moving it away from the corner a little until the boomy-ness goes away. If your
home theater room is large then you might consider getting a second subwoofer to
smooth out the bass.
Questions? Click here to ask the expert about
home theater speaker placement. |
