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. 

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

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.

Subwoofer Speakers

Deep 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.