Simple Home Theater Help

When you place your surround sound speakers around your room, how can you get the best experience so that one speaker isn't blaring louder than the others and you get the feeling that you are in the middle of the action? Today's AV receivers can do it for you.

 

 

 

The same speakers and home theater system will sound different in your room than it did at the store. The shape of your room, placement of windows, doors, room openings, the type of furniture you have and where it's placed will affect how your speakers will sound in your room. Heavy drapes, large upholstered furniture and carpeting will sound much different than a room with blinds, hardwood floors and wooden furniture (and all the combinations in between). Placement of walls, windows, doorways in the room also has a factor on how the speakers will sound and whether your surround sound actually puts you in the middle of the action.

 

Setting up speakers as close to the diagram shown here, and optimizing your home theater system (called "audio calibration") will guarantee you the best possible sound from your home theater in your particular room.

 

1-2-3 Set up your Speakers

 

1. Decide the best place in your room to sit to watch your home theater/TV. This is the "sweet spot." Straight in front of the TV.

 

2. Place your front speakers. Put one speaker to the left of the TV at a 30 degree angle from your sweet spot. Put the other front speaker to the right of the TV at a 30 degree angle from your sweet spot. (Try to have both speakers at an equal distance from the TV.)

 

3. Place your center speaker either above or below the center of the TV.

 

4. Place one of your surround speakers to the left and slightly behind your sweet spot. Place the other surround speaker to the right and slightly behind your sweet spot.

 

5. Put your subwoofer** where it is convenient. Not too close to a wall or corner. Not where it will rattle windows. (You can move it later if you don't get the rumbling base when you watch a movie with an explosion, idling car engine, airplane, etc.)

 

6. Connect the speaker cables to the speakers.* There will be two connected cables for each speaker. On side is for the "+" or positive connection and the other for the "-" or negative side. . If there are colored connectors on the cable, use one color for the red connector on the speaker and one for the black connector.

 

Note: as with any positive and negative charged wires (think car battery cables), you shouldn't let the cables touch. If postive and negative speaker cables are touching, it will create a short and will turn off your AV receiver. (GOOD TO KNOW if you don't know why your AV receiver is turning itself off.)

 

7. You will match the color you put into the red connector on the speaker with the red connector on the AV receiver that is labeled for that speaker. This means connect the red side of the cable from the front left speaker to the connector labeled "Front L" on the back of the AV receiver. And the connect the speaker cable with the color connected to the black on that speaker to the the black connector of the AV receiver. (Ilustrations will be up soon)

 

Connect all of the speakers as they are labeled on the AV receiver. "Front L" to the front Left speaker, "Front R" to the right front speaker, "Center" to the center speaker.

 

8. Be sure you connect the surround speakers to "rear"or "surround sound" speaker connectors on the AV receiver and NOT to the connectors labeled "surround BACK." (see below if you have 1 or two more speakers for surround back speakers). This is a common mistake so pay attention!

 

9. Connect the subwoofer. You may connect it in the same manner OR you can purchase a subwoofer cable and connect it to a subwoofer jack on the AV receiver.

 

You are done setting up your speakers.

 

PLEASE READ: Inportant Notes & Tips:

 

*Some home-theater in a box systems (Bose and Sony are examples) come with their own speaker cable with special speaker connectors. You will simply plug these in. You do not have to worry about matching the speaker red and black cable connectors.

 

** "Full range" front speakers may have the "woofer" built in. You may use these speakers with the built-in low frequency speakers instead of a subwoofer.

 

TIP: run the cables for the rear speakers under the rug if possible. There are systems that have wireless rear speakers. In this case you wire the speakers to a back receiver unit and you may have a device to plug into your receiver. Check your AV receiver's User Manual.

 

Calibrating your Speakers for the best sound.

Many AV receivers have automatic calibration that will adjust your speakers for the best sound.

 

1-2-3 Calibrate your Audio with Automatic Calibration

After connecting all of your speakers...

 

1. Find the included microphone. (Look at the Quickstart guide that came with your AV receiver or its User Manual for a section about what is included in the box to be able to identify it.)

2. Plug the included microphone into the AV receiver jack labeled for it (again the User Manual will show you where it is).

3. Place the microphone on your sweet spot (see above).

4. Press the "setup" button on your AV remote OR press the "menu" button and choose "setup" in the menu. Some receivers will have this information on the front display of the receiver. Others that are connected to your TV will require that you turn on the TV (to the input to which the AV receiver is connected) so you can see the menus that control the AV receiver.

5. Look for "automatic audio calibration" (it may have a different name but it'll be something like this).You might have to go to a submenu for "audio" or "audio setup" to find it.

6. Choose "start" and BE ABSOLUTELY STILL AND QUIET --As Elmer Fudd would say, 'BE VEWWWY VEWWWY QUIET!" - no barking dogs, playing children, ambulance sirens, and NO TALKING. In fact, leave the room for a couple minutes if you can do so quietly. The microphone will be picking up the sound from the speakers, measuring it and making its adjustments.

7. It will take a few minutes. Let it complete.

8. Unplug the microphone and either EXIT the menu or let it exit on its own.

 

Turn on your TV, make sure your AV receiver is on the input of the component you are watching (DVD, cable box, etc.) and enjoy being in the middle of an amazing surround sound movie watching experience!

 

EXPLANATION:

 

Once you put your surround speakers in place, you will want to calibrate the audio--that is, you want to be sure the speaker levels are at their best so you don't end up with a speaker blaring into your left ear and you can hear the dialogue over the special effects, and it feels like you really are in the middle of the action. Many of today's AV receivers come with automatic calibration. Before automatic calibration, you had to manually adjust the volume of each speaker with a test sound and most people just didn't do it. Even many of the budget home-theater-in-a-box systems now come with automatic calibration. This involves placing a microphone where you sit in the room, choosing automatic calibration, and letting the AV receiver set the levels. Pretty simple to do.

 

The AV receiver uses a microphone that is attached to the front (usually) of the receiver. You will place the microphone in the spot where you sit when watching/listening to movies (or TV shows, etc.) Go to the AV receiver's menu, choose "setup" then "auto calibration," and press "okay" to start. The receiver will do the rest.

 

You will have either 6 speakers (for "5.1 surround sound")--2 front speakers plus a center front speaker, 2 rear speakers and a subwoofer for the low frequencies--bass and rumbling affects; or 8 speakers (for "7.1 surround sound") which adds 2 more speakers to go behind you.

 

Speakers should all be at the same level and slightly above ear level is ideal. It is especially important for the front speakers to be at the same level, and for the back speakers to be at the same level. (This helps create a sense of flow from one speaker to the next.)

 

If you were to draw a line from the TV, the speakers should be placed in front of that line.

 

The front left and front right speakers should be about 30 degrees to the right and 30 degrees to the left from where you sit. You can have them slightly angled toward you or facing straight ahead.

 

Place the center speaker above or below the TV, hopefully at close to the same level as the front left and right speakers.

 

Place the rear speakers in line with where you are sitting.

 

*If you have back surround speakers place them behind you-- one slightly to the left and the other slightly to the right.

 

Place the subwoofer where it is convenient. You don't want it to be next to a table or a window that could rattle, and you don't want it stuck far in a corner behind upholstered furniture (except perhaps the sofa on which you are sitting).

 

PAY ATTENTION when you connect the speakers. If you have 5.1 channel surround sound, be sure to connect the rear speakers to a rear left and right connection and NOT to the speaker connections labeled "back." (The "back" connections are for the last two speakers when you have 7.1 surround sound.)

 

With your speakers in place and connected, you are ready to calibrate your audio.

 

ALWAYS read all instructions on a menu screen as the answers for what to do are often somewhere on the screen.

 

 

When the calibration is complete, remove the microphone. And enjoy perfect surround sound for your room.

 

NOTE: If you move the speakers, or rearrange the furniture you may want to calibrate the sound again so don't throw that microphone away.

 

Happy listening!