How To Position Surround Sound Speakers For Home Theater

Home theater speakers can make all the difference to your movie-watching experience. Even if you've already got the perfect picture on your HDTV, you won't really feel immersed in the action until you hear the sound coming at you from all angles. To do this, you'll need to set up your surround sound speakers at various points around your living room. Here's a guide to the key components of that setup.

Center Channel Speaker

As the name suggests, this speaker goes right in the center of your surround sound system, usually just below your television screen. You want to get this positioning right, as most of the sound you'll hear when watching TV will come from this one crucial speaker.

Front Left And Right Speakers

These two speakers are responsible for a number of elements of any movie audio, including special effects that come from specific sides of the screen, or the musical soundtrack. If you use your surround sound system to listen to music, then they will act as the left and right stereo speakers. These kind of speakers come in a whole range of shapes and sizes.

Surround Speakers

A 2.1 channel surround sound system will only come with front left and right surround sound speakers. However, a 5.1 system (or bigger) will also come with surround sound speakers that help to make you feel as thought you're right in the middle of it. These speakers are responsible for a range of different sound effects. The way they work with other speakers also means they help you hear things that move right past you.

Everybody's home layout is different, and you need to make sure that you can setup the speakers correctly. It's important that you can angle them to produce the best results, which means making sure they aren't completely fixed and immovable.

Subwoofer

You can't get the full cinema experience without thinking about the bass. Many movie audio soundtracks feature a dedicated channel for low frequencies, and for these you'll need to make sure you own a powered subwoofer.

Unlike other speakers in the surround sound layout, the subwoofer does need to be big. The bigger the speaker, the deeper the sounds can get, though smaller options are suitable for living rooms. Thankfully, you don't need to worry about a large subwoofer looking too obvious next to your TV: you can put it anywhere you like in your room thanks to the fact that bass sound waves are omni-directional - in other words, your ear can't tell which direction they are coming from.

As you can see, there are quite a few elements to consider in a set surround sound speakers. They all play an important role, so it's vital that you get the positioning right in order to create the best audio experience.