Sunday, December 23, 2007

Home Cinema Speaker Placement

Square Room

The ideal room and speaker placement for any home cinema setup is a square room with the TV directly facing the main viewing position. The front speakers should be placed either side of the TV screen, around one metre away from the side of the screen. The centre speaker can be positioned above or below the screen, but should be as close to the screen as possible. The surround sound speakers are ideally placed on axis at either side of the main listening position (usually a sofa), or behind.

Subwoofer placement can be critical, and is system and room-dependent. Our preferred placement is between the front stereo speakers, for the most integrated sound performance between subwoofer and satellites, or to the side of the room. Experimentation is the key here. Try it in several different positions to see which sounds best with your particular system and room.

Rectangular Room

Most domestic living rooms place the TV in the corner of the room. This is not ideal for getting the most evenly distributed sound performance for a home cinema system, but effective results can still be achieved.

Place the speakers either side of the TV, and point them directly at the main seating area. The centre speaker should be positioned as close to the screen as possible, and the subwoofer placed close to the front soundstage. Position the rear speakers across the opposite corner facing the TV, and point them towards the seating area to cover as broad a listening area as possible.

L-Shaped Room

L-shaped areas can deaden your home cinema soundstage, sucking that all-important subwoofer bass into the area on the left of the picture. Position your front stereo speakers close to your screen, aimed tightly towards your seating area. The sub/sat speakers that come with all-in-one systems maintain bass well in rooms like these, spreading it between all of the speakers.

Consider moving your furniture around to improve speaker direction and sound performance, but don’t panic! Home cinema is not an exact science.

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