Surround Sound Setup

Grundlestiltskin

So we moved recently, and we're trying to setup a sound system in our new living room. It can either be 4.1 or 5.1 (but I'm not really sure where to put the center speaker in the 5.1). The problem is the room layout. The entrance to the room is in the middle of the North wall. The TV is in the NE corner, facing SW. There's a couch on the West wall and on the South wall.

Currently, the FL and FR speakers are on either side of the TV stand in the NE corner. The FR speaker is on top of the sub. The BR speaker is in the SE corner facing NW, and the BL speaker is in the NW corner facing SE.

Is there a better way to lay this out? Is there an obvious place to put the center sound channel (the TV [42 inch flat screen] is on top of a component cabinet, the speaker won't fit in there and obviously can't sit on top of the TV)?

EggyToast

Do you have a drawing program around? Even a poorly drawn MS Paint drawing with lines for the walls and furniture would probably help a lot more.

Plus, you also don't mention how big the speakers are. Some satellite speakers are small, others are massive.

Grundlestiltskin

EggyToast wrote: »

Do you have a drawing program around? Even a poorly drawn MS Paint drawing with lines for the walls and furniture would probably help a lot more.

Plus, you also don't mention how big the speakers are. Some satellite speakers are small, others are massive.

Found this on another site



It's like that, except the back left speaker is in the top left instead of the bottom left. The L and R speakers are pointed basically the same direction as the TV, SW. The couches are approximately where the people are there.

The speakers, i dunno. They're like 1.5 feet tall, and around 6x6 inches wide/deep.

EggyToast

The "standard" way of dealing with a full rack of components and flat panel TV is similar to what the drawing has for the center speaker -- put it behind the TV. Put the subwoofer on top of that. The subwoofer is actually great behind the TV because bass isn't very directional, especially in a regular sized room.

As for "best," the best setup is to reduce room reflections, phase cancellation, and a large "sweet spot." There are other forumers who are more familiar with surround sound, but generally rear speakers should be placed to fill a room without overpowering the sound of the other speakers. In other words, placed close to the seating without being right next to them.

Also, it's best to not have two speakers facing each other, because you can experience phase cancellation which will cause certain frequencies to sound much quieter than they should, depending on where you're sitting. This can usually be accomplished by simply turning a speaker.

If the couches are facing the TV, I would put one speaker in the corner, like the picture you found actually, depending on the overall shape of the room. Is it perfectly square? If it's a rectangle, that should be the "BL" speaker. If it's a square, I'd put them at each end of the couch. Usually rear speakers are used less and are lower power than main speakers, so having them in a corner, far away from the seating, can result in them being overpowered.

Djeet

is there some audio performance issue (echo, poor surround sync, can't hear channels) you're trying to correct for? You can use AVIA (a dvd) to calibrate/mess with the video, it has audio calibrations as well but I've not used it for that. It's a $30-40 dvd plus some color filters, and there's another one called DVE (Digital Video Essentials) that's supposed to be as good. You can pick up an SPL meter to assist you ($50 min). If you're going to get a fancy receiver (1K$+), some of them come with SPL's and a quick calibrate option.

you might want to move the FR speaker off of the sub, the vibrations from sub may accelerate wear on it faster than your FL. If you have an LCD mount, there are some mounting brackets that can position your center above or below the screen: http://www.standsandmounts.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=346 you will want to make sure the mount mates up to your bracket before buying. the front L and R and the Center should all be in the same plane and facing same direction as screen. you might place the surrounds closer to the center of the wall, in the S and W locations instead of SE and NW corners; mounted in the range of ear level (seated to standing), that should make the surrounds into a rear field instead of 2 distinct L and R zones. that setup would put the "sweet spot" more or less in the center of the room. move the sofas slightly off the wall (maybe 6 to 10 inches). changing away from the diagonal setup you have may allow you to put more seating area in the best listening areas.