Surround Sound Speaker Placement

Executive Summary About Surround Speaker By Andrew Dansby

A standard surround sound system has 6 channels of audio information coming across the speakers. 4 directional

Surround Speakers

speakers, a center speakers (used mostly for dialog) and a sub woofer speaker. 5 stands for the 4 directional speakers and 1 for the center speaker. There are a few other types of speaker setup; Stereo 2.0 or 2.1 (if you have a sub woofer), the obsolete quadraphonic system 4.0, Enhanced surround 6.1 or 7.1. This article concerns itself with the setup of the 5.1 surround sound system.

The speakers in a 5.1 surround sound system are labeled as the following. Front Right (also known as FR), is a surround speaker and sound effects are passed onto it, as its name describes sits in the front of the listener to the right. Surround Right (also known as SR), is a surround speaker and sound effects are passed onto it, as its name describes sits in the side or slight rear of the listener to the right. The standard set forth by the ITU (international telecommunications union), calls for varying positions and angles from the reference listening position and angling of speakers to provide the optimum listening experience with a surround sound system. In plain English, where to place your speakers so it sounds the best.

Place your center speaker at 0 degrees from the reference listening position. Place your surround left (SL) and surround right (SR) at 90 to 110 degrees from the center.

On the front wall near your TV is where you are going to place your Front and Center speakers. The Center speaker is placed at 12o’clock . The front right speaker is placed at 11 o’clock on the front wall. The front left speaker is placed at 1 o’clock on the front wall. Your surround right speaker is then placed at 4 o’clock on the side wall right to the listener. Your surround left speaker is placed at 8 o’clock on the side wall left of the listener. That’s it for your main speakers.

If you are one of those that own a 6.1 or a 7.1 surround sound system, the additional 1 or 2 speakers are back surround speakers (SB). Some manufacturers suggest placing this on the floor near to the center speaker, most just suggest to place where it sound the best.. A note about speaker heights: many people will place their speakers near the ceiling or very close to the floor. With any surround sound system, many differing height all still sound great, but for optimum performance, it is strongly recommended to keep the speakers at the height of the listener or slightly above the listener ears while sitting down. So if the listener’s ear sit a 4 feet from the ground, then mount the speakers 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet from the ground.

For further information you can read this article about Home Theater Audio.

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