Home Theater Sound Layout Guidelines

                              Home Theater Sound Layout Guidelines

Understand the importance of speaker placement in a multi-channel home theater system

The purpose of correct speaker placement is to create a seamless, enveloping sound field, giving people an immersive feeling, without easily finding that the sound is coming from a certain speaker.

For users who purely listen to music or watch movies, there are different requirements for the layout and settings of multi-channel speakers. This is a detailed introduction in Home Theater Speaker Layout.

We spend a lot of effort to adjust the position of the speaker will greatly improve the listening effect of our home theater system. You'll understand a lot more with this home theater guide.

Home theater is not just for people to watch movies, but to bring the audience into the content environment of the movie and experience the plot experienced by the protagonist of the movie. This is impossible without the work of surround sound speakers.

Therefore, a home theater surround sound system needs at least five speakers to achieve. Three front speakers and two surround speakers; there must also be a subwoofer to enhance the bass effect to express the low frequency effect. This is the so-called 5.1 concept.

More advanced sound systems have six or seven identical full-range speakers for layout, while managing low frequencies separately and using subwoofers for playback.

The various sounds coming from the loudspeakers in different positions were pre-designed by the filmmaker and confirmed in his studio environment. But the result of playback in the user's theater environment is different. . . . .

Although there are many specifications to guide you how to lay out the best sound quality speaker layout position. But in order to get that golden spot, you need to do a lot of fine-tuning.

Each type of speaker has different characteristics, and each room has different acoustic characteristics. The placement of one type of speaker may not be suitable for the placement of another type of speaker. Therefore, you need to repeatedly test and adjust based on experience, and you need to rely on your sensitive ears to make small differences.

The first step home theater audio placement

Placement of the center speaker

First of all, the first step in the home theater speaker layout is to determine the position of the center speaker. The center speaker is to express the audio-visual dialogue in the film and the sound produced within a short distance from the film lens. Such a sound range is generally expressed in the size of the screen. of. So his position depends on the position of your projection screen. Therefore, the position adjustment range of the center speaker is not very large, and you need to focus on adjusting the left and right front speakers. Many sound effects are reflected by mixing the left and right speakers and the center speaker.

The correct placement of the center speaker can be above or below the projection screen or the edge of the TV. If you are still using an old-fashioned CRT TV, you need anti-magnetic speakers. If you choose a speaker without anti-magnetic treatment, it will seriously interfere with the display color of the TV. Severe color spots appear, and plasma, LCD, and projectors do not have this problem.

At present, most users choose the home theater combination of front projection. The center speaker may be placed behind the screen, so choose to have a sound-transmitting curtain. The sound-transmitting curtain is a very special curtain material. There are interwoven fabrics processed with special processes, and micro-porous processes are also used to make the sound unobstructed. Through the screen, such a setting of the center speaker should be the most ideal way at present, but the price of the sound-transparent screen and the influence of the room size are not suitable for all users.

The following guidelines for center speaker placement:

The tweeter of the center speaker is at ear level when you sit down, which means that if you are using a projector screen, it is basically near the lower edge of the projection screen. If it is a large-screen rear-projection TV, it should be placed above the TV.

If it is not a large-screen projection, for example, you will put it on the top of the audio cabinet or the TV, or even a large TV cabinet, then you must ensure that the front plane of the speaker is aligned with the front plane of the cabinet, avoiding the centering of the TV cabinet There is sound refraction phenomenon in the sound of the speakers.

The center speaker should be aimed at your main listening area

The distance from the center speaker to the listener's position should be as consistent as possible with the left and right main speakers to the listener's position.

Main left and right front speakers:

The left and right front main speakers are responsible for the embodiment of the main music and sound effects and the positioning of the sound image. The correct positioning is to reflect the scene width of the film and the realistic ambient sound field.

The following home theater speaker placement guidelines apply:

The front left and right main speakers are placed on both sides of the center speaker, and the distance is equal. To achieve a good effect, the distance between the two speakers should be at least 1.8 meters apart.

Adjust the front left and right main speakers so they are the same distance from your main action and the same distance from the center channel.

If you mainly use it to enjoy solo music, then the left, middle and right speakers should be placed in an arc with your position as the center.

If you plan your home theater to be watched by several people at the same time, then your first three speakers should be placed in a horizontal line parallel to your first row of seats. Note that the positioning we are talking about is accurate to the speaker unit inside the speaker. This is more accurate than speakers.

If you are planning your home theater speaker placement for group viewing, all three front speakers should be placed in a straight line to balance with the front row of seats. Note that this is different from the speaker toe-in; as we explain further, the toe-in relates to the speaker's "direction angle" according to the listening position. Here we only deal with the front left, right and center speaker positions from a distance perspective.

Avoid center speakers that are closer to the listener's position than the left and right speakers. The resulting sound effect will be unbalanced. The sound from the three speakers is difficult to mix evenly.

Correct home theater speaker placement, the angle between the left and right speakers to the listener's position and the center speaker to the listener's position is between 45 degrees and 60 degrees.

In the range of 45 degrees to 60 degrees, 45 degrees is the best angle for watching movies and has always been recommended.

The included angle of 60 degrees is recommended by music writers. This angle is the angle at which speakers are arranged in the mixing room of the recording studio.

The tweeters of the left, middle and right speakers are still at the same height, which is at the same level as the listener's ear when sitting down. If a level cannot be achieved then the gap should not be greater than 30 cm.

As far as is currently possible, all three front speakers – left, right and center – should be placed at about the same height as theirs, at, or close to, ear level when seated; the gap should be no greater than 12 feet (30 centimeter).

When placing the main speakers, many players have adjusted the placement of the left and right main speakers, turning the left and right main speakers inwards at an angle, so that the speakers of the speakers face the emperor's position more directly. In this case, the emperor's position may The treble will increase a little, but there is not much benefit to other actions. At the same time, the angle of adjustment is different for different speakers. At the same time, no manufacturer has a clear suggestion to stipulate this issue. As a player, you can debug by yourself, and gradually adjust through the method of listening, swinging, listening, and swinging again to experience that a better sound may be found.

Preferred Surround Speaker Placement

Unlike the three main speakers on the left, center and right, the surround speakers are used to create an enveloping sound field around the listener. His voice includes not only the ambient sound of the sound field and the specific sound that the listener needs to hear behind the listener, but also the connection work of the sound from the front speaker. Let the listener blend into the scene of the film. Therefore, the placement of surround sound speakers is determined by individuals in many cases, but there are still many specific guidelines that are worth learning from.

Home theater surround sound placement suggestions:

The surround speakers are placed on the side walls slightly behind the main front row of listeners. This position can restore the corresponding audio track position when the video was recorded.

Installing surround speakers on the side walls helps to restore the sense of envelopment of the film. If there is no room for surround speakers on the side walls, brackets can be used to solve this problem.

The height of the surround speakers is 60 cm to 90 cm above the level of the ear after a person sits down. Such a position will hear an enveloping surround effect.

In the 6.1 and 7.1 home theater speaker setup, more speakers are hung behind the seats, which can further improve the enveloping effect of the sound field.

prevent

Placing the surround speakers too far from the main seating position will result in insufficient rear surround sound. The same can happen if the rear surround speakers are too far back.

It should be avoided that the speakers on the two sides of the wall are directly facing the ears, so that the fire of the film guns will be directly transmitted to your ears. This is the worst experience and loses the taste of the surround sound field. It also loses the balance maintained by different speakers. Even higher than the sound from the main speakers.

Surround sound for multi-channel music

There is a difference in the distance between the seat and the speaker when listening to music and watching a movie. These differences are due to differences in the production of film sources. The surround used for watching movies is to simulate a sound field environment, and does not require speakers to be directional to the viewer, but the multi-channel system for listening to music is different. It requires all speakers to be consistent and point to the listener.

For players who exclusively listen to music, the correct rear speaker position is at an angle of 110 degrees to the listener. (0 degrees from the center speaker as a starting point)

Together with the 60° angle above the main front detail, these settings represent optimized speaker placement for multi-channel music appreciation.

What if you can't apply sound placement?

Chances are you're listening to multi-channel music with a sound system designed specifically for theaters. You can make a simple adjustment to the surround speakers so that they face the listener. It can be solved by adjusting the angle axis of the speaker pendant. In this way, listening to music and watching movies can be treated differently.

Now the most popular is THX advanced audio-visual system adjustment technology.

The main concept of THX is that one sound setup can meet the needs of watching movies and listening to music, and there is no need to repeatedly adjust the speaker position every time you watch a movie or listen to music.

THX ASA re-established the 5.1 surround sound mode in the 7.1 speaker system and changed the sound field after digital settings, and then distributed it to the surround sound speakers, which satisfied watching movies, listening to music, and playing games.

By applying different sound processing algorithms, sounds from the rear surrounds are mixed in a THX ASA setup to the rear surrounds, which will create more ambience in movie appreciation, an enhanced sense of spaciousness and layout in music listening, and a 360-degree atmosphere in the game.

Subwoofer placement

Subwoofers have no sense of direction. In a home theater system, you should not be able to tell where the subwoofer is. If you can hear the direction of the subwoofer, it may be because your subwoofer is placed too high.

There is no fixed point to place the subwoofer. But your subwoofer must be placed on the floor, this must not change.

placement tips

The position of the subwoofer in the theater determines the sound energy of the subwoofer. If the subwoofer is placed in the corner, the low frequency energy will be greatly improved, and some distortion may occur because some low frequencies are strengthened. If the subwoofer is not against a wall, the low frequency response may be less. If you want to find a subwoofer position with a good sense of hearing, you can place the subwoofer on the seat of the emperor, and you can lie down on the ground at several positions where you want to place the subwoofer to listen to where you heard the subwoofer Whether the sound of the subwoofer is what you want, you can find a satisfactory subwoofer placement through repeated tests like this.

There is also a way to use two subwoofers that can be placed one after the other. Excessive stacking or cutting of bass can be avoided. Get good low frequency response.