Home Theater Speaker Placement

Home theater speaker placement comprises many different variables due to which there cannot be one particular arrangement of speakers that will give the best performance. Usually a home theater system consists of a central speaker, two surround sound speakers, a front left speaker and a front right speaker. Some home theater systems also consist of an optional sixth speaker called subwoofer. Here are a few tips about placing home theater speakers to improve your home theater acoustics.

Central Speaker
This speaker is basically used for listening to movie dialogs. Placing it on the television set at the center, is the best position for this speaker. To utilize the home theater acoustics better, make sure that the speaker and TV are facing the main area where the audience will be seated, so that the sound is directed in a straight line towards the audience.

Front Left and Front Right Speakers
These speakers are meant for optimizing the experience of hearing sound effects and music in a movie. The distance of these speakers from the audience should be exactly the same as the distance of the central speaker from the audience. If you plan to watch a movie on the home theater with a large group of people, place the front left and front right speakers in line with the central speaker. They should be in one straight line, exactly parallel to the front row audience. In case you plan to watch a movie alone on the home theater, place these two speakers on either of your sides, such that a semicircular arc will be formed if you draw a line connecting these two speakers with the central speaker. Ideally, the front left and front right speakers should be at a distance of about 6 feet from each other. Another detail that you should consider while placing these speakers is that the front left and front right speaker should be at an angle of 45 degrees from the central audience.

Surround Sound Speakers
Surround sound speakers create an envelope of sound around the audience, which makes them feel as if they are also a part of the movie. For best performance, place the speakers behind the main seating area and about 3 feet above the audience's ear level. If possible, place these speakers on the side walls. You can use speaker stands to place them appropriately near the side walls.

Subwoofer
This speaker generates low frequency sound waves and is responsible for producing the bass response. The trick to deciding the placement of this speaker is that the audience should not be able to judge, where this speaker has been placed. If that happens, it means that the speaker volume of subwoofer has been set too high. Ideally, one should use two subwoofer speakers and place one in the front of the audience and one at the back.

Although, the above described placements of home theater speakers will give you a reasonably good performance, one must remember that different rooms have different acoustics. An optimal performance from a home theater can only be experienced, if the right combination of room acoustics and speaker placement is achieved. So considering the above mentioned home theater speaker placement as a reference, you can try other positions and determine which placement suits you best. You can evaluate the home theater acoustics for different rooms if you have the time. Usually, the room that you use for home theater should not be too big. Bedrooms are generally suitable for a home theater. Once you are done with all the permutations and combinations and have got the speakers placed, just sit back and enjoy the movie; you deserve it after the hard work.