Loudspeaker Placement & HT Layout - An Essential Guide

[Clint DeBoer]

There's a kind of precision about audio/video components, home theater and sound reproduction that's downright addictive, similar to the appeal of other technical hobbies like cameras, cars, boats and aviation. They all have their own vocabulary and jargon, of course, and it's easy to get bogged down or enraged by it. But lack of precision can be equally annoying. Join Axiom Audio's Alan Lofft as he takes you through the Dolby Labs recomended guidelines for loudspeaker placement in various scenarios.

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[Takeereasy]

Nice article Alan (if you ever get to read this). Very clear and concise and well written. provides a great starting point for most systems. Thanks for posting it Clint.

[vinny]

thanks for the info as i'm renovating my apt and helpful

[saurabh]

its a good article for beginners, but a word or two about the delay settings would definitely help, as it is part of the standard setup now and noone can escape it.

[scobro]

My confusion is how far apart are the surrounds suppose to be from each other?

[vinny]

Clint Hi,

I have two front standing speakers, one centre, and two shelf speakers on stands next to the couch. I am looking to get two more shelf speakers.

As I see in the diagram I see the rear back surround speakers are above the couch,,,as my apt is small can the rear back speakers be mounted on brackets above the main speakers facing the couch acting as presence speakers or suround???

Thanks in advance

Vinny :

[dbarry]

Nice article: My new home theater wall splits a larger room and essentially creates a corner (re: layout 3 hi-fi configuration).

Question: Should the R/L main speakers be located the same distance away from walls that are behind the speakers. My thoughts are that there may be a difference in sound from identical speakers when one is located further away from a rear wall than another.

I have nearly selected Paradigm Studio 100 floorstand units for R/L mains. The technical support folks inform me that the back of their speakers should be a minimum of 8 inches away from a wall. My current home theater wall design has the left speaker standing in a location that is yards away from any wall behind the speaker while the right main speaker is standing in a location that is only 8” away from a wall. Will this disparity in rear wall distance create a problem with paired speaker sound reproduction?

PS: I guess I could build another wall behind the left speaker if I have to.

[9f9c7z]

Any chance we can get an updated diagram for ideal speaker placement using the newer 12.1 surround?

[ExcessivePirate]

Any chance we can get an updated diagram for ideal speaker placement using the newer 12.1 surround?

Damn. With a 12.1 system i suppose you could put the speakers just about anywhere hahaha

[karsfri]

I think we have almost covered all the round. I think the next locical step is to have speakers in the ceiling and in the floor (that would give the words floorspeakers a new meaning )