Setting Up Front Speakers

[hglass]

When setting up a surround sound system, are the left front and right front and center channel suppose to be set at the same volume. By this I mean if I take a sound meter and adjust the speakers to have the same volume level, do I keep them all equal or do I make the center channel louder??

 

[oppman99]

Ideally, all three front channels would be set to the same level. In the real world, you room/equipment may not be ideal and all three speakers could end up with slighly different levels. If you think setting the center louder makes for a more enjoyable listening experience, then go for it. I have my fronts at the same volume with the center a little higher.

 

[JerryLove]

Personal taste. The source-audio mix is balanced to the producer's taste based on balanced (THX also balances specifically for large-room (theater) acoustics), but your personal mileage may vary.

In my HT, I ran a balance and then upped the surrounds 1db and the sub 2.5db to meet my taste.

 

[valvesnvinylfan]

+1, I did the same--balanced w/ an SPL meter, then up a smidge (+1.5 db) on center and surrounds to heighten the experience a bit. I say whatever helps your enjoyment of the movie more.

 

[lsiberian]

Ideally you'd have a wide enough front to your room to allow for proper spacing with the LR channels. In this case your center wouldn't need to run hot. Ideal rarely exists though.

If you gotta put them close together then run the center hot or leave it out all together.

 

[robbit]

When setting up a surround sound system, are the left front and right front and center channel suppose to be set at the same volume. By this I mean if I take a sound meter and adjust the speakers to have the same volume level, do I keep them all equal or do I make the center channel louder??

I'm new to this as well, but I believe the goal is to have uniform levels of sound as the signal passes from left to right to center. For example, if someone were reading from a script and you passed this signal through each of your speakers, the voice should sound the same (i.e. be at the same measured level) no matter which speaker is working.