Home Theater Speaker setup...
This is very basic for most of you guys, but for those who are new to home theater or are confused with what speaker does what, well here is a little explanation. I'm sure most of you "old pros" will find this one a yawner, but hey...it's a good thing to always refresh our heads from time to time...lord knows I find myself doing it alot....here goes.
Center : The center channel speaker as the most important speaker in your home theater setup period. The reason is two-fold. First, it’s the work horse, producing more sound than all the other speakers combined. And second, it’s the speaker most of the dialogue (actors voices) comes from. Try this, unplug it and see how difficult it is to follow a movie.
The center speaker differs from your old stereo speaker in several ways:
• It’s size and shape allow it to be placed near your TV set.
• It absolutely needs to be magnetically shielded for CRT TV’s.
• Typically it’s not designed to reproduce really low bass. Many speaker designers think they work better if they can’t reproduce bass since bass is so affected by the surfaces around the speaker.
Fronts : These speakers server dual roles. In their home theater role they handle most of the soundtrack and off-screen effects. In their stereo role they change into the main speakers when you’re listening to audio CDs. Luckily, conventional stereo speakers or bookshelf speakers with a subwoofer work for both of these applications.
These speakers differ from your old speakers since:
• They’re designed to get the high frequency drivers near ear level.
• They are matched to the drivers in the rest of the home theater speakers.
• They are typically magnetically shielded so that in their home theater role they don’t interfere with your TV picture.
The Surrounds : The wonderful magic that the surrounds provide. These are the speakers that give home theater its spacious, all-encompassing sound (thank god for Microsoft Words thesaurus). There
are two schools of thought as how best to accomplish this:
1. Dolby Labs recommend using a bookshelf speaker (could be the same as your fronts and center) positioned so they are aimed close to but not directly into the listening area.
2. THX, on the other hand, has opted on a dipole design. What is dipole? Well here is the best explanation I can find on the net:
Dipole Explained: Thinks about this, if you wire two identical speakers out of phase with each other and you are equal distance from them, you won’t hear either of them without the room reflections. While one speaker is pressurizing the air, the other is rarefying. The result is that the waves cancel each other out. Now, if you place these speakers back-to-back and put them on a wall at equal distance from you, you’ll hear reflected sound. This makes the sound very diffused and hard to localize. This is known as dipole and what THX recommends.
In-wall or In-ceiling Speakers : In-wall and in-ceiling speakers have been designed to accommodate rooms that don’t have space for floor standing speakers. They can mount discreetly in the wall or ceiling. These speakers offer good performance but, if you choose this option, you’ll probably want to get them from the same manufacturer that made your box speakers, doing this will assure sound consistency.
http://www.home-theater-pc.org/