Home theater Setup

You have any idea how to setup your home theater?, let me show you... home theater setup

Let's deal with the “standard” Dolby Digital 5.1 setup first (fig.1) since it represents the mandatory standard for current DVDs and for High Definition TV broadcasts. (DTS, a competing system, is optional on DVDs. It does not have to be included.) Assuming you are centered in the middle of your couch, facing your TV display and center channel speaker at 0 degrees, then your left and right main front speakers should be within a 22- to 30-degree angle to each side, viewed from your seat.

The main left and right surrounds should be to the respective sides of the listening area, above ear level if possible (ideally 2 feet or more) at an angle of 90 to 110 degrees (see, even Dolby Labs give you some variance) from the front center. Fig. 3 gives you suggestions for corner setups. This home theater setup also applies to Dolby Pro Logic-II playback. And if your 5.1-channel speaker setup is doing double duty for SACD or DVD-Audio playback, you have permission to move the surrounds a bit farther back in order to compromise between the suggested Dolby Digital 5.1 placement and the somewhat conflicting standards for SACD and DVD-Audio mixes.

Increasing numbers of movie soundtracks are encoded in Dolby Digital EX, which adds a sixth mono channel at the back. Although a mono channel, the back channel is better realized by using two rear speakers, at angles between 135 and 150 degrees to the front center (fig. 2). Directly behind you would be 180 degrees from the front center, and that isn't recommended because of how our ears/brain interprets sounds originating from directly behind us. We sometimes confuse such rear-emanating sounds and place them in front of us. This dual-rear arrangement also serves perfectly for Dolby Pro LogicIIx (7.1 channels), which synthesizes separate Left Back and Right Back signals (so does Harman/Lexicon's Logic7) for increased realism and more dramatic rear/front or front/rear flyover effects. DPLIIx also adds heightened spaciousness and realism to many 2-channel music sources (not all), by extracting natural ambience present in recordings and redirecting it to the side and rear surrounds, where it belongs.

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