Speaker Positioning

Nothing affects the sound of your system like the positioning of your speakers. Experimenting with positioning offers near limitless possibilities for tweaking your sound.

Front on top, rear at the bottom. Monitor should face the seating area from the center speaker position.

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When setting up speakers in a real-world living space, it helps to think of invisible cones of sound emanating from the speakers themselves. Anything coming in contact with that cone before and after it reaches the seating position is going to affect the sound.

Things likely to come in contact with that cone of sound include walls, floors, couches and chairs. Try to keep anything from blocking sound before it reaches the seating area. Obvious problems might include a chair in front of a speaker; even if the chair is below the speaker's cones it will still affect the speakers' ability to move the air in front of it.

The composition of objects sound will come in contact with will determine whether it will reflect sound or dampen it. In general, reflection is bad and dampening is good. Reflected sound in your listening area can cause cancellations of "good" sounds and reflections may cause unwanted echoes or simply rob your system of frequency response. Never rely on your speakers or subwoofers. Phase switch or dial to correct cancellation problems. Phase switches are best kept off as they can only help one frequency at the expense of another.

Speaker positioning: Experiment, experiment and then experiment some more with speaker positioning in your home theater room.
Sound path: Don't let large objects block the path of sound from speakers to the listening area. If living space requires such compromises try a system of temporarily removing blockages for film viewings.
Porous materials: Sound trapping material is great for walls and floors. Carpets are better than wooden floors. Fabric on the walls or theater curtains are better than drywall but drywall is better than smooth wood or pressboard paneling.
Reflective materials: Acoustically reflective materials on walls, floors and ceiling should be avoided. Pictures with smooth surfaces should be placed so as to avoid the direct ray of sound from speakers. Grandma's crushed velvet Elvis paintings are classy and more acoustically inert than plastic covered posters.
Center speaker: Inarticulate dialogue is a common problem. Do whatever it takes to position the center speaker closer to the ears of the audience. It should be raised off the ground and point to head level of the listening area from above or below the monitor.

Porous material such as carpet, fabric or foam will dampen sound. Wooden floors are reflective and not a good choice for the home theater room. Large posters with smooth glass or plastic covers are reflective but can be strategically placed on walls to avoid the cone of sound to minimize their negative impact.

Place your subwoofer in any corner of your home theater room. Corner loading will augment certain low frequencies through the room but may sacrifice some frequency response. Compare the corner position with placing the sub further away from walls. The subwoofer doesn't need to point toward the viewers like the rest of your speakers, it's positioning isn't as critical as the other speakers. Sound emanates from the sub in all directions but is still affected by reflective materials.

Try to keep your listening space clear as possible, experiment with toeing in your front left and right speakers slightly to angle the cone of sound directly at your seating area. Try lifting the center speaker off the ground or angle it toward the listening area. Remember that slight changes in speaker positions can have a significant affect on audio quality.