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The proper placement of audio and visual equipment in a home theater room is a significant factor that impacts the entire listening experience, and a good listening experience comes from the proper placement of the surround sound speakers and knowing where to place subwoofer in home theater setups.
It’s not just a plug-and-play scenario when it comes to finding the sweet spots for your speaker cabinets. Some enthusiasts have even turned speaker systems into an exact science, complete with angles and measures of distance that aim to optimize your listening experience.
As previously mentioned, the proper placement of speakers follow some guidelines which can be condensed into the following rules:
The largest component in a speaker set, the subwoofer acts as the balancer when it comes to very low bass sounds. A great subwoofer, if set-up correctly, can make you feel the vibrations coming from the speaker domes as produced by the audio signal. While most home theater owners would say that you can place this component anywhere, there are still some guidelines to consider to know where to place subwoofer in home theater setups.
There are several lines of thinking when it comes to proper subwoofer placement, each with varying styles and expected output. Here are three of the most popular ways of placing a subwoofer in a home theater setup.
• Standard Rules
The standard ruling for the subwoofer is that you should place it in front and must be as close as you can to the seating area. Rearrange the furniture
• Rule of Thirds
Using this rule, place the subwoofer about a third of the way in your room and measured from a wall. This is a mathematically sound concept, and it ensures that the seating area gets the most bass from the subwoofer.
• Do the Subwoofer Crawl
Most sound engineers attest to the effectivity of the subwoofer crawl in finding the perfect spot for the subwoofer inside a home theater system.
1. Place the subwoofer in the middle of the seating area and then play a bass-heavy track that would let you hear the bass notes.
2. Go down on all fours and start crawling around the room and search which point on the floor gets the best bass reception.
3. Mark the spot with the bass sounds coming from the speakers.
4. Switch the subwoofer with yourself and run another test using the same soundtrack.
5. The new location of the subwoofer should be ideally up front and close to the other devices as well.
The reason why you need to crawl is that the sound waves coming from the audio source travel as close to the ground as possible, which would be the normal way speakers systems can broadcast out.
Once you have placed the surround speaker system, including the subwoofers, it’s time to calibrate your speakers.
• Mind the Crossover
The frequency where subwoofers often start playing the bass notes is called the crossover. More importantly, make sure that the setting of the crossover is at the lowest point of reference of the speakers. For example, the lowest setting for your speaker is 90 Hz then the subwoofer’s crossover should be set at 90 as well.
• Adjust the Gains
This is simply the easiest, and yet most taxing part of the calibration. Start by playing a heavy bass tune and then turn the subwoofer volume down until you can no longer hear them. Using your AV receiver, adjust each speaker channel so that you’ll get the best sound from each of them.
The proper placement of each surround sound speaker is a serious matter for specialists and enthusiasts alike. Follow the do’s and the don’ts to make sure that you’re placing the subwoofer correctly. It does take some trial and error but in the end, what you get in return would be worth so much more.