Home Surround Sound System Installation Guide

Posted on by Donny Billinton on September 14th, 2011 | 0 Comments »

Having bought your own Surround Sound System (or still looking for one but interested in knowing if it’ll fit nicely into your own home), you’re probably excited about getting it up and running and testing the sound quality! This article will tackle the do and don’t of installing Surround Sound to make sure you get the best possible output!

To make the installation quick and easy, the first tip is to find out what you need beforehand for your Surround Sound installation.

Understand where your source of a the Surround Sound System is from because many would forget to check beforehand due to their focus shifted only at the output. Understand the difference between “coaxial” and “optical” output. An optical cable is simply a cable which is fiber optic whereas the coaxial is a shielded RCA cable. One would be sufficient as both are about the same, therefore having both will make one redundant.

Where to place them? Usually at the back of your DVD / Blu-ray player, simply connect it into the input channel of your Surround Sound System. In order for your Surround Sound Installation to go as painless as possible, make sure you already have in mind the type of cables and output/input you’re planning to use. If your budget permits it, always opt for the better quality ones.

The reason why most Surround Sound Systems are labeled as 7.1 channel due to the fact that it is channeled out to 7 different sound output as well as 1 low frequency sound subwoofer. Knowing when to put all 7 speakers is difficult to master because you’ll have to manually test each set up, installing on the other hand, is somewhat easy.

Home Surround Sound System Installation Guide

Surround Sound System Installation tip #2 is to identify the placement area. By that it simply means to have an overall picture of how the speakers are going to be placed. Because you might be buying something different, therefore a different layout is needed. Different system such as the on-shelf speakers and the on-wall speakers needs to be placed differently.

One of the more common setup of the Surround Sound System is with a 40 inch TV and two rear end speakers. To get the best viewing experience on a 40 inch TV, you need to sit away from it for about 5-8 feet.

The placement of your subwoofer is actually not important, since you will get the same effect no matter where you decide to put them on. Both the front speakers should be placed right beside your TV, make sure you do not spread them too wide. Form a triangle shape with he end point being the furthest point away from TV before the quality degrades. By setting it up that way, everyone around the vicinity can enjoy higher quality sound due to the wide sweet spot.

Tip #3 of installing your sound system is to find an area, and make a triangle shape by having the two front speakers next to the TV, and the ending point should be about the max you can go before TV viewing becomes difficult. Simply have the two rear surround speakers at the back of you and face them to the side or towards your back. This will create the surround effect.

One reason why Surround Sound System are so popular because it emulates the setting and quality you’ll be able to get in the cinema, therefore each placement have to be perfect in order to get the highest quality sound possible.

If you can not fit everything into the living area, just move the speakers around until you get the best possible sound and you’re happy with it. It takes a little work and testing to get it, but it should be well worth it once you’ve gotten and hit the sweet spot.

Most importantly, enjoy your Surround Sound System!

Read my other articles about Buying A Home Theater System From Popular Brands and Why You Should Get A Home Theater System?