When audio engineers invented surround sound, they envisioned the speakers being positioned perfectly in a rectangular room. But the reality is, not everyone has the ideal room for a home theater system—tricky layouts, L-shaped rooms and open floor plans can cause audio and visual problems that interrupt the movie/TV watching experience. If you have an oddly shaped room but want to get the most out of your home theater system, consider the following tips:
• Whenever possible, make sure your listening position is somewhere in the middle of the room, away from the back wall. This will improve the front soundstage (the part of the speaker system that’s arranged around your TV) and help the surround speakers work better.
• Position the main speakers so they fire into the length of the room, rather than the width.
• If you want the best surround effects, place your surround speakers on floor stands. They should be at roughly equal distances from your listening position.
• If stands aren’t an option, you can also wall-mount your surround speakers. You can even mount them to a joist in the ceiling if you have a ceiling-mount bracket, though the speakers might not sound ideal when placed that high.
• Placing your subwoofer near a wall will generally result in more bass, and placement near a corner (where three room boundaries come together) will get you even more. Keep in mind that even though the bass increases as you place the subwoofer near a wall or corner, the quality of bass may be slightly “boomier” and less controlled. Aim for a spot where you get a compromise between quality and quantity of bass.
• If you have to place your rear speakers at different distances from your listening position because of a door or window, you can use the speaker levels in your receiver to help compensate for that difference. You can also rely on your receiver’s auto-calibration to handle that for you. It’ll work best if the difference in distance is five feet or less.
• Place your front left and right speakers equidistant from your listening position (or within a few inches of that) whenever possible. You’ll notice more subtle differences in volume and timing in the front soundstage than you will in the back.
