SPEAKER ARRANGEMENT
FRONT LEFT & RIGHT SPEAKERS PLACEMENT
Home theater performance depends very much so on
In a home theater system, front speakers are responsible for
product performance, room size and speaker placement.
movies’ sound tracks and dynamic actions. The front speakers
Reading this booklet, following your priorities and these
need to sync the video event with the audio. For instance, when
procedures will pay off with a big improvement to sound quality
there is a moving vehicle from the left to the right of the screen,
and sonic performance. Basics of speaker placement can help
the sound should travel from the left front speaker to the right
you make the smartest choice for your specific room.
front speaker.
There is no magic bullet in home theater, which is why this is
In a two channel stereo system, the front speakers are
called
custom
home theater. Every speaker has different sonic
responsible for producing all of the sound: staging, imaging, and
characteristics, every room has different acoustic properties,
depth of field. Placing the speakers too close to each other will
everyone's ears hear sound a little differently and your left ear
compromise the stage, while placing them too far from each
has a different sensitivity than your right ear. So in the end, you
other will break the images.
may use this booklet as a starting guideline. However, when it
comes to actually setting up your speaker system, let your own
Front speakers should be placed at an equal distance from
ears be the judge.
the TV and the primary listening spot (sweet spot). Together with
the center channel speaker, they should form a slight arc with all
three speakers at exactly the same distance from where you sit,
as illustrated in Figure 2.
CENTER CHANNEL SPEAKER PLACEMENT
To make life even easier, the distance between the front
This should be the first speaker you place in your home
center channel speaker to the primary seat should be equal to the
theater room. The job of a center channel is to anchor dialogue
distance between the two front left and right speakers.
and other on-screen sounds to the screen. Thus, its position
depends upon where you put your TV.
Place your center channel directly above or below your TV —
SPEAKER ELEVATION
centered, make sure the speaker's front edge is precisely aligned
with the front edge of your TV screen. This helps in reducing
The tweeters from all
distortion caused by sound reflecting and diffracting off the TV's
cabinet.
If possible, the height of the center channel speakers should be
as high as your ears in a sitting position, as illustrated above in
Figure 2.
three front speakers should have the
same elevation as your ears while seated. Any deviation will work
but it may reduce the performance.
Make sure that there are no solid objects (like furniture)
blocking the pathway of the sound traveling to your listening
location.
The ABC of Home Theater
www.earthquakesound.com 4
CP-8 Installation Manual
Figure 2. Front Speaker Placement
A
B
C
LEFT
RIGHT
CENTER
=
=
A = B = C
