Placing you in the centre of the action

You haven’t experienced an action flick like Iron Man unless you heard the superhero whizzing around your family room or felt the mighty thuummmp of the character’s metal boots firmly landing on the ground.

Rather than relying on those limited speakers built into your television, perhaps it’s time you made a sound investment.

Setting up a surround sound home theatre is a popular pastime among Canadians. And here we’ll cover what you need and how to place the speakers around the room.

What’s surround sound?

Instead of watching a movie with only right and left speakers (i.e. two channels), DVD and Blu-ray movies feature 5.1 surround sound (pronounced “five-point-one”) for a richer, more immersive audio experience.

Hollywood films are usually recorded (or for older films, remastered) in these six discrete channels, where a different audio track is heard per channel: a centre speaker (where roughly 80 percent of the movie’s dialogue comes from); front left and front right speakers; rear left and rear right speakers, and a subwoofer that delivers that low-frequency bass (the “.1” out of the 5.1 equation).

What you need

To enjoy surround sound at home, an audio-video receiver is needed to split the audio signal into these distinct channels. Five speakers and a subwoofer are also required, which connects to the receiver and then placed around the room. You can also pick up these three products together -- often referred to as a “Home Theatre in a Box” solution – which is ideal for those who do not want to pick and purchase each component separately.

How to set it up

A subwoofer is multidirectional, so it can be placed anywhere in the room on the floor. That said, many audio enthusiasts believe a “sub” is best left near a wall or corner for optimum performance.

The five remaining speakers should be at ear level, facing the listener. Sometimes the speakers will come with stands or wall-mounting brackets.

The centre channel is usually a slightly larger speaker than the others (subwoofer excluded), and typically sits on top of the TV or just underneath.

Sitting in the centre of all these speakers, usually near the rear of the room, is often called the “sweet spot” as it’s a perfect audio balance.

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