Frugal Home A/V

Does Audio/Video Quality Matter? Do You Need 7.2 Surround and 1080p HD?

Joel — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 06:35:20 +0000

I live near Portland, OR. In this wonderful land mediocrity is celebrated and Lo-Fi is the new Hi-Fi. Just check out the promo for the TV show Portlandia if you want a taste.

Hey, my iPod is hi-def man!

Consumers here are ecstatic when they listen to sound through a “cool” set of iPod headphones, and they love watching a movie with friends, no matter how it’s displayed. So is that OK? Is it right to just enjoy the media regardless of however it’s delivered?

Yes, enjoy the media, but don’t forget that if you’re listening to it on crappy headphones or watching it on a standard-def screen you’re not experiencing it how the artist intended.

Yes, Music and Movies = Art

When music is delivered to you on a CD, a record, or an MP3, the artist generally wants you to hear it as it is. They have “flavored” it with various tools in the studio to give warmth, dynamics, bass and treble extension, or maybe even harshness and distortion. All of this is meant to be sampled as it is. When you listen to it on poor-quality headphones, or tiny Bose speakers, you are no longer hearing the art as it was originally intended. Sometimes the results can be amazing, just ask DJs who take original works and turn them into a whole other piece of art. However, if you’re not trying to create new art then you’re probably just damaging the existing work.

I think the same goes for visual media. Now, it is much easier to get by with visual distortion. Just think how far off the colors are on the TV that you watched earlier today, I bet that display hasn’t been color calibrated huh? But that tends to be OK because our eyes adjust amazingly well to this visual distortion. They also can fill in the blanks pretty well when resolution is missing, making images much more lifelike than they actually are. With that said, don’t take for granted the visual beauty that the photographer, director, and other artists are trying to convey. There is much to enjoy if you decide to invest in a nice video setup and take the time to set it up properly.

Is it fine to use a 21″ standard-def CRT TV and the built-in speaker if that’s all that you can afford? Certainly!

But if you can afford something nicer, then I encourage you to reach out and build a system that will reveal the dramatic and beautiful details in the audio and video material you partake in.

Should you build a 7.2 surround system with a 150″ 1080p screen in a dedicated theater room? Maybe, if you’re really wealthy and enjoy those sort of things. Don’t be in a rush to get the latest-greatest though, often going 80% of the way is just about as enjoyable as going all the way (to the “optimal” system).

Enjoy what you have, budget wisely, and appreciate the art.

Video EQ – Brightness And Contrast

Joel — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 05:41:22 +0000

Since I’m an audio guy at heart I like to be able to relate concepts to their audio equivalent. Brightness and contrast are the bass and treble knobs of the video world. To get the most from your display device (tv, projector, plasma, etc.) you must properly set the video controls. The wrong settings will create silly-looking images that don’t seem real. The right settings will provide a natural picture that shows you what’s actually on the media you’re viewing.

Video Test Media

To “EQ” your display you’ll need some sort of media that provides a known signal you can watch while you tweak. There are many images available on the web that you can use to tweak simple settings such as brightness and contrast. If you want to set colors accurately you’ll need something a bit more advanced. I bought the Digital Video Essentials: HD Basics disc since it comes with color filters that you use to calibrate the individual red, green, and blue settings.

Another low-cost option is to go rent the movie UP. This movie (at least the Blu-ray version I rented) has a video calibration walk-through under the settings portion of the menu that has some good test images for brightness, contrast, and gamma.

Whatever media you choose, try to make sure it’s the same type of media (Blu-ray or DVD or online) that you watch most, that way your calibration images will be coming from the equipment you’ll actually be using to watch movies.

Brightness – Video Bass

The brightness control sets the black level of your display (silly name huh?). It controls the darkest detail that you can see, and how dark those details look. If it’s set too high then everything will seem washed-out and dull and if it’s set too low then you won’t be able to see the detail in shadows.

To properly set brightness on your display first set the room lighting to your normal viewing lighting. If you always watch movies at night then don’t calibrate your display in the middle of the day with the blinds open!

Bring up your brightness test image (it’s often the same one used to set contrast as well). If you need some image samples see here and here. Next you select the brightness control in your display’s menu. Note the current value, so if you have trouble you can go back to where you started. First turn the brightness up a bunch so you can see all the various shades of the test image. Then turn it down a until the darkest two shades blend together. Very slowly turn the control back up until the second-to-darkest shade is just barely lighter than the darkest one. This is the correct brightness setting.

Contrast – Video Treble

Now that brightness is done you can set contrast. Contrast controls how bright the bright stuff gets on your display. There are two types of brightness and contrast controls. The first type of controls are linked together, so when you change brightness it affects contrast and vice-versa. The other type are separate (much easier to use) and the controls don’t affect each other. I say this because when you’re setting contrast it might change how the brightness looks. If you notice that happening then you’ll have to play around with the controls until you get both correct.

Assuming your controls are separate, the procedure is pretty easy. Just crank the contrast control way down so you can see the various shades, then turn it up so that the brightest two shades blend together. Now ease it back down so the second-to-brightest shade is slightly darker than the brightest.

If the dark shades that you used to set brightness are still correct, then BAM, you’re done.

If the dark shades are screwed up, then you have the linked type of controls and you’ll need to keep tweaking. If the black shades are now lighter then turn the brightness control down until they almost blend together again. Now you’ll probably have to turn the contrast control up further so that the whites are correct. Keep adjusting until both ends of the spectrum look right.

With these two simple adjustments you can bring out much more detail and realism from your video material. Enjoy your new settings!

I’ll Be Back

Joel — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:24:24 +0000

You may have noticed that the frequency of my posts has dropped a bit. I do apologize for the lack of enjoyable reading, unfortunately my full-time job has become a bit more than full-time lately. I should be back at full speed in a week or two. In the meantime, enjoy this educational write-up on Plasma displays:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_display

My Next A/V Receiver

Joel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:53:14 +0000

I need a new A/V Receiver, so I’m going to let you in on my thought process of searching for a new one.

My current unit is a refurbished Onkyo HT-R500. It does a great job, it’s just an old receiver (and a low-end one at that).

The things I like about it are:

Configuration flexibility – It has many options for speaker level and EQ for its price. All those options are pretty standard now, but I like them.
Power output – It can drive my speakers plenty loud without obvious distortion.
Good range of inputs for its age – It has optical, coaxial, and analog multichannel inputs. I use all of them and I’ve appreciated the analog inputs since I was able to buy a Blu-ray player with HD (high-definition) audio decoding and pass the HD audio through the receiver.
Price – I don’t remember how much I paid (it was at least 5 years ago), but it was pretty cheap.

So why do I want a new one? Here’s why:

No HD Audio decoding on-board – This isn’t a big issue since my Blu-ray player does the decoding, but I’d rather have the receiver do it and leave the Blu-ray player to its video playback role. Also without HD audio decoding I likely couldn’t do the next item on this list.
No lip-sync adjustment – My current receiver can’t delay the audio so it will match up with the video through my projector. Projectors often introduce a small delay (several milliseconds) in the video since they do some processing on it. To make up for that delay the receiver needs to slightly delay the audio output. That function is usually called lip-sync delay.
Only 5.1 channels – Although my current setup doesn’t need 7 speakers, I would like the ability to upgrade in the future if we move to a bigger listening/viewing room.
Limited EQ – My current receiver has simple bass and treble adjustments, and that’s it. I would like additional EQ capabilities, which many receivers have now.
HDMI Switching – My current setup doesn’t pass any video through the receiver since it doesn’t support HDMI. I’m not really using it as an A/V receiver, just an A receiver

Knowing those likes and dislikes I was able to figure out some requirements for my next receiver. There are many features that are standard on most receivers now, such as: tons if inputs, SD audio decoding, headphone output, etc. Here are the unique ones I wanted to be sure to get:

Good power output
7.1 channel support
HD audio codec decoding (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio)
HDMI switching and regeneration (because my HDMI cable run to the projector is long)
Lipsync Delay
Advanced EQ features
Low Price!!

With those in mind I found a few reasonably priced models that would probably meet my desires:

After identifying those model I then looked up some reviews to see what the experts who test the various functions thought of them. They were all well reviewed and nothing stood out as being the “best”.

After I started digging into the specs for each receiver I realized something; the cheapest option (The Pioneer) had all the features I cared about, and it had a higher power rating than many of the other ones. I really didn’t want to spend $500 on a new receiver, so I decided that I’m going to get the Pioneer.

Now I just need to finish saving up for it. I’ve got about $100 saved up in my “fun money” account that I get $20/mo for. I can also tap into some Christmas and birthday gift money (my birthday is in January), so I might be able to buy it soon!

Audio Tweaking And Tuning – EQ

Joel — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:56:06 +0000

For many people the best knob on their A/V receiver is the one labeled “bass”. When I was a kid I loved to crank that thing all the way up on my dad’s shiny Denon receiver. I would also push in the “loudness” button for that extra kick.

As I got older I realized that the sound I was hearing when I did that was far from accurate. There is a purpose to the mid-range of the music and I was completely blasting it away with my knob-tweaking. So how do you figure out which way to turn the knobs? What’s the correct EQ (equalization) for your system?

Before we dive into the answers to those questions you need to be sure that your system already has the basic setup done. Read through these 3 posts if you haven’t already, they will help make sure that you’re ready to start EQing:

Now that you’re ready to EQ you first need to figure out what EQ tools you have to work with. Many receivers now have built-in auto-EQ. To use those systems you simply place the included measurement microphone at your listening position, press a few buttons, and magically the system is EQ’d. Since that process works fairly well, and is completely automated, I’m going to skip it. If you have that type of system then you can still read my suggestions and play around with some manual adjustments, but the auto-EQ should get things pretty close to accurate.

Bass and Treble Controls

The classic bass and treble knobs usually operate what are called “shelf” EQs. These shelf EQs have a certain frequency where they begin acting, and they create a shelf from that frequency out to that end of the audible spectrum. For example, many bass knobs are a shelf EQ at 80Hz. So when you crank up the bass knob you are creating a “shelf” of increased volume from 80Hz all the way down to 20Hz or below. The treble knob works the same way. If you crank that up you are creating a shelf from approx 10KHz all the up to 20KHz.

The amount that you turn the knob varies the gain that is applied to sound within that specific frequency range. Most bass and treble controls allow around 12dB of variation, which is quite a bit.

The best use of the bass and treble controls is for subtle tone adjustments. Start with them both at zero, then listen carefully with some varied material. Here are some examples of good use of these controls:

Your speakers are a bit weak in the low-bass region because they’re small – Turn up the bass by just a bit until the sound seems more balanced. Be careful though, you should limit your listening volume so you don’t damage the speakers by asking them to create more bass than they can. Listen for distortion and if you hear any then turn the volume or the bass down.
You had to place the speakers close to the wall and now the bass seems too loud – Turn the bass down a little bit until the bass and midrange seem to be the same volume.
Your speaker-mounts don’t adjust enough so your speakers are not pointed at your head and the sound seems undefined – Turn the treble up a bit until the high-end of the frequency range sounds clear and distinct, but not harsh or exaggerated.
You just have crappy speakers with no bass or treble – In this case you might have to use more drastic changes to get some decent sound. Try various settings until you get a smooth and even sound with decent bass and treble extension, but don’t bury the midrange by just cranking the knobs up all the way.

The Loudness Setting

The loudness control is not what it sounds like. You’re supposed to use it when you have the volume of the system turned down low. What the loudness control does is it applies a bass AND treble shelf EQ boost. The reason you would want to use that when the system is turned down low is because at low volumes your ears are less sensitive to those extreme high and low frequencies. The loudness button makes up for that change in your hearing by increasing the volume of the frequencies that you perceive as being quieter.

Try this test to see how it works: Play some music at a medium-loud volume, then turn the volume way down to just above a whisper. Notice how the bass and treble seem to drop off so you can’t even hear them? Now turn the loudness control on. If it was designed well, the bass and treble should pop back to the same general level they were at when you were listening at the loud volume.

When I’m listening I tend to not use any loudness boost because I feel that the effect is too drastic. Use it if you like it, but just remember to turn it off when you turn it up.

Graphical EQ

Graphical EQs come in many versions. My first one was the 3-band graphical EQ on the boom-box I got for Christmas one year. I had a blast with that thing, tweaking it for hours on end until I thought it was perfect. They also come in 5-band, 12-band, 31-band, and other variations. They common denominator is that there are 2 or more sliders that can be adjusted up and down to increase or reduce volume within a specific frequency band.

Each slider represents its own frequency band. The width of the band, or how much of the frequency range that it adjusts, depends on how many bands there are. If there are only 3 then the width of each band is rather large so any adjustments will affect a large range of frequencies, just like the classic bass and treble knobs. If there are a bunch of bands, such as with a professional 31-band EQ, then each band is very narrow and is designed to filter out certain problem frequencies or boost narrow gaps in the frequency response.

Whatever you do with a graphical EQ, DO NOT JUST MAKE A HAPPY FACE!! If you don’t know what to do then just leave the EQ flat (no boost or reduction in any bands), the sound will be much more accurate. Making a happy face is similar to just cranking the bass and treble knobs up all the way, a big no-no.

To properly use a 3-band EQ you basically want to use some of the methods I mentioned in the bass and treble section. Since the bands are so wide, there is not much difference as compared to standard bass and treble knobs. The only real change is that there is now an adjustment for the midrange. The midrange control should be used sparingly. Most speakers have plenty of response in the midrange, so you probably won’t need to boost there. You might need to make a slight cut (2-3dB) if there is some harshness from the speakers at higher volume. Just be sure you don’t cut too much or you’ll be taking away a bunch of useful audio information from what you hear.

If you have an EQ with narrow bands, more than 5, then you’re going to have to be very careful about how you go about things. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. You’re goal is to filter out the peaks and valleys in your system’s response so that it’s as accurate as possible. Refer to the tuning tips below for some suggestions. When you’re listening you should adjust one slider at a time, in amounts no more than 2dB at a time, then listen and see how that frequency range compares with the ones around it. Keep adjusting until the sound is even over all frequencies.

Parametric EQ

The ultimate EQ is the parametric EQ. It allows you full flexibility in the frequency affected, how wide of a swath of frequency is affected, and the gain or volume change that is applied. There are three controls for those three parameters in each band of the EQ. The first would be labeled “frequency”, the second would be “Q” or “width”, and the third would be called “gain” or “level”. If you have a parametric EQ then you hopefully know how to use it, or your device performs some auto-EQ functions, because they can be very hard to use properly. When in doubt leave them flat (gain at zero).

To best set up a system with a parametric EQ you should have an expert do it, someone with a trained ear. There is an infinite amount of variation available, so a written guide like this blog can’t really tell you what to listen for when you’re using that specific of a tool. If you have a parametric EQ and you’re not sure how to tune it then ask a musician friend who is also a geek, or the sound-guy at your church to come help you tune your system.

Tuning Tips

Now that we’ve discussed the basic types of EQ here are some tips to use in your tuning session.

Make sure you have a quiet atmosphere. No kids around, noisy dogs, the bathroom vent fan should be off, etc. The variations in sound that you’re listening for are very small, so you need a low noise-floor.
Treat your ears nice prior to your tuning session. Don’t listen to loud music that day, leave the TV off, etc. You’re ears do something called “threshold shift” where they adjust to loud or constant sound, causing your ears to block out quieter sounds. You don’t want them to be in a state of threshold shift when you’re trying to tune your system
Pick out some media that you know, and that has some vocals, acoustic instruments, and frequency extension. I like to use the first track from the CrashDave Matthews Band “Crash” CD. I know the track well, and it starts out with just an acoustic guitar, then builds to a full rockin’ band. The beginning of the track helps me hear if the mid-bass frequency response has any funny peaks because the acoustic guitar really brings that out. Any issues in the midrange tend to show up with the horns and the vocal. Bass and treble extension and smoothness are very evident when the drum kit comes in due to the kick drum and the cymbals. The most important thing to keep in mind when choosing test media is that you should know how the overall tone of the song sounds on an accurate system.
Play the same song over and over again. Tweak a bunch. Take short breaks occasionally to reset your ears.
If you just have 2 or 3 bands of control then focus on general tone adjustments. They should be fairly small and they are usually in a positive direction–adding volume.
If you have a graphic EQ with 5 or more bands then you should focus on downward direction adjustments. You should first identify where unnatural peaks in the speaker response exist. Listen for them and then find out which slider is the correct band by momentarily popping sliders UP all the way, one at a time. When the problem that you hear gets a lot worse you know you found the right band. Now set that band back to zero to “reset” your ears, listen for the problem again, then move the slider slightly down to reduce the volume of that band. Listen again, then reduce as needed until the problem peak you heard has blended in with the rest of the sound.
Once you think you’ve got the sound pretty good on that song then switch to another type of music. Throw in a classical CD or some jazz. See if the tonal changes you made still seem natural, or if you need to revise them. Listen for any peaks or valleys that you might have fixed with the graphic EQ, are there any new problems that you can identify, or do your “fixes” now sound too drastic? Adjust some more until you’re happy, then go back to your first media and see how things sound.
You’ll likely end up compromising some to get a sound that works well for all media that you listen to. Just try to get the response as accurate as possible, and remember to enjoy the process!

Audio Tweaking And Tuning – Speaker Settings

Joel — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 06:19:21 +0000

If you want to get the best performance from your audio system you need to change some settings in your A/V receiver. The stock out-of-the-box settings will certainly make sound come out, but your audio components won’t be working together as an optimized system. The basic settings that are listed here apply to how your receiver directs sound to the speakers. The size, crossover, delay, and level settings all give the receiver some helpful information so it can figure out how to best use your speakers to make accurate and smooth sound. Read through the guide below and then set up your system accordingly.

Speaker Size

Most receivers have a setting in them to indicate the size of the speakers that are connected to each channel. The normal choices are “small” and “large”. This size terminology can be kind-of confusing. You aren’t actually telling the receiver the physical size of your speaker, you’re telling it how capable your speaker is at playing low bass. The reason they use the size-based terms is because large tower speakers can usually play fairly low bass while smaller speakers can’t.

If you choose “large” then the receiver will send full-range sound to that speaker channel, but if you choose “small” the receiver will use a crossover filter to pull the bass sounds out of the signal going to that speaker and instead play those bass sounds through the subwoofer. In 95% of home theater systems the correct setting is “small” because most people don’t have big tower speakers that can play loudly down to 30Hz, so if in doubt, choose “small”.

Crossover Frequency

When you’re using any speakers on the “small” setting your receiver has to filter out the low frequencies to send to the subwoofer and send the higher frequencies to the main, center and/or surround speakers. The frequency that it chooses to perform that filtering at is called the crossover frequency.

On most receivers you can adjust that setting anywhere between 60Hz-150Hz. Ideally you should not set the crossover higher than 80Hz; this is to prevent your ears from being able to identify where the sound coming from the subwoofer is originating. Your ears can’t really tell what direction sound comes from when it’s 80Hz and below. If you followed my recommendations here then it shouldn’t be a problem for you to use 80Hz since those speakers can all play that low. If you have some other system with itsy-bitsy woofers that can only play down to 120Hz then you’ll need to set the crossover higher so your speakers aren’t overloaded by bass they can’t handle. On the other hand, if you have nice big speakers you can trying using something lower such as 60Hz and see how you like it.

When you’re using the crossover built-in to your receiver you’ll want to disable the crossover on your subwoofer amp. The crossover in your sub amp is meant to be used if you’re not using one built into your receiver, and if you use both at the same time you will cause a dip in frequency response just above your crossover point. When we get down to the nitty-gritty fine-tuning that’s actually a trick you can use to potentially even out excessive mid-bass response, but for now you should disable the crossover on the sub. To disable it either turn the crossover frequency all the way up, or if you have a “bypass” or “disable” setting on it then use that.

Speaker Delay

Since most people don’t sit exactly the same distance from all their speakers the manufacturers have built a delay function into A/V receivers. The delay allows you to correctly time-align your speakers so that sounds don’t arrive earlier at your listening position when coming from the closer speakers.

Normally your left and right speakers are the “zero point” when setting up the delays; this is because they are usually the farthest away. I’m going to assume that’s the case for you. To figure out the delays you will need a tape measure. Measure the distance from your left or right speaker to your listening position (where your head would be). First of all, make sure that the left and right distances are the same. After that you should measure how much shorter the distance is to the center speaker, and to the surround speakers.

Some receivers allow you to directly enter the distances, while others require you to calculate the delay time. If you need to calculate the delay time just multiply the number of feet by 1.1 and that’s the number of milliseconds that you need to set the delay for. Note that the delay amount is not the total number of feet to the speaker, just the difference between the left/right speaker measurement and the measurement to the speaker you’re setting the delay for.

Once all the delays are set you will need to set the levels

Speaker Levels

If all of your speakers are the same make/model and the same distance from your listening position then you can skip this section. For all you normal people, read on. Without any adjustments the speakers that are closer to you would sound louder than the ones far away. Thankfully the A/V receiver has a setting to fix this.

Usually the receiver will have a mode to output either a test tone or pink noise. Turn that on, and then you’ll need to adjust the speaker levels accordingly. Ideally you would have a decibel meter to measure the tones accurately, but you can also just listen carefully. Sit back and relax. Listen to each channel one at a time. Pick a channel to use as your “zero point”, it doesn’t matter which one and then adjust all the other channels to exactly match that sound level. You’ll probably need to spend 10 or 20 minutes on this process if you don’t have a meter since it can be hard to make out those small differences in level.

Testing

Once you have all the settings tuned to your liking you should make sure that they are applied to all of the modes that you’re going to use the A/V receiver in. For example, my receiver has different level settings for stereo mode and surround mode. This is helpful because I use a different subwoofer level setting for the two modes. Go through your various inputs and modes and make sure they all are tuned properly.

For a listening check you should play a couple of familiar media sources. Start by playing a stereo CD that just has the left/right speakers and the subwoofer in use. When you’re listening you should pay close attention to the crossover setting and the subwoofer level. Turn off the subwoofer in the middle of the song, then a few moments later turn it back on. When it comes back on does it stick out and overwhelm the music, or does it fit in like a clean extension of the main speakers? Adjust the level and try again until the crossover transition is smooth and natural sounding.

For the next test you should play a movie that has a soundtrack that you’re familiar with. Go to a scene with some surround effects such as rain or a gunfight, and also some dialog. You want to make sure that the surround effects are present so you can hear them, but they should not be as strong sounding as the main speakers; they should envelop you, not distract you. The dialog coming from the center speaker should be strong and clear. It should be easily intelligible above the sound from the left/right speakers and the surround speakers. Finally check the bass. The subwoofer should sound like an extension of the other speakers, but with some extra impact from the low-frequency effects. It shouldn’t be overwhelming, just “whelming”.

Next time I’ll discuss some ways you can use equalization (EQ) to optimize your audio system.

How To Optimize Your 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker Placement

Joel — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:47:50 +0000

To start the speaker placement process for your surround system you should first find the optimal seating position in your room. Check out the instructions in my last post for that procedure. Also scan through the notes on reflections since I won’t go over that again here.

Once you’ve got your display and seating in place you can properly position your speakers. This will provide you with optimal sound for whatever you might be listening to. Whether you’re watching a movie, or listening to music while browsing sites such as http://www.o2.co.uk/broadband/, you’re sure to notice the difference of having your speakers correctly placed. We’ll start with the Center channel

Center

Your center channel speaker is very important because it aurally anchors the on-screen dialog in the center of your display. It’s critical that you place it directly in the center of the display, and just above or below it. Once you have it in the proper location you should make sure that the speaker is angled so it points directly at your ears, not above or below (if possible).

The center channel is your visual reference point for the other speakers. On the graphic it is the zero-degree point. If you’re sitting in your listening position looking at the center channel you should think of that as zero when we’re talking about the various angles to the other speakers.

Left and Right

Your main left and right speakers should sit 22-30 degrees to the left and right from your center channel. Ideally your display would be wide enough such that you can place the speakers at the edges of the display and have them be within that 22-30 degree arc. If your display isn’t that wide then I suggest putting them at the narrower range, 22-24 degrees, unless you listen to lots of music, then you should set them more towards the wide end of the range.

Vertically the speakers should be close to ear level, and the tweeters should be aimed directly at your ears. Once everything is in position you can play with toe-in like I mentioned in the stereo setup post.

Surrounds

The two surround speakers in a 5.1 system provide lots of ambiance on the sides and in the rear. To accomplish that they need to be placed well so you can hear a stereo image from them. They should be placed at 100-110 degrees from the center channel. The diagram shows 90-110, but I prefer them farther back to increase rear imaging.

Vertically they should be placed above ear level by about 2 feet. Aim them down directly at the listening position. If you have dipole or bipole surround speakers then place them a couple feet higher and don’t aim them downwards.

Subwoofer

The subwoofer is the .1 in the 5.1 system. It’s job is to recreate the bass frequencies from 80Hz and below. To place it properly it’s best to do a little bit of crawling around your room. To get started you should place the subwoofer in your listening position, preferably around the height where your head would be. Then play some music with lots of varied bass content so you can hear the subwoofer working at various frequencies. Next you should crawl around the room with your head near the ground and listen to the bass. You want to find spots in the room where the bass is loud, but also even-sounding and not boomy. Once you find a spot that sounds good stick the subwoofer there and you should get good sound at your listening position.

The reason for all this crawling around is that you are trying to hear where standing waves of sound build up in the room. If your subwoofer placement creates a deep null in your listening position due to standing waves you will miss out on some bass content. Finding the best spot via the crawling method helps you identify where the standing waves will work in your favor rather than against you. If you’re worried about hearing sound from a weird direction when you place the subwoofer, don’t. That’s the reason that you want to set the crossover at 80Hz. Your ears can’t really tell what direction sounds are coming from when they are that low, so it’s safe to place the subwoofer wherever it will sound best.

Tuning

Next time I’ll discuss some system tuning notes, such as the crossover setting. After placing your speakers in their optimal positions and tuning the settings you should have a great sounding system!

How To Optimize Your Stereo Speaker Placement

Joel — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:01:24 +0000

Most people tend to place their stereo speakers wherever is most convenient, however we’re working towards excellent audio/video on a budget, not mediocre audio/video on a budget. To get the best sound quality out of your speakers you need to put them in the right locations and aim them properly. Thankfully this task is normally free, so it’s very frugal!

Seating Position

Before you jump into moving the speakers around you should first experiment with your seating position. The seating position you use affects how you hear the standing waves of sound in the room. These waves of sound are present because of how your room is shaped. Certain frequencies tend to become louder in some spots and softer in others. The affect of standing waves is most noticeable on bass sounds, so keep that in mind as you figure out your seating position.

Procedure

Play some music that has a repeating bass groove that’s very present, such as jazz with an upright bass line. Move your couch or seats out of the way and start walking (or crawling) around the room with your head at about the same height it would be when you’re seated. In some areas of the room the bass will sound thin or hollow, and in others it will be strong and loud. Your goal is to find the spot that sounds the most full in the bass region. If you can place your seating at that spot then you will get better results with the rest of the tuning you do.

Speaker Position

Walls

The hard thing about placing speakers for good stereo listening is that they shouldn’t really be up against a wall. Why you ask? Well, sound radiates from the speakers in all directions and when the sound from the back or sides of the speakers hits the wall it creates reflections that end up traveling to your ears. When your ears hear the sound from the speakers they hear the “direct” sound that comes straight at you from the speaker, and then a little bit later they hears all of the reflections from the various surfaces in the room. If the reflections arrive very shortly after the direct sound then your ears perceive it as all one sound wave that is just distorted over time. If the reflections arrive long enough after the direct sound then your ears are able to separate the sounds out and the imaging and detail you hear from the speakers will be more clear. The distance from the speaker to the various surfaces in the room dictates how long the delay in the reflections is, thus the desire to keep the speakers from being right next to any hard surfaces.

Another note on reflections – If the bass response of your speakers is weak you can actually improve it by putting them near the wall or even in a corner. The reflections of those low-frequency bass notes actually amplify the bass sound since the wavelengths are so long. You will sacrifice some imaging if you do this, but it can help weak-sounding speakers seem a little more impressive.

Vertical Position

Once you figure out a decent general area for the speakers you need to make sure that they are at the correct height. You want the tweeters to be around the same height as your ears, and pointed at them. If you don’t have floor-standing speakers it’s best to place your speakers on stands instead of big solid objects like tables; this will reduce reflections.

Horizontal Position

Regardless of if you can pull the speakers away from the wall or not, you should still have some control over the left-to-right position. The final location is somewhat up to your personal preference, so you’ll have to experiment. For stereo listening you should start with the distance between the speakers being about the same as the distance from your seating position to the speakers. Basically you’re making an equilateral triangle between your listening position and the two speakers. Play some music that you think should have good imaging and give it a listen. The vocals and snare drum should seem firmly in the center of the two speakers. If those center-panned instruments seem to be coming from both speakers, or if the imaging seems kind-of vague, then try moving the speakers closer together. Move then listen, move then listen, until you find the spot where the imaging seems the strongest while still remaining wide. You generally don’t want to place them closer together than about 70% of the distance from you to the speakers.

Toe-In

Once the speakers are located properly you can play with toe-in. You should begin with the speakers pointed right at your head. From there you should try angling them outwards some, and then inwards some. Your goal is to find the most natural sound possible. Listen to the acoustic instruments and voices to see what angle provides the most musical and neutral character. The final position is really just a matter of personal preference.

Those are the placement basics. Next time I’ll go over the specifics of placement for surround speakers.