DIY Network

Surround-Sound System Find out how to maximize the sound in your new home theater. From "Home Theater" episode DHTW-102

Figure A

In the first two segments of this second episode of Home Theater Workshop, host Corey Greenberg, guest engineer Mark Midyett and homeowner Peter Moore designed the layout of the room and decided on the seating positions as well as the projector. Now it's time to decide on the surround-sound system setup.

Sound can only do three things in a room:

1. Reflect and stay "inside" the room (figure A).

2. Absorb into the walls.

3. Transmit into areas outside the room.

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Since your goal should be to keep sound "inside" the room to avoid bothering people in other areas of the house, it's important to have some reflection and absorption--and we'll also try to reduce the amount of transmission.

To get the most out of your surround-sound system, it's important to place the speakers in the best sounding locations. Just like determining the seating positions, speakers will follow the same guidelines--taking the room dimensions and dividing into thirds. Try to locate the speakers in those places (figure B).

Note: Thirds is typically the best location for sound, but if your screen is so large it means placing your speakers too far out into the room, you can also get good sound on the fifth and seventh dimensions of the room (figure C).

Figure B

Figure C

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