How to Make a Surround Sound System
A quality surround sound system can transform your living room into an intimate theater capable of providing a realistic, exhilarating cinematic experience. Surround sound is the perfect complement to a large, high definition television or projector and Blu Ray Disc Player. Even music is beginning to utilize surround sound formats more and more.
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Things You'll Need
- Home theater receiver
- Speakers (right, left, center and rear speakers)
- Speaker cables
- Audio cables
- Subwoofer (Optional, but recommended)
Instructions
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Select Your Equipment
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Determine a budget. Audio equipment comes in a vast price range, from a couple of hundred dollars to millions of dollars. When considering a budget, also decide if you'd like to get a prepackaged system or purchase components. Components will generally give the best sound and performance and allow for upgrading, while packages are limited in performance, but are cheaper and easier solutions.
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Decide on how many speakers you want. Surround sound systems can include five, six, seven, eight and even nine speakers. This number will likely continue to increase. More speakers mean extra sound, but also extra work and clutter in your room. Also, most movie soundtracks use a 5.1, which means that any additional speakers will be rather redundant and unnecessary. Consider starting off with five speakers, with the option of adding more later.
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Decide on speaker size. Speakers are going to be the most noticeable part of your system, so it pays to start with the speakers and plan the rest of your equipment around them. For large rooms, consider using larger floor-standing speakers in front. Rear surrounds are generally smaller speakers, but could be equal in size to the front speakers. Consider in-wall speakers for a flusher, cleaner look. It really depends on how large your room is, how much sound you want, how much you plan to spend, and how much space you're willing to devote to speakers.
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Match your speakers with your receiver. You'll need a home theater receiver that has enough speaker terminals for the number of speakers that you plan to hook up. You'll also want a receiver that emits enough power per channel to drive the speakers that you have chosen. Read the specs of both the speakers and receiver closely to be sure that they'll be a good match. Also look for the audio formats that the receiver supports and purchase one that will be able to play your source material.
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Audition your equipment and read reviews. Go to electronics stores and audio shops and try out different speakers and receivers to get a feel for how they sound. Also read home theater and audio magazines and websites to get more information on specific equipment.
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Purchase your equipment. For the best results, purchase speakers all from the same manufacturer that use identical or similar drivers to ensure that the sound is uniform. In addition to speakers and a home theater receiver, you'll need to purchase speaker cable, digital coax or optical audio cable and a subwoofer and subwoofer cable. You don't absolutely need a subwoofer, but it will deliver the best bass and is particularly useful for home theater. In fact, most soundtracks have a built in LFE ".1" channel specifically for a subwoofer.
Set-Up
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Determine where you will place your speakers. Set-up varies depending upon the shape and dimensions of your room, but in general you'll want to place the two front speakers on either side of the television. Keep the speakers even with the screen and angle them toward the listening position. Put the center speaker on top or under the television. Rear speakers should be placed two or three feet behind the listening position and should be aligned with the front speakers.
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Make your connections. Connect each speaker to the appropriate positive and negative output terminals on your receiver. Be sure that the polarities match. Connect your TV, DVD player and any other audio source components to your home theater receiver with digital audio cable. Connect the subwoofer to the receiver using RCA cable from the LFE output jack.
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Turn on your components, and switch your receiver to the input that you're using and audition your system. Be sure to note the format that the input you're playing uses (Dolby Digital, DTS) and switch your receiver to the appropriate mode. Fine tune the audio settings on your receiver according to its instructions to ascertain the best balance of sound.
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Tips & Warnings
Use a quality 12 or 14 gauge cable.
Keep all components off when connecting cables.
