Setting up a surround sound system can be a daunting prospect at the best of times, but what if the space you have to play with doesn't conform to the constraints mapped out by typical 5.1 guidelines?
Surround sound is achieved by placing speakers in specific positions around your room and their ideal placement is often illustrated using a perfectly symmetrical, square space that bears little relation to the real world - unless you're spending time at Her Majesty's service perhaps.
Whatever space you have at your disposal, the crucial principles of speaker arrangement need to be followed, but compromises can be made to tailor their positioning to suit your space. The following illustrations show the best speaker placements for three different shaped rooms that can be related to most lounges outside of a lighthouse.
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| Box-shaped room
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Box-shaped room
Box-shaped rooms come closest to conforming to the supposedly ideal listening environment that's often used to exemplify 5.1 speaker configurations. With your screen at one end of the room and your seated position at the other, speakers can follow a standard blueprint for positioning:
Front speakers are positioned about a foot on either side of the screen, preferably along the same horizontal and vertical planes as the centre speaker. Try not to position them too far apart or you'll lose the cohesive movement of sound across the front soundstage - like when a car drives across the screen.
The centre speaker can be placed either directly above or below your screen at around head height if possible. All centre speakers are magnetically shielded to prevent colour staining your screen and you can simply use Blue-tac to both support the speaker and curb cabinet resonations.
Rear speakers should be positioned slightly above and behind you at either side. These generally smaller speakers can usually be wall, or even ceiling, mounted which helps to save space in smaller rooms.
Subwoofer placement is more versatile than other speakers as bass is virtually non-directional. You can choose to hide the sub away but be aware that placing the sub against walls will exaggerate low frequencies while allowing it some free space does the opposite.
While box-shaped rooms appear to be an ideal surround sound environment in a two-dimensional world, be careful that the acoustic dynamics don't create a pattern where sound waves collide to either cancel or reinforce themselves, thereby producing a distorted or muddied sound - always experiment.
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| Box-shaped room
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Long-shaped room
A long-shaped room is probably the most popular living room layout in British households. The rectangular dimensions resemble a cinema theatre making it potentially ideal for surround sound set-ups. That's if the screen is positioned at one side of the room but in most cases televisions are banished to corners to maximise space and minimise light reflections, meaning a more inventive approach needs to be taken.
Start off by defining the room's 'sweet spot' - the seated position at the centre of the surround soundstage where speakers should be aimed. If you want to be super-precise use an inexpensive laser pointer to perfectly align the drivers to your listening position.
Try angling, or 'toeing-in' the front speakers towards the sweet spot to help focus the soundstage. And using a decent pair of stands will not only support the speakers but also reduce vibrations and improve sound quality. The screen dictates the position of the centre speaker but there are different options for rear speaker placement. Rear speakers can be mounted against the back wall behind the sofa but this can have the effect of creating a narrow and unrealistic soundstage. Alternatively, as shown in the illustration, the left rear speaker can be mounted on a side wall and directed inwards to create a more enveloping sound.
In the illustration the sub is hidden away in the opposite corner. Corners act like horns to emphasise the sound - fine if you have a weak sub but it can descend into distortion if you're not careful so, again, experiment until you find a sound that suits you.
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| L-shaped room
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L-shaped room
The dreaded L-shaped room is a cause of deflation for any budding home cinema enthusiast. The problem is that all sounds, especially low frequencies, are literally sucked into the vacant spaces outside of your listening area and making compromises is the only way to contend with it.
You can negate the effects of unused space by positioning the screen in the corner of the L against the longer of the two axes where sound can directed away from the free space. Subsequently, front speakers may have to be positioned more tightly against the screen slightly constricting the soundstage - but that's the price you pay for living in a corner.
With the seating tight against the side wall, rear speakers have to be mounted directly above the listening position in the corners, which sways from their ideal placement but fortunately rear speakers require less accuracy with positioning. And the corners, like eves and recesses, will pronounce the ambient effects so it's not all bad. As low frequency sounds are most susceptible to being drained from the soundstage place the subwoofer as far away from the unused space as possible to retain most of the bass impact. This configuration can leave you with a constricted listening area so don't try and fill the small space with loads of equipment or you'll find the sound overwhelming.
Odd-shaped rooms may create obstacles for surround set-ups but using these guidelines to experiment with speaker positions will ensure they're easily overcome.
