How to Get the Best Sound Out of Your Sound System

It seems pretty simple. Just place your speakers facing you and plug them in, and your all done, right? Far from it. In order to get the best sound and to make your music and movies come alive from your speakers, proper speaker placement is required. You may think that taking a few extra steps really won't matter, but it can make all the difference in the world, if your ears are sharp and you want to hear every detail from your speakers. Here are tips ranging from the beginner to professional, in terms of how dedicated you are in speaker placement and the effect of sound on the surrounding environment.

Beginner
You are all excited about getting your first stereo or surround sound speakers. You will probably buy the set with the biggest satellite speakers and the bass module that has the most watts. Regardless of how many watts your speakers can handle, the biggest factor in all of this is how you set up your speakers. It may sound good, but notsound right. In order to get the best sound possible, make sure everything is hooked correctly. It sounds like something so simple, but some folks out there rush the set up and immediately test out their system by blasting all the speakers. One of them will blow out, and they wonder what happened. It turns out that one of the wire connections were loose, and they lose a speaker forever. Make sure to take your time to look at all connections before you test your sound system out. Also, when you have everything up and running, you want to have all wires and cables out of the way so no one trips over them. You want your wires to have a little bit of slack in them, this way wire connections will not come loose. Give the receiver or tuner plenty of space to breathe in your entertainment center. You don't' want it to be cramped in a little space or surrounded by DVDs on each side. Modern receivers have fans and vents in the back to keep them cool. but they still need space. Depending on what you use your receiver for, whether it might be listening to music or watching movies, it can get hot if left on for a long time. If it is in a cramped space it will not cool properly.

To get the best sound out of your speakers, place the left and right speakers at about the same level where your ears would be when you are sitting down. This way, the sound waves can reach your ears quicker than compared to placing them higher up. Place the rear speakers at the same level as well. The center speaker should always be placed on top of your television. If you can't fit it there, try to find a way to put it under your television. This is crucial to getting your attention to the dialog the actors are saying. After all, this is the main job of the center speaker- handling dialog.

Advanced
You probably know how to place your speakers correctly and set up everything in ten minutes. You will probably even go one step further by customizing the speaker setup. When you first get a surround sound system, the main menu has a selection to test the audio with a sound test. It will play a tone or white noise in each speaker and the bass module to make sure you have it set up correctly. There are also more ways you can set your speakers up for specific sounds. There should be a button on the remote for your receiver to select different sound set-ups. The best way to test this is to sit in the middle of your speakers. Listen to the sound set-up for movie mode, concert, live, and other similar settings. Also, angle your speakers to the sitting area where your family will be watching movies. This places the speakers in a better position for surround sound.

Professional
For the pro, you can mix and match the speakers to your personal tastes. If you want to hear certain sound effects in movies like explosions much louder, you can get a bass module that has more watts. If you like hearing the little details, like glass shattering and bullet shells hitting the floor in more detail, you can get speakers with higher end tweeters. And if you want to have an overall great sounding system, you can get higher end mid-range speakers. For music such as classical, dance, or anything that has a lot of effects, mid-range speakers are for the best for those on a budget. All of this is well and good, but you should only attempt these upgrades if you know what you are doing. You also have to keep in mind that whatever speakers you choose, to make sure that the impedance is all matching. The other word for this is ohms. To check this, when you do research on the speakers you want, read the product specs. It will give you all the information on wattage, impedance and more. A great set-up for surround sound is a higher-end center speaker, 2 full range left and right speakers, 2 full range rear speakers, and a bass module with lower frequencies. This is a set-up that requires a lot of money. But don't worry, there are different speaker packages for every budget. With powerful speakers, you need thicker speaker wires. If you use the same wires from the old speakers, you risk blowing speakers, overheating, and more. For a more detailed explanation on speaker wires, go to www.crutchfield.com/index.html Once you are there, go to Home Theater and Audio, then go under Home Speakers. So, you think with all this information that you are ready to enter the world of sound? Not just yet!

Preparing the walls
Sound moves in all directions, and bounces off of walls, glass- anything solid. It can also go through these objects as well. How do you prevent your precious sound from escaping? For walls, you can cover them with tapestries, and fill your bookshelves with books. Tapestries are thick, and do a good job of bouncing back sound off the walls. Books are dense, so sound will not travel through them. For the windows, you can cover them with heavy drapes. Less sound will pass through, leaving more sound for your room. You can even take it a step further by installing thicker glass for your windows or even get double-pane windows. If there are any big holes or big cracks in your walls, it would be a good idea to fix them. Depending on how much you listen to music to, and how loud it is, your holes and cracks might get bigger. Sound vibrates in the air through frequencies, and this can have an effect on your walls if they are not in good shape.

Gecko Joe, How To Get the Best Sound Out of Your Sound System Associated Content