You can spend hours researching home theater or stereo equipment and thousands of dollars getting exactly what you want, yet still not achieve the sound quality you desire. As frustrating as that is, it doesn't happen due to purchasing an inferior product. The solution is actually much simpler. Where you place the speakers in a room has a much bigger effect on sound quality than you may realize.
Considerations for Different Rooms in Your Home
Before you choose a room to set up your home theater or stereo system, keep these considerations in mind:
- Sounds waves in small rooms bounce and reflect. Unwanted echoing may be a problem if the room contains parallel surfaces. Since your listening experience may depend on where you are sitting in the room, it's important to listen to sounds coming from the speakers at several different angles before placing the speakers permanently.
- If you desire to place the speakers in the ceiling, you should seriously consider hiring a professional to do it. Mistakes in set-up compromise sound quality in addition to being costly to fix.
- Avoid placing the subwoofers of your speakers too close to a wall as this can cause distortion of low sounds.
Many music enthusiasts swear by the rule of the Golden Triangle. This means that the listener and each speaker should be approximately the same distance apart. You can try this for yourself by measuring the distance between the speakers and then use that same numerical measurement for choosing your own seat. You may also want to consider placing the speakers so they create a stereo image rather than pointing them straight ahead.