Home Theater: How To Get a Top Sounding Experience

Although creating an excellent sound quality may seem expensive it is possible to do it whilst keeping within a budget as there is a range of affordable pieces of sound equipment on the market and simple adjustments you can make yourself.

When trying to make the best sound experience with your system, in addition to finding the right sound equipment it is also important to set it up correctly and make some recommended adjustments which you can read more about in this article.

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Set Up Your Speakers Correctly

The simplest way to improve the sound quality of your home theater is to make sure your speakers are in the right places around the room and orientated in a way to optimize the sound quality. There are in fact various possible layouts and ideas for curated sound systems which the home theater gurus at https://www.lenc.com.au have covered in-depth and provide advice on some steps you can take to create the best sound. When placing and setting up home theater speakers it is worth noting some basics you should follow:

1. Ensure there is a gap of approximately 3 feet (0.9 meters) between the back of the speakers and the wall
2. Angle speakers at approximately 30 degrees, so they focus on the listening spot otherwise called the toe-in
3. Put speakers on stands or shelves so that they are raised to be around head and ear height, stands also help to absorb reverberations
4. Avoid placing objects in front of speakers, this includes books, decor, furniture and plants
5. Place your speakers at least 1.6 times further away from the sidewalls than they are from the front wall behind the speakers

Calibrate the Settings on Your Amp

The settings on your sound system's amp mean you can fine-tune it to suit the acoustics of your room and the capabilities of your speakers. For example, adjusting the bass output settings allows you to choose if lower frequency sounds are created by the left or right speakers, the subwoofer or a combination of the two. If your speakers are better at handling mid and high range frequencies then using a subwoofer to produce lower range frequencies would create a better experience.

Check You Have Enough Subwoofers

It is worth checking if your room has enough subwoofers as they are probably one of the most important parts of a home theater if you want great sound quality when watching an epic movie. Ideally, you should have at least one subwoofer per row or area of seating and placed away from walls at the front of the room facing the listening spot.

Choose a Room With Nice Acoustics

Investing in quality speakers and setting them up correctly is only part of what makes for the best sound in a home theater as the room's acoustics is also a factor you should consider especially if the sound is echoing or being reflected.

Before taking time to set up a home theater it is recommended that you think about which room in your house is the most suitable. Rooms with lots of hard surfaces including bare walls, tile or wood floors and windows can cause sound to be reflected resulting in lower quality bass and harsher mid to high range frequencies. The ideal room should be furnished with armchairs, carpets, drapes, cushions, sofas and other soft furnishings as they absorb rather than reflect sound.

Sound absorption materials can also be used to improve a room's acoustics, these can be made from a range of materials that can be placed on the walls, these include:

1. Sound absorbing underlayment made from foam, felt or plywood can be placed under the flooring
2. Fabric and wood panels
3. Foam panels
4. Acoustic partitions to divide rooms

Upgrade Your Speaker Cables

The thickness and quality of speaker cables have a big impact on the sound quality a system can produce and how it performs. Generally, thicker cables of at least 12 gauge or lower are considered to deliver better sound quality; lower numbers signify thicker copper wires which are more capable of carrying signals.

There are also are few different types of cable that are useful for neatly setting up your home theater including;

1. Flat speaker cables that need to fit discreetly into smaller spaces such as under carpets
2. Cylinder shaped cables
3. Armored speaker cables have an extra layer of protection so they are more durable and are a good solution if you want to run cable along the corner of walls.

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Taking some time to set up and test your home theater's sound system is essential if you want to avoid any irritating sound issues when enjoying a movie, however, you can follow a few simple pieces of advice like those in this article to create a better sound experience.

Jessica Tanner

Update 16 May 2021