5.1 Surround Sound Speaker Setup?

Question

I have my speakers placed in pretty good positions, now I just want to know the volume to set each speaker at? Should the center speaker be set higher to hear the dialogue better and the side speakers lower so the soundtrack doesn't over power?

Any advice?

Answer 1

The easiest method to set the audio level for each speaker is to purchase an audio calibration DVD. There are two out on the market which is very well respected by all videophiles: Digital Video Essentials and AVIA Guide to Home Theater. Both can be found at Amazon. These DVD's will setup and calibrate your audio as video. Here are the links:

http://www.amazon.com/AVIA-Guide-Home-Theater/dp/630551982X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3826660-0836967?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1186327469&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Video-Essentials-Entertainment-Component/dp/B00005PJ70/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-3826660-0836967?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1186327469&sr=8-2

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Hi You can set it up with calibration,but because every one has a different acoustic properties in their home theater,i think it is best to adjust the sound manually to get the right balance of the three front speakers.Actually i get better sound without using a center speaker,because the dialog coming out of the front left and right speakers is balanced .I will try to explain to you why it is better to have only 2 front speakers Ok, say you are at a live concert sitting in the center about 10 rows back. The sound of the singers and instruments arrive at your two ears at the same time .But you only hear two sound arrivals at a time,.one at your left ear and one at your right ear.
When you listen to the same concert on your 3 front speakers at home both your ears hear the sound from the 3 speakers which is 6 sound arrivals together.(each ear hears the sound from 3 speakers).Remember at the live event your ears received only 2 arrivals at any one time .In your room your ears receive 6 arrivals (4 too many).So the ear brain mechanism cannot unscramble the extra 4 sound arrivals which do not happen in real life and that is why the dialog is hard to hear .I hope that made some sense for you.!

Answer 3

It all depends on what your distance is from each speaker....you might need to set a different level for each speaker. The center should sound loud enough to hear dialogue without having to turn the volume up when they are speaking in a lower than normal voice level....the fronts and surround speakers should blend with each other so that they are all loud enough to hear, but not so loud that your surrounds take focus away from your fronts and vice versa.

Answer 4

Maybe your old setup is just under stereo mode which makes your speakers produce loud noises but not filtered. Nowadays, with the advent of say Dolby / THX, the loudness that you have been missing is very much filtered by how the distribution of your 7.1 setup home theater. Do not worry about this, I am sure that before you made the shift to your new home theater, you can't distinguish a bullet case falling on the floor (if for example you are watching Rambo letting all out). With your 7.1 setup, you can even have a distinct insight on what part of the floor the bullet case fell off. Enjoy your 7.1 setup.

Answer 5

ok hear it is in a nut shell ALL of the speakers should be level. because dvd are mixed an recommend levels so like you said the soundtrack does not over power the movie. i am going to assume that your receiver has a tone test feature if it does your in luck. a tone test is just white noise that is sent to each speaker one at a time and you can adjust the db out put of each speaker using a SPL meter (Sound Pressure Level) radio shack has a good one for 49.99. you can do this by ear but it is not an good as using a SPL. on how to use a SPL Meter just go to: http://www.audioholics.com/tweaks/connecting-your-system/basic-audio-video-set-up-guide

Answer 6

I set mine so the rear speakers are all the way up, the middle up all the way, and the front side speakers on 7 or 8 out of ten. Of course it depends all on the system setup.