Home Theater Speaker Placement
Overview
A properly set up home theater system can provide a surround sound experience better than most
commercial theaters and is a great way to enjoy movies, television programming, sporting events, and
video games with family and friends. The primary concept one must grasp about home theater speaker
setup is that each room, set of speakers, and primary listening position will have its own optimum setup.
The optimum setup can only be determined by experimentation once the initial setup is complete. This
process can be confusing and time consuming, but by following the guidelines outlined in this
document, you will create a great sounding home theater system with a minimum of difficulty.
The diagrams below show the recommended layouts for 5.1 and 7.1 systems. Tables are included in
each of the following sections providing conversions of the angles into easily measurable dimensions
which are referenced from the center of the screen or the primary listening position.
LF - Left Front
C - Center Channel
RF - Right Front
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LS - Left Surround
RS - Right Surround
SW - Subwoofer
LR - Left Rear (7.1 only)
RR - Right Rear (7.1 only)
Home Theater Speaker Placement
Listening Position to
Screen (DF1)
Target Min. Speaker to
Center Distance (DF2)
Target Max. Speaker to
Center Distance (DF2)
6 ft. 2 ft. 5 in. 3 ft. 6 in.
7 ft. 2 ft. 10 in. 4 ft. 0 in.
8 ft. 3 ft. 3 in. 4 ft. 7 in.
9 ft. 3 ft. 8 in. 5 ft. 2 in.
10 ft. 4 ft. 0 in. 5 ft. 9 in.
11 ft. 4 ft. 5 in. 6 ft. 4 in.
12 ft. 4 ft. 10 in. 6 ft. 11 in.
13 ft. 5 ft. 3 in. 7 ft. 6 in.
14 ft. 5 ft. 8 in. 8 ft. 1 in.
15 ft. 6 ft. 1 in. 8 ft. 8 in.
16 ft. 6 ft. 6 in. 9 ft. 3 in.
17 ft. 6 ft. 10 in. 9 ft. 10 in.
18 ft. 7 ft. 3 in. 10 ft. 5 in.
19 ft. 7 ft. 8 in. 11 ft. 0 in.
20 ft. 8 ft. 1 in. 11 ft. 7 in.
Left and Right Front Speakers
The front main speakers, along with the center channel speaker, are used to provide effects across the
front soundstage. Examples include a car moving from one side of the screen to the other, dialog
originating from one of the sides of the screen, or the origin of an overhead effect. The front speaker
output is also coordinated with the surround speaker output to provide a sense of being in a specific
environment such as a large reverberant concert hall, underwater, in a forest, in a large city, or in a
small reverberant chamber like a submarine.
The left and right front speakers should be positioned equivalent distances from the center of the
screen and “toed in” towards the primary listening position. The angle between the plane formed by
the center of the screen and the primary listening position and each speaker should ideally be 22°-30°.
However, in many rooms this is not possible because of windows, doorways, and other obstacles. In
cases such as these, position the main speakers as far apart as possible while maintaining equal
distances from the center of the screen. The chart below identifies the ideal front speaker to screen
center distance ranges. Determine the distance from the primary listening position to the screen and
read across to find the minimum and maximum target distance as measured from the center of the
screen to the center of each speaker.
The design axis of the speakers should be at ear level; typically 38”-40” off of the floor. Most
manufacturers do not specify the design axis, but with systems incorporating vertically aligned drivers,
will be one of two points: the center of the tweeter, or the point halfway between the center of the
tweeter and the center of the midrange or midbass driver. In well designed speakers, any point between
these positions will provide good results. In an MTM system, the design axis is always the tweeter axis.
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