|   rear speaker placement | inneedofhelp
Oct 8, 2001 9:33 AM | | hey i just recently got a new 5 speaker + sub system and a new couch
i got the couch against the rear wall and my rear speakers are on stands. the couch is a high one over my head. the speakers are at the same hight as the top of the couch
when i sit int he middle of the couch i cant even hear the rears.
i have a yamamha reviever and it has this test tone thing what does that do?its like a pink noise i guess and it travels threw the speakers. when it gets to one of my rear speakers i turn the volume up but that just makes all the speakers go up.
what can i do
also should i turn my speakers or place them on the sides?
cause they are right beside the couch.. |
| re: rear speaker placement | Woochifer
Oct 8, 2001 7:37 PM | | It sounds like you may not have switched the rear speakers on. You need to go through the owner's manual and look at the set-up menu. (Yamaha's default should have all five channels active) Another possibility is that you need to turn the DSP on. When the DSP effect's off, all of the surround decoding is inactive and your receiver will only output two-channel stereo.
Once you have the rear channels active, the test tone is supposed to help guide you at setting the levels for the individual channels. The test tone rotates around from speaker to speaker, and from your listening position, you should hear the test tone at identical levels from all five speakers. If not, you need to adjust the individual channel levels so that they are equal. The volume control does not control the individual channel levels, only the overall output for all channels. Again, go through the manual and it will tell you how to adjust the levels for each channel. Ideally, you should do this with a SPL meter (available at Radio Shack). And for really critical tweaking, some of the others on this board have suggested using test discs like Avia and Video Essentials.
Also, if you're not using a DVD player (or other Dolby Digital/DTS source), the surround effect will be more subtle with two-channel stereo inputs from a VCR or cable/satellite and Dolby Pro Logic surround decoding than with a discrete five-channel source like DVD. One more tip might be to either pull the sofa out from the wall slightly or "toe-in" the rear speakers (i.e. angle them such that the drivers point slightly inward rather than straight out towards the opposite wall). Either way, you don't want anything obstructing the speaker. If the couch is too high, you may need to either mount the rear speakers higher or move them to the side of the sofa and toe them in. None of these solutions are ideal, then again it sounds like you got an imperfect room like I do. |
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