best cheap 7.1 speaker system image
Ray roger
What is the best way to set up speakers ?
Answer
Depends upon what sort of surround system you got.
1.0 = mono speaker
2.0 stereo speakers, no subwoofer
2.1 stereo speakers, w/ subwoofer (for deep bass)
3.1 same as 2.1 but with a center speaker (usually mounted right over the TV)
4.1 This starts the surround sound category, a speaker in each corner and a sub woofer (placed anywhere convenient as the signal is low and bounces off the walls, a out of the way corner is fine.)
5.1 same as 4.1 but with a center speaker (this is the most common surround sound setup)
6.1 same as 5.1 but with a rear speaker?? (don't know for sure on this one)
7.1 same as 5.1, but includes two more speakers, one on the left and one on the right side of the center of the listening box. This is the very high end of surround sound systems, not a lot of movies use this format, but the system can compensate for that.
You have to enable surround sound in your DVD movie preferences and your receiver has to be able to play the surround sound system format. Dolby, DTS etc. So when you shop for a surround sound system, it needs to play as many formats as possible.
Basically you set up a surround system with the chair/couch in the center of listening area and the speakers placed equal distance all around like a box, so they face the center. The center is where all the sound comes together and meets.
Of course this is impractical in some small rooms where the couch/seating is back against the wall. So the high quality surround sound system has ability to move the "center" around, by lessening the volume of the rear speakers and increasing the front ones as to place the center right over the couch/seating area. These "center" controls are different than the master volume control which just raises the general volume up or down.
If you have such a setup, you have to keep the speakers physically pointed to where the center is, where the most used seating is, not the true center of the room. The object is your directing the sound to a location. If you don't do this, a set of speakers (like the rear) will always be blasting, so you'll hear a lot of back sound, like a car coming up from behind, but you won't hear the voices up front very clearly coming from the center as your drowning your ears with the back speakers.
Most home theater systems "in a box" come with instructions and color coded plugs and outlets so the do it yourself person can get pretty good results. It's just when hooking up additional items and passing the sound through the surround sound system is a challenge. Like the TV, Cable box, VCR, DVD, BlueRay etc.
If you have a Mac, they have optical Toslink stereo mini audio out ports combined in the standard stereo mini port (it's combined, look for the red light). So all you need is a Toslink stereo mini to regular Toslink cable (RadioShack online) to hook up to a quality surround sound system to output the highest quality sound possible.
Most iTunes music is now sold in high quality, but most people can't hear the difference as they are using the old analog method. Also cd's are high quality, but again, people tend to use cheap players and thus can't hear the difference.
There are a lot of surround sound system choices, my advice is to expect to pay around $2000 for speakers and receiver alone. Cd, DVD, blueRay etc players extra. Yourself or someone you know can tackle setting it up for beer and pizza.
If your looking at even more high end there are companies that will come and specialize in setting up the whole theater, TV, projection, surround sound etc.
My suggestion for a really wonderful surround sound system with easy for the user to setup, high quality, lots of surround sound formats, theater, concert hall and other effects, and a fancy hardware, is a Harman/Kardon Home Theater System. You buy a system like this and it's good for the rest of your life with care. 200 watt subwoofer will rattle the neighbors windows at max. Receiver with 110 watt speakers each channel create rich and powerful sound. Hard of hearing? No problem with this system. :)
http://www.harmankardon.com/Pages/LocaleSelector.aspx
Depends upon what sort of surround system you got.
1.0 = mono speaker
2.0 stereo speakers, no subwoofer
2.1 stereo speakers, w/ subwoofer (for deep bass)
3.1 same as 2.1 but with a center speaker (usually mounted right over the TV)
4.1 This starts the surround sound category, a speaker in each corner and a sub woofer (placed anywhere convenient as the signal is low and bounces off the walls, a out of the way corner is fine.)
5.1 same as 4.1 but with a center speaker (this is the most common surround sound setup)
6.1 same as 5.1 but with a rear speaker?? (don't know for sure on this one)
7.1 same as 5.1, but includes two more speakers, one on the left and one on the right side of the center of the listening box. This is the very high end of surround sound systems, not a lot of movies use this format, but the system can compensate for that.
You have to enable surround sound in your DVD movie preferences and your receiver has to be able to play the surround sound system format. Dolby, DTS etc. So when you shop for a surround sound system, it needs to play as many formats as possible.
Basically you set up a surround system with the chair/couch in the center of listening area and the speakers placed equal distance all around like a box, so they face the center. The center is where all the sound comes together and meets.
Of course this is impractical in some small rooms where the couch/seating is back against the wall. So the high quality surround sound system has ability to move the "center" around, by lessening the volume of the rear speakers and increasing the front ones as to place the center right over the couch/seating area. These "center" controls are different than the master volume control which just raises the general volume up or down.
If you have such a setup, you have to keep the speakers physically pointed to where the center is, where the most used seating is, not the true center of the room. The object is your directing the sound to a location. If you don't do this, a set of speakers (like the rear) will always be blasting, so you'll hear a lot of back sound, like a car coming up from behind, but you won't hear the voices up front very clearly coming from the center as your drowning your ears with the back speakers.
Most home theater systems "in a box" come with instructions and color coded plugs and outlets so the do it yourself person can get pretty good results. It's just when hooking up additional items and passing the sound through the surround sound system is a challenge. Like the TV, Cable box, VCR, DVD, BlueRay etc.
If you have a Mac, they have optical Toslink stereo mini audio out ports combined in the standard stereo mini port (it's combined, look for the red light). So all you need is a Toslink stereo mini to regular Toslink cable (RadioShack online) to hook up to a quality surround sound system to output the highest quality sound possible.
Most iTunes music is now sold in high quality, but most people can't hear the difference as they are using the old analog method. Also cd's are high quality, but again, people tend to use cheap players and thus can't hear the difference.
There are a lot of surround sound system choices, my advice is to expect to pay around $2000 for speakers and receiver alone. Cd, DVD, blueRay etc players extra. Yourself or someone you know can tackle setting it up for beer and pizza.
If your looking at even more high end there are companies that will come and specialize in setting up the whole theater, TV, projection, surround sound etc.
My suggestion for a really wonderful surround sound system with easy for the user to setup, high quality, lots of surround sound formats, theater, concert hall and other effects, and a fancy hardware, is a Harman/Kardon Home Theater System. You buy a system like this and it's good for the rest of your life with care. 200 watt subwoofer will rattle the neighbors windows at max. Receiver with 110 watt speakers each channel create rich and powerful sound. Hard of hearing? No problem with this system. :)
http://www.harmankardon.com/Pages/LocaleSelector.aspx
What's the best brand of home theater equipment to buy?
Craven L
OR, should I be looking into separate speaker and receiver systems?? Whats your top brands?
Answer
Home theater in a box systems are almost all garbage. They often don't allow you to use any other speakers or speaker wires with them. the speakers themselves are almost always cheap and awful.
The best way to go is to get a proper, name brand home theater audio receiver, and combine it with a good set of speakers, and whatever kind of disc player that you want, like either an upconverting DVD player, which start around $50, or a BluRay player, which starts at around a hundred bucks.
In receivers, good makes are Harman Kardon, Pioneer, Denon and Yamaha. Sony, frankly, makes lousy receivers and worse speakers. Good speaker makes include Energy, Klipsch, JBL, Infinity and Polk. Avoid Bose, they suck.
In receivers, you would need to decide if you want to go with a basic 5.1 unit, or if you want to go to 7.1. 7.1 obviously costs more, and you will need seven speakers and a sub, rather than five and a sub.
Good deals can be found on Amaz*n.com, both on receivers and speakers. A Harman Kardon 2600 7.1 receiver can be had for $375. A Pioneer 521-K 5.1 receiver can be had for $175. A Polk 705 5.1 speaker set can be had for $250. They also have good deals on the accessories that you will need, such as digital optical audio cables (To connect the TV's audio output into the receiver), HDMI cables, and 16 gauge speaker wire and a subwoofer cable.
Home theater in a box systems are almost all garbage. They often don't allow you to use any other speakers or speaker wires with them. the speakers themselves are almost always cheap and awful.
The best way to go is to get a proper, name brand home theater audio receiver, and combine it with a good set of speakers, and whatever kind of disc player that you want, like either an upconverting DVD player, which start around $50, or a BluRay player, which starts at around a hundred bucks.
In receivers, good makes are Harman Kardon, Pioneer, Denon and Yamaha. Sony, frankly, makes lousy receivers and worse speakers. Good speaker makes include Energy, Klipsch, JBL, Infinity and Polk. Avoid Bose, they suck.
In receivers, you would need to decide if you want to go with a basic 5.1 unit, or if you want to go to 7.1. 7.1 obviously costs more, and you will need seven speakers and a sub, rather than five and a sub.
Good deals can be found on Amaz*n.com, both on receivers and speakers. A Harman Kardon 2600 7.1 receiver can be had for $375. A Pioneer 521-K 5.1 receiver can be had for $175. A Polk 705 5.1 speaker set can be had for $250. They also have good deals on the accessories that you will need, such as digital optical audio cables (To connect the TV's audio output into the receiver), HDMI cables, and 16 gauge speaker wire and a subwoofer cable.
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