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We are at the Georgia Home Theater in Atlanta and the idea of a high-end home theater, well, that's still mainly for celebrities and sports superstars. But there are some things you can do with your own home setup. And joining us now with some tips on that is Brian Cooley, editor-at-large with CNET.
So Brian, first of all, let's start with the position of the couch relative to your television. And then (right) this is gonna be a sensitive issue in some households.
A lot of folks get this wrong. Here is what you should do. Take the size of your TV. I don't care what kind of TV it is, flat, projection, whatever. This is a 55-inch, for example. And count off 2 to 3 times that size. Here's 2, right about where this sofa is. That's gonna seem close to some folks. But you don't wanna take a big TV and sit farther necessarily. You wanna sit close enough so that you are immersed in the picture. But not so close that you can see the pixels and it looks grainy. That's where to put your seating.
All right. That's the visual part of this. Let's move on to the audio.
Ok.
Alright, Brian, well, I think this is what I would have if I could afford it as first home theaters goal.
I bet you'll do it.
OK. Er, pretty high-end stuff here. The speakers are really nice. But in terms of the position of them, anybody can learn about where to put them.
Yes. It doesn't matter if you spent 50,000 dollars on the system like this or more or just a few thousand dollars on your whole home system. The placement is the same. These speakers, for example, in the front, you have two, left and right. They should go up against the picture screen on the front wall to the sides of the picture of course. And you want the main part of the speaker like this here to be at seated ear level. So wherever your ears are when you are sitting down to watch a movie. The front center channel is often a problem. This should go up snugged against the bottom of your picture whether it's a giant screen like this or if you have a smaller screen on the wall. Snug it up to the bottom because this is where the voices come from. You want them to sound as if they are coming from where the faces are.
All right, and what about the subwoofer? It can be tricky to find a place for this guy.
These tend to be kind of big and cumbersome, not necessarily a great design feature in your room. But the good news is you can put them almost anywhere. Base frequencies that come out of these are very non-directional. They will fill the room very easily almost anywhere you put it.
All right. Now to complete the surround sound, we have the rear speakers, which obviously go behind you. (Yeah) But what about the position and the height?
I want these to be a few feet behind your head. Not at the same level as your ear. I want them behind you a bit for better depth. And I'd like them to be more close to ear level like the fronts. But these are very special speakers and I’ve mounted them higher. But gemly get them at the ear level.
All right, that completes our Home Theater Experience. Brian Cooley, editor at large with CNET. Thanks so much.
Thank you |