Here at Connex Antenna, we have years of experience in designing and creating dedicated home theatre and cinema rooms to suit all budgets. Today we have prepared some killer tips and tricks that should help you decide how to upgrade your sound and get something better than your TV’s built in speakers.
How To Choose The Perfect Sound Bar
If you aren’t ready to invest in a surround sound system, sound bars are a perfect compromise. If your TV is wall-mounted, sound bar brackets let you mount your sound bar above or below the TV and are attached directly to the back of the TV via the VESA mounting holes. This means that when you move the TV, the sound will also be pointed precisely in your direction. Many sound bars don’t come with remote controls or have a display to tell you the volume. Unless you buy something like a Yamaha YAS-101 with an IR repeater on the back to pass the commands to the TV behind, some sound bars may block your TV’s IR sensor. Another problem that some sound bars have is that you have to disable your TV’s speakers and it doesn’t sound great only getting sound from the sound bar. You may also find that you can’t use the TV’s remote to control the sound bar after having disabled the TV’s speakers. It pays to check before you buy!
Setting The Stage
Almost every sound bar comes with some kind of ‘virtual surround’ mode, promising to deliver surround sound without the hassle of rear speakers. Unless you shell out for something like Yamaha’s Digital Sound Projectors, you’re likely to be very, very disappointed. We pride ourselves on the quality of our professional installation service, but if you’re spending serious money on a surround sound system and choose to DIY, here are some rules.
Don’t Skimp On The Cables
Our professional installation service optimizes the quality of your surround sound system with neat, quality cabling. Poorly insulated wires can wreck the sound so hook up all your components and speakers using heavy-duty (8-guage) Monster cables. Maintain audio quality by using the shortest cable lengths possible to connect your components.
Bass and Front Speaker Placement
To find the best home for your subwoofer, wire it up and place it where you’ll be sitting. Play a movie with lots of bass and walk around your room, your head just inches from the wall. Stop where the bass sounds full and even. This is where to put your sub. Place the center-channel dialogue speaker just below the screen and on the same horizontal plane as the front-channel speakers. Never put the center channel forward of the front pair or it will overpower them.
Side And Surround Speaker Placement
The front-channel speakers should be positioned so their midrange drivers or tweeters are at about the same height as your ears when you are seated. That’ll work for movies or music. The general rule for the surround-channel speakers is to position them on each side of the seating area, at roughly the head level where you’re sitting. Proper surround-sound speaker placement depends greatly on the acoustics of your room, so take time to experiment.
Take The Guesswork Out Of It!
Call us today for a no-obligation chat about how we can help you achieve a great sound set up for a lot less than you’d think. You’ll be astonished at how our experienced staff can optimize the placement and setup of any surround sound system. When we’re finished, we’ll leave you thinking we gave you a brand new set!