Onkyo TX-NR900E Connecting speakers, Ideal speaker configuration, Speaker placement

Connecting speakers

Before connecting the speakers, it is very important to place them properly for the optimum sound space for your listening pleasure. Be sure to refer to the instruction manuals that came with the speakers during placement and connection. Furthermore, be aware that for surround playback, the configuration and placement of your speakers are both very important.

For THX surround EX playback, we recommend that you use a THX speaker system that is certified by Lucasfilm Ltd.

Surround back speakers

•Place these speakers so that their height is 3 feet (1 meter) higher than that of the listener’s ears.

•When using surround back left and right speakers, place them behind the listener so that the angles between the lines from each speaker to the listener and a line straight back from the listener are less than 30 degrees.

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Ideal speaker configuration

•Front right and left speakers

•Center speaker

Produces a rich sound image by serving as a sound source for the front right and left speakers and enhancing the sonic movement.

•Surround right and left speakers

Adds three-dimensional sonic movement and produces environmental sound associated with the background and effect sound for each scene.

•Surround back right and left speakers

Required for enjoying THX Surround EX, DTS-ES Matrix 6.1, or DTS-ES Discrete 6.1 audio.

•Subwoofer

Produces powerful and heavy bass.

Minimum speaker configuration for surround sound playback

•Front right and left speakers

•Surround right and left speakers

The sound recorded for the center speaker and the subwoofer will be properly distributed to the front right and left speakers for optimized surround playback.

Speaker placement

Ideal speaker placement varies depending on the size of your room and the wall coverings. Here, only typical example of speaker placement and recommendations are shown.

In order to create the optimum conditions for the best sound quality, be sure to place all the speakers so that the greatest difference between the distances of each speaker to the listening position is less than 20 feet (6 meters).

Important points regarding speaker placement

Front left and right speakers and center speaker

•Place these three speakers all at the same height.

•Place each speaker so that it is aimed at the location of the listener’s ears when at the listening position.

•Place the right and left loudspeakers at an equal distance either side of the listening point.

Surround left and right speakers

•Place these speakers so that their height is 3 feet (1 meter) higher than that of the listener’s ears.

Subwoofer

When bass sound is reproduced, its volume and quality greatly depend on subwoofer placement. Those characteristics also depends on the shape of your listening room as well as your listening point. Generally speaking, good bass sound is obtained when the subwoofer is placed in the corner of the room or at one-third the length of the room.

Corner

1/3 room length

For optimizing the subwoofer placement, we recommend you to:

•Play a movie or music source containing good quality base sound,

•Take some experimenting while changing subwoofer’s position in the room, and

•Try different positioning until you get the most out of the base sound while fixing the listening point.

Layout with dipolar				Layout with monopolar
speakers				speakers
			2			2
		1			1
			5	3
	3	4			4		5

6	7	6	7
10			10

		8	9			8	9
1	TV or screen			6	Surround left speaker
2	Subwoofer			7	Surround right speaker
3	Front left speaker			8	Surround back left speaker
4	Center speaker			9	Surround back right speaker
5	Front right speaker			10	Listening position

Most dipoles have an arrow on them to indicate their orientation in which that should be placed. For the correct acoustical phasing in the room, dipolar surround speakers should be placed so that their arrows point forward toward the screen and dipolar surround back speakers should be placed so that their arrows point to each other.

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