Onkyo SR804 Connecting Your Speakers, Enjoying Home Theater, Front left and right speakers

Connecting Your Speakers

Enjoying Home Theater

Thanks to the AV receiver’s superb capabilities, you can enjoy surround sound with a real sense of movement in your own home—just like being in a movie theater or concert hall. You can enjoy DVDs featuring DTS and Dolby Digital. With analog and digital TV, you can enjoy Dolby Pro Logic IIx and Onkyo’s own DSP surround listening modes. You can also enjoy THX Surround EX (THX-certified THX speaker system recommended).

Front left and right speakers

These output the overall sound. Their role in a home theater is to provide a solid anchor for the sound image. They should be positioned facing the listener at about ear level, and equally spaced from the TV. Angle them inward slightly so as to create a triangle, with the listener at the apex.

Center speaker

This speaker enhances the front left and right speakers, making sound movements distinct and providing a full sound image. For movies it’s used mainly for dialog.

Position it close to your TV (preferably on top) facing forward at about ear level, or at the same height as the front left and right speakers.

Surround left and right speakers

These speakers are used for precise sound positioning and to add realistic ambience.

Position them at the sides of the lis- tener, or slightly behind, about 2–3 feet (60–100 cm) above ear level. Ideally they should be equally spaced from the listener.

Subwoofer

The subwoofer handles the bass sounds of the LFE (Low-Frequency Effects) channel. The volume and quality of the bass output from your subwoofer will depend on its posi- tion, the shape of your listening room, and your listening position. In general, a good bass sound can be obtained by installing the sub- woofer in a front corner, or at one-third the way along the wall, as shown.

Tip: To find the best position for your sub- woofer, while playing a movie or some music with good bass, experiment by placing your subwoofer at various positions within the room, and choose the

one that provides the most satisfying results.

Corner position

1/3 wall position

Surround back left and right speakers

These speakers are necessary to enjoy Dolby Digital EX, DTS-ES Matrix, DTS-ES Discrete, THX Surround EX, etc. They enhance the realism of surround sound and improve sound localization behind the listener. Posi- tion them behind the listener about 2–3 feet (60–

100 cm) above ear level.

THX recommends that they be placed as close as pos- sible in order to make advantage of their proprietary ASA (Advanced Speaker Array) technology. If this con- dition is not possible, adjust the SurrBack Sp Spacing setting via the THX Audio Setup. (See page 74.)

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