Parasound P/SP-1500 Setting Up Your Home Theater System, Speaker Placement, Front Speakers

P/SP-1500 Owner's Manual 3

Setting Up Your Home Theater System

Refer to Diagram on Page 4

Speaker Placement

Proper speaker placement is essential for optimum performance of your home theater system. Improper placement of speakers can produce an unnatural sound and greatly diminish the home theater experience. Here are some basic guidelines for speaker placement based upon idealized conditions. However, it may be necessary to make compromises for furniture, windows, doorways, and other aesthetic reasons.

Front Speakers

Try to locate your front left and right speakers an equal distance from your television monitor or projection screen. Ideally, your viewing/listening position should be at the point of an equilateral triangle with the left and right speakers at the other points.

Center Speaker

The center speaker’s main function is to reproduce dialog and to join the sonic image from the speakers with the visual image on the screen. It is best to place your center speaker directly above or below the television monitor for a more realistic effect. The distance from your listening position to the center channel speaker should be the same distance as from your listening position to the left and right speakers. This necessitates placing the center speaker somewhat behind the left and right speakers. This placement assures the sound from all three front speakers will arrive at your listening position at precisely the same time. If you are using a direct view television with a picture tube, we strongly recommend a shielded center channel speaker if you intend to locate it near the monitor. The magnetic field of an unshielded speaker will cause an extreme discoloration of most direct view TV screens. If you are placing your front speakers behind a high-quality perforated projection screen, locate your center speaker at the same height as your left and right speakers.

Conventional Surround Speakers

Surround speaker placement is a little more flexible than the front speakers. In the Dolby Pro Logic and even Dolby Digital (AC-3) mode surround speakers are intended to create a more diffuse ambient effect rather than a precise sonic image. To avoid drawing your attention away from the action on the screen, you should not be able to localize the sound coming from your surround speakers. Therefore, you should try to avoid pointing the surround speakers directly toward your listening position and place them behind you and at least three feet above your ear level when you are seated. You may even want to try aiming them at the wall or ceiling for a greater ratio of reflected to direct sound to help reduce localization. Experimentation with surround speaker placement is often required to yield optimum results.

THX Dipole Surround Speakers

THX certified dipole surround speakers are designed for superior surround channel performance. If you are using THX Home Cinema front and rear firing dipole surround speakers, locate them at least two feet above and to the sides of your listening area. This places you in the “null” of the dipole speakers to minimize localization of the surround speakers.

Subwoofer

The best way to position your subwoofer is to first hook it up and place it close to your listening position. Next, stand in various spots within your room and find the location that will give you the strongest and most balanced bass without excessive boominess. Once you have found the optimum location, simply relocate the subwoofer to that spot.