Tags

, ,

If you just bought a home theater system or a set of loudspeakers, you may want some tips on properly setting it up if you don’t want to contract an installer. There are a few problems which are frequently made. I will offer a few guidelines to help make your installation a snap. Your home theater system is going to normally have 5 or 7 loudspeakers – one main loudspeaker, 2 front loudspeakers, 2 rears in addition to 2 sides (in case of a 7.1 system) and also a woofer. It also comes with a central element. This component is going to drive all of your loudspeakers. This main element is also called surround sound receiver or amplifier. It is the main hub of your home theater system.

wireless speakers

Put this receiver in a place that minimizes the loudspeaker cable run to every speaker. If you have your television set up center then a good spot for your receiver may be anywhere near your television set. This is going to also simplify attaching your receiver to the audio output of your TV. On the other hand, select an alternate location if your television set already is rather crowded with various gear. The receiver requires an audio signal in order to output surround sound. Normally it will accept an optical surround sound signal. You may connect this input to your television set by using a fiberoptical cable. This cord may not be included with your system although it is available at any electronics shop. Then again, setting up your loudspeakers might be a little more difficult .

wireless speakers

You won’t require as much speaker wire if your loudspeakers are wireless. Some kits have all-wireless speakers while others merely have cordless rear speakers. For all other loudspeakers, start by measuring how much speaker cable you need. You are going to need to keep in mind furniture as well as carpets and add some extra length to your calculations. This way you are going to have enough cable for all of the twists and turns. Pick the gauge of the loudspeaker cord based on how much power you plan to drive your speakers with. The larger the power the thicker the speaker cord. Your subwoofer is going to usually have a built-in amp and connect to your receiver by RCA cable.

wireless speakers

The loudspeaker cord connects to each loudspeaker by the speaker terminals. These terminals are color coded. This helps observe the correct polarity when connecting the speaker cord. Go with a loudspeaker cable that is color coded in order to help make sure the correct polarity when connecting to the speaker terminal. In the same way, every speaker output of your surround receiver is color coded. While connecting the cable to your receiver, observe the right polarity again. This is going to keep all of your speakers in phase. Wireless rear speakers are going to normally incur an audio delay during transmission. This delay is also referred to as latency. The amount of latency depends on the wireless system. It is generally less than 25 ms. For optimum sound, all of the loudspeakers should be in sync. If you have both wireless and wired speakers, the cordless speakers are going to be out of sync with the wired speakers. As a result you will need to delay the audio going to the wired speakers by tweaking your receiver. The amount of delay must be equal to the latency of the cordless loudspeakers.

wireless speakers

Check the user manual in order to find out how to set a delay on particular channels. Home theater systems that were not designed for cordless rear loudspeakers might not come with this capability. In this case you might want to look for a wireless speaker kit which has very low latency, ideally less than one ms. This is going to keep all of your loudspeakers in perfect sync.