Speaker Placement Should be as Follows:

•Center channel should be either directly above or directly below your video display.

•Right and Left channel speakers should be placed to either side of your screen not too far removed from the screen yet far enough apart to give a good spatial feel to the right and left effects. You will want to angle them slightly toward the central seating area. That achieves two functions - concentrates the sound on the main seating area and helps eliminate "standing waves". A standing wave is an acoustical artifact wherein a soundwave "build-up" develops when sound reflects from a flat surface back towards the sound source repeatedly. You want sound to be absorbed if possible by furniture and other padded surfaces - more on that will be found in the home theater room acoustics section.

•5.1 Rear-Surround channel speakers should be located in the corners behind the seating area, slightly above ear-level and at a downward angle toward the main seating area.

•6.1 The Rear center channel speaker should be located directly behind, slightly above and angled downward toward the main seating area.

•7.1 Side left and right channel speakers should be located directly on either side of and again, angled downward toward the main seating area.

•Sub-woofer placement is not critical as low frequencies are omni-directional however I prefer my sub at the front of the room near the screen. Some folks prefer them right behind the main seating area so they can feel the extra "seat-of-the-pants" rumble - you may want to experiment and see which placement you prefer - or run dual subs for some serious thump.

--Home Theater Systems Advice