Ten tips for the best surround sound

Surround speakers are great for games and movies

Listening to music, movies and TV programmes in surround sound can vastly improve your enjoyment. But how do you set up a surround-sound system and how can you get it to sound how you want it to? We provide you with ten tips for getting the most out of your surround sound.

Enable SRS

Some TVs come with ‘surround’ sound settings, such as SRS TruSurround XT. You can usually find these (if they are present) by pressing the Menu button on your TV’s remote and navigating to the audio settings page. In some instances, these options can help give your TV’s sound a more cinematic feel. But it’s important to point out that these are just sound effects for standard stereo speakers rather than ‘true’ surround sound.

Use an amplifier

In most cases, to enjoy ‘true’ surround sound, you'll need a special amplifier (sometimes called an A/V receiver) and a set of speakers positioned around your room. 5.1 surround sound usually involves five speakers (left, right, center, left surround, right surround) and a subwoofer. 7.1 surround adds another pair of speakers (left back and right back) to the equation. It’s possible to buy all-in-one amp/speaker packages and these are usually slightly easier to set up than separates.

Speaker placement

The positioning of your speakers is one of the most important aspects of getting surround sound right and this can depend on the shape and arrangement of your room. The ideal setup can be achieved if you have a square-ish room with your TV positioned in the middle of one of the walls. 

Here, your surround sound speakers can be arranged as shown, with front left and right speakers either side of the TV, the centre speaker directly in the middle (preferably not on the floor) and the surround left and right speakers either side of the sofa (ideally at ear height). Note that the subwoofer carries non-directional bass frequencies, so you can position it anywhere that’s convenient. With a 7.1 setup, simply add the left and right back speakers behind the sofa.

Speaker setup for square rooms

Planning speaker positions

Many people arrange their rooms with the TV in the corner. If this is the case, then you need to rethink your speaker positions slightly. The principal remains the same; position the left and right speakers either side of the screen, the centre speaker in the middle and the surround left and right speakers either side of the main seating area. Don't worry if the front speakers are closer together than the back pair. Just try to make sure that all your speakers are pointed at the same spot (usually the sofa).

Get the wiring right

The wiring is another crucial element of getting your surround sound right. For starters, the channel outputs on your amplifier need to be matched up with the correct speakers; front left output needs to be wired to front left speaker and so on. Some surround sound systems feature colour coded cables or plugs to make this easy. 

If this is not the case, then you may also need to match up the positive and negative connection for each speaker yourself. 

You'll notice that the speaker cable is actually made up of two cables and that there are should be two connections for each speaker. These are often denoted by colour on the amp's output and the speaker input; black is negative and red is positive. Look at the cable itself – the positive wire is often denoted by a black or coloured line. Connect this to the positive (red) terminals on the speaker and the amp first and then hook up the plain wire to the negative (black) terminals.

Digital connections

To get the best from your surround sound setup, you should hook up your DVD or Blu-ray player to your amp via a digital connection – either optical or coaxial depending on what outputs are present on the DVD player and what inputs are available on the amp. A digital connection will send the best quality surround sound from your movies to your amp.

Choosing cables

Unless you're an audiophile or have a particularly keen ear, it’s probably not necessary to buy expensive ‘premium’ or gold-plated cables to connect your A/V equipment. That said, good quality speaker cable will always help to improve performance. Decent speaker cable needn't be expensive, however, and can usually be purchased by the metre from most hi-fi specialist stores.

Volume

Another important thing to get right is the speaker levels. Many surround-sound systems come with an automated setup procedure that can set the levels for each channel itself. If not, refer to your amplifier's instruction booklet to see how to set the levels manually. Incorrectly balanced speaker levels can make your system sound very bad.

Volume control

Some subwoofers have a few controls on the unit itself (though not all do). There may be a volume dial and a setting marked ‘frequency’ or ‘crossover’. Experiment with both of these settings if they are available. 

In general, don't go too overboard with the volume setting, as too much bass can drown out dialogue. With frequency/crossover, you need to perform a bit of a balancing trick with the rest of your setup. Try setting it to 75Hz first and then play about with it until everything sounds right.

Free tools

With that vast muddle of cables it’s easy to make a mistake, but you can check that your surround sound system is set up correctly by using a free tool that comes with certain DVD movie discs. 

THX-certified movies, such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Pixar animations, including Toy Story and the Incredibles feature a THX Optimiser. Look for it in the Special Features menu of your DVD. Running it will send a test signal to each speaker, while the picture on the screen will show you which speaker the sound should be coming out of. For a full list of DVDs that include the THX Optimiser, go to www.thx.com.