Page 1 of Question about Dolby 5.1 speaker setup?

Hello, i have just purchased an Amplifier and a set of 5 Satalite speakers with woofer and was looking for some help to see if i have set them up correctly, i have the centre speaker on top of my TV with the font left and right on either side hanging on the wall, my woofer is sitting at the right hand side of my TV with the back switch set to 180%......can someone tell me what the difference with the switch is.....but the thing that is annoying me is that my left back surround speaker seems weak compared to the right one, my 3 front speakers and back right speaker seem to be louder than the back left, i have switched the speakers about but the connection for the left back on my amp always seems weaker....maybe its meant to be this way as i have noticed this before with my last sound system....could someone give me some information on this please...Thanks.

Sorry, I can`t help you directly, but if you tell the good folks here exactly what hardware/kit you have then they will be able to help you as best they can. Aye.

Funny you should mention the LR speaker being weak, I am convinced mine is always far too strong.

Odd.

Are the cable lengths significantly different between left and right?

Speaker Placement:

Imagine a circle with you at the centre. Each speaker should sit at a point on the circle. As a start the speakers should also be arranged to "point" at you. Note however that you should should do some listening tests to confirm this (most noticeable with the main L&R speakers) - some speakers sound best if they aim to either side of you, or even if "crossed", so the left speaker aims at your right ear and vice versa! Experiment with this. In most hi-fi setups the main speakers are between 6 and 10 feet apart (1.8 & 3m). It sounds like your centre speaker is closer to you than it should be. You should have a delay adjustment for this channel. Each 1mS of delay moves the speaker away from you by about 1` (30cm) in virtual space.

Sub Phase Switch

This sounds like a fairly basic sub - most models have variable phase (0 to 180 degs). If you imagine that in the 0 position a electrical signal from the amplifier is making the speaker cone move out-in-out-in etc., changing the phase to 180 makes it move in-out-in-out for the same signal. Why do this? you need to match the phase of the sub with the phases of the other speakers in your system - which also brings out another point:

Speaker Phasing

All your speakers need to be in phase. If they have bare ended wires, identify each wire of each pair - one will have a stripe, or a ridge or a groove to distinguish it from the other wire in the pair. Always connect the striped wire to the same-coloured speaker connector on the amplifier.

Rear Speaker Loudness

I assume you have checked the basic wiring is OK? No fractured cables? Screwed up tightly? Cables as short as possible and the same length (see previous posting)? Do you have a test tone and individual volume setting for each channel? is it placed in a similar position in the room to the other rear speaker speaker (speakers in corners are louder than speakers on walls, which are louder than speakers in free space). Has someone else confirmed the difference (it could be you!)?

This item was edited on Monday, 20th August 2001, 11:01

Hmmm,

Funny one this,but neon has touched on pretty much all of your points above.However you seem to be forgetting the most important and most simple tool on your reciever-the test tone.
Also,try and get your hands on a region 1 20th century fox disc such as Fight club or Castaway.Thse and some others contain the Thx Optimode calibration feature-and has some simple yet very useful tests.One concerns what Neon mentions;speaker phases.The demo will move `white noise` around the speakers,demonstrating in and out of phase examples.This will enable you to tell if all is wired correctly.
Also try not to point the rears directly at your vieewing position.Fire them across the listening position mounted on side walls to give a `diffuse` effect.

As mentioned,please give details of your system set up so we can determine whats at fault.

Cheers and all the best

Westy

Thanks for the answers guys, the setup i have is the Eltax Stargate X.1 Sub + 5 Satellites and the amp is a Kenwood KRF-V5050D, i tried swapping my surround speakers about, but the back left one still sounded weaker, i then swapped the left and right wires at the back of the amp with each other and the right one sounded weaker, i tried it with the tuner on and it was still slightly noticable, i had a friend in to have a listen who also noticed......when watching a movie with really good sound affects, the surround sound seems to come from the front and leave more noticable through the right back or from the right back to the front, i have not had much time to go through the manual yet because of working shifts but i think i may need to take it apart and restart again....can you tell me should all the surround speakers sound equal or is it maybe meant to be like this to create the effect....Thanks.

whats the Eltax Stargate X.1 Sub + 5 Satellites like with the kenwood ? i see qed are doing these for £109. I could do with a new system upstairs to go with my proline £60 woolies special.

This item was edited on Monday, 20th August 2001, 11:52

Using the Dolby test tone all speakers should sound equally loud. If the loudness changes with the cable swap, then it`s either the cable (possible internal fracture - not v.likely) or the amplifier channel. If it`s the latter, just balancing the sound levels will fix it.

This item was edited on Monday, 20th August 2001, 11:59

I have done the sound test and have just found out the right surround speaker is set at 10 DB when the left is set at 0 DB....sorry to have put you all through the bother for something so simple....Thanks again.

Lesson to all,

USE THE TEST TONE! :-)

Westy