Are you not getting the best sound for your TV? You might not know what you should be looking for when it comes to purchasing home theater speakers. Here are some helpful tips to help you optimize your TV experience.

What to look for

• A Subwoofer
• The Front left and right speakers
• The Surround speakers
• The Central channel speaker

What these components do is collaborate together to create a surround sound environment. Think of it like the sound of a movie theater (maybe not quite as loud), only in your living room. Before you begin comparing brands I highly recommend that you make sure that your speakers are voice-matched.

Voice-matched speakers

What voice matching does is it allows sound to travel from speaker to speaker without losing tonal quality. Basically so it sounds realistic, as if you’re really in the environment.  The best way to ensure voice-matching is to make sure all your speakers are purchased as a set or are from the same brand collection.

Placement

Now that you have your home theater speakers it’s important that your speaker placement is accurate. Here is a description of where your speakers should be placed.

• Central speaker: Should be placed under your TV
• Subwoofer: Location is not super important, it’s more on sound preference. For higher bass frequency place it close to a wall or in a corner.  For more precise sound I recommend placing it a few inches away from a wall.
• Front and Left Speakers: Placed on the left and on the right of your central speakers accordingly. Should be roughly the same distance apart from the central speaker and from the location you sit.
• Surrounding Speakers: You will want these to be a little higher off the ground. The minimum height you want these speakers at is your ear level while seated. You will want to place them either behind you or to the side of you.

The surround speakers are what really give that all around you feel. If you are using more than two surrounding speakers consider placing some behind your viewing location. Also remember to have these above your ear level while seated. If you are unable to mount them to your wall, try floor stands. A JBL speaker stands floor is one example of a floor stand that you could use to help get the height you need.

Due to the variables of room sizes and wall dimensions you may need to play around with placement until you get something to your taste. Some home theater speakers come with auto calibration systems that will assist you in fine tuning your viewing environment. Once you’re all set up you’ll have the experience of the movie theaters, but in your living room.