A surround sound system immerses you in a movie that stereo alone can’t match. In this article, we explain what makes a great surround system and how you can recreate an experience as the filmmakers intended it in your own home.
HOW TO SET UP A SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM
by Thomas S.
January 6th 2025
Multichannel audio, from stereo to surround, creates a sense of space by delivering different sounds from different speakers. Most music is recorded and mixed in stereo, which means the instruments were either recorded with a stereo microphone, placed in a stereo "panorama" during the mixing process, or both.
Surround sound is principally the same. It can be recorded live using a separate microphone for each surround channel but, in practice, surround audio for movies, series and games is often mixed in the same way as a stereo mix: by placing individual sound sources in a surround panorama.
Why a surround sound system?
If done well, a mixing engineer can create a stereo recording that, when played on a properly positioned stereo setup, immerses you in a soundstage where instruments are spread across and even beyond the physical placement of the speakers. If done right, it can feel like your favourite musician is standing in the room right in front of you.
Surround sound systems take the feeling of immersion a step further by creating a soundstage not just in front of you, but one that fills the whole room. This takes advantage of the fact that, where human vision is limited to a wide angle in front of our eyes, human hearing picks up sound all the way around and above.
While the most important action in a movie scene often takes place on the screen in front of us, important sounds, such as the whizz of a bullet or an off-camera voice, are often heard beyond our field of vision – just as in real life.
To make a car chase feel authentic, a film mixed in surround sound contains not just the sounds coming from what the driver sees through the windscreen, but also the sounds of cars whizzing by to the sides or closing in from behind.
A stereo speaker setup can only create an illusion of sounds coming from the things you see on the screen. However, pairing good-quality speakers and components with a room designed for great audio lets you experience a stereo field that expands far beyond the physical placement of the loudspeakers. But, stereo is still limited in its capacity to deliver immersive audio.
Since most contemporary movie releases feature surround sound mixes, it therefore makes a lot of sense to go beyond stereo speakers for your home cinema setup.
To make it easier for you to choose loudspeakers for surround, this article will explain what you need and why you need it. Let’s get started.
Front speakers
As mentioned, the front of your system is where much of the action happens. Usually, the left and right front channels take care of the louder sounds, like explosions. Therefore, you should consider a pair of floorstanding speakers in these positions, as their physical size will inherently produce a larger sound. But a pair of quality bookshelf speakers can also work well, especially if combined with a subwoofer (that’s the ".1" in a 5.1 setup).
In reality, the best front speakers depend on a number of factors. If you have a small room or you prefer to keep the volume down, then smaller floorstanders or bookshelf speakers may be your best choice. However, if you have a large room that you want to fill with rich sound, we recommend large floorstanders. And if you want the full, room-shaking experience as the filmmakers intended it, add a subwoofer.
The centre speaker
Usually, dialogue in a film is mixed right in the centre, especially if it’s taking place on-screen. Having a dedicated centre-channel speaker means you can control how loud the dialogue is. For some films, the dialogue may be quieter than you prefer, but with a separate centre-channel speaker, you can adjust the volume of just that channel in your surround amplifier. Most centre speakers are designed specifically for dialogue reproduction, but they will also enhance anything sent to the centre channel during the post-production mixing process.
The centre speaker plays the sounds that are meant to be coming from the centre of the on-screen action. Ideally, you would therefore place the speaker right in the middle of the screen. While this is possible if you have a projection screen, most people have a flat-screen TV, so your only option is to position the centre speaker just below or above the TV. To bring the sound as close to the action as possible, most dedicated centre speakers are designed to be placed horizontally.
You can replace a centre speaker with a small bookshelf or on-wall speaker, if you like, though a dedicated centre speaker will typically deliver clearer, more powerful dialogue.
Surround speakers
Any surround sound speaker system will have at least one pair of surround speakers. These speakers reproduce the audio information that extends the soundstage all around the listening position, specifically to the rear and side.
Note that surround sound terminology differs depending on the system configuration. Whereas a 5.1 system has only one pair of surround channels, a 7.1 system (and up) has at least two pairs of surround speakers, such as a pair of side-surround speakers and a pair of rear-surround speakers.
Surround speakers don't typically need to reproduce very low frequencies, which is why they are often more compact in size. However, they do need to perform when it comes to the high and mid frequencies, as these are what the human ear uses to determine direction and room information.
The subwoofer
A subwoofer recreates the lowest-frequency sounds that the listener can actually feel. From room-shaking explosions to the tremors of an earthquake, a subwoofer is an essential part of any great surround sound system.
When it comes to a subwoofer – or subwoofers if you have a .2 setup – where you place it in the room is not as important as the other speakers. That's because the human ear isn’t capable of pinpointing the precise location of low-frequency sounds produced by a subwoofer. There are, however, varying opinions about where you should place your subwoofer; some recommend placing it close to one of the front speakers, while others suggest placing it in a corner to enhance the low frequencies (though this can lead to unpleasant "boomy" bass). We recommend experimenting to see where it sounds in your room.
For more information, look out for our upcoming article explaining everything you need to know about subwoofers.
Surround sound setup
Think of your surround sound setup as a rectangle, with your left and right front and rear speakers placed in each corner. The centre speaker should be placed an equal distance between the two front speakers.
However, in the real world, you may not be able to achieve the perfect configuration. For example, you may need to position the speakers a little to one side, rather than right in the middle. Perhaps the room is small, leaving you no choice but to place the surround speakers directly behind the listening position. Although this isn’t ideal, virtually all surround sound receivers compensate for limitations in your setup by letting you adjust the volume level and delay of each speaker. By fine-tuning each channel, you’ll be rewarded with an immersive, balanced soundstage in virtually any room.
There's a lot of good advice out there on setting up surround sound, like these surround sound setup guides from Dolby Laboratories™.
Should I install speakers at the rear or side?
The short answer is, it depends on your room and your surround setup.
In an ideal surround system, speakers would be placed all the way around and above the listening position, covering every angle. This is what immersive formats like Dolby Atmos do, using dozens of channels in professional cinemas and 12 or more channels in home setups.
But in a 5.1 system (or 5.0, if you don’t have a subwoofer), there are only two surround channels, hence only two surround speakers. Any sound going "around" the listening position is played through these two channels, and while 5.1 sound mixes are made to be played back on 5.1 systems, it still matters where you place those speakers. A mixing facility for film sound (also known as a sound stage) is often a near-ideal listening room, or at least much better than most rooms used for home cinemas. This means there isn’t a single correct placement for your surround speakers, rather, some will sound good and some won’t.
You might say the ideal placement for surround speakers in a 5.1 system is somewhere between a side and rear position – in other words, in the corner. In the real world, the ideal position for your room is the one that sounds good while not getting in the way of other activities the room may be used for.
However, in a 7.1 system the side speakers should be placed to the sides of your listening position, while rear speakers should be placed behind.
If you don't have space behind your listening position, you can also install the rear speakers in the wall or ceiling. Read on for more details.
How far apart should I place speakers?
If you place your speakers too close together or too close to the listening position, the sense of space and movement will seem cramped and underwhelming. Place the speakers too far apart, however, and you’ll hear "holes" in the sound, which will affect the overall sense of immersion. To get the best possible sound, try varying the distance between the speakers, as well as the distance between the speakers and your listening position.
To experience this, try placing a set of stereo speakers next to each other and play a recording that normally has a wide stereo image, like Radiohead’s OK Computer. You’ll notice that the stereo image collapses and the sense of space and width disappears into what is effectively close to a single-channel reproduction (also known as mono). The same would happen if you placed your surround speakers next to each other; you would lose the sense of room and space.
So, what’s the ideal distance? This depends on your speakers and the size and design of your room. We recommend experimenting with your surround sound setup until you find the best configuration for your particular room.
If you’re using speakers capable of wide dispersion, such as those from DALI, you don’t need to angle the speakers towards the listening position. In fact, doing so will produce an unnecessarily bright tonal balance, while the soundstage will become less diffuse, reducing the sense of immersion.
How high should rear surround speakers be placed?
The correct height for surround speakers is another common question among home cinema fans. Some will tell you to elevate them to a height where they will "shoot" over your head, when seated. The idea is to avoid pointing them directly at the listening position, as you may lose some of the diffusion or immersive qualities of the sound. However, at DALI, we recommend placing your speakers with the tweeters at ear height, if possible, while aiming the speakers slightly past the listening position.
The same goes for speakers placed below or above ear height. You should always experiment to find the optimum angle and placement, while remembering that diffuse sound is the key to believable surround sound – and that too much direct sound can ruin the illusion.
Floorstanders or stand-mount loudspeakers are great for rooms with a back wall, but what if you want to install your home cinema in an open-plan home with no wall between, say, the living room and kitchen. Do you really want floorstanders or stand-mount speakers (not to mention all that cabling) in the middle of the room?
The solution could be in-ceiling speakers...
Can surround sound speakers be placed in the ceiling?
Yes, absolutely. While in-ceiling speakers are commonly used as height speakers in Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Auro-3D systems, they can also be used as rear speakers in other surround configurations.
If placing rear speakers on the floor is not an option, you can get great results with in-ceiling or near-ceiling speakers.
Depending on the distances to the side walls and ceiling, you may find it better to use in-wall speakers or on-wall speakers to the sides of your listening position, rather than ceiling speakers. Remember that you are trying to create a cohesive surround sound field, free from gaps and holes, where no individual speaker dominates the immersive experience.
For best results, we recommend hiring a professional installer to get the best-possible placement – patching up holes in the walls or ceiling when you discover you’ve installed them in the wrong position is no joke. For extra flexibility, choose in-ceiling speakers that allow directional control, as this lets you fine-tune the sound field, even after installation.
How loud should surround speakers be?
This question comes up often. As with many other questions about loudspeakers and sound, the answer is: it depends. A good starting point is to make sure the front and centre speakers are clearly heard, as they are arguably the most important speakers in a surround system. If the surround speakers sound too loud from the listening position, they may overpower the centre and main channels, resulting in a confused surround image.
Surround sound receivers and amplifiers usually include some form of auto setup or room correction. This is a great way to set initial levels, though remember to fine-tune using your ears for the best results for your particular setup.
How do you know if your room has good acoustics?
The measure of a room with good acoustics is reverberation time. Reverberation is what happens when sound bounces off hard surfaces in a room and slowly fades away. A room with good acoustics should therefore have low reverberation.
Here’s an easy way to test the reverberation time in your room: Simply clap your hands or speak loudly near every speaker in your system. If you hear a strong echo, you should optimise your acoustics. Unless you have a very large room, you will be hearing quite short echoes, making a handclap sound like a ruler vibrating over the edge of a table.
If your room is large and sparsely furnished with lots of hard, parallel surfaces, creating the ideal acoustic environment can be a challenge. In a smaller room with a soft couch, rug and bookcase, it may be just a matter of rearranging things and adding a plant or two. This is an example of simple acoustical treatment.
So, what exactly is acoustical treatment?
Any sort of material that will either absorb, reflect or diffuse sound waves can be considered acoustical treatment. In acoustics, this includes everything from fluffy pillows and couches, to bookcases, plants and people. Heavy curtains are often used to improve the sound of a room, but they’re also good for keeping light out, reducing glare on a TV or projector screen. To appreciate how much these everyday objects matter to the sound of a room, you could try removing all of them and listening to the difference... or you could just take our word for it.
For more information, check out our How to improve acoustics in a room article.
A note on digital room correction
Most modern surround amplifiers and receivers come with digital room correction algorithms built in. Using a calibration process with an included measurement microphone, digital room correction lets you create good surround sound quickly and easily.
However, digital room correction has its limits, and you may find it doesn't produce the best results you may have been expecting. Consider it a starting point and don’t be afraid to adjust your surround speaker placement and/or room acoustics based on what your ears are telling you. Remember: if it sounds good, it is good.
Conclusion
The final test will always be your ears: are you getting the immersive experience you expect? Is the dialogue clear and in the middle? Are effect sounds moving from side to side and front to back? If the answer is "yes", then great! On the other hand, if everything sounds jumbled, uneven and generally unenjoyable, you need to change something. Is it the placement of the speakers? Perhaps the volume levels of one or more of the channels is too high or low? Maybe your amplifier or speaker cables aren't up the job? Or do you need to move the furniture around in your room?
Remember that your local Hi-Fi dealer is always ready to give you the professional guidance you need to experience the joys of immersive surround sound at home. Click here to find you nearest DALI dealer.
DALI surround sound speakers
At DALI, we have a broad range of home cinema speakers for any space, from the smallest living room to the largest multichannel home cinema. So whether you're looking for small bookshelf speakers, towering floorstanders or a discreet custom install setup, DALI has a home cinema solution for you.