Home theatre set up/ audio file

[scipper77]

Fellow AV Geeks, I have a question.

Here's the setup...
I'm Putting up crown moulding to hide my speaker wires for my 5.1 surround sound system. I lowered the surround (rear) speakers to be 2 feet above seated ear level and what a difference it made. They were up near the ceiling before. I did the reading and learned that the front speakers should be at ear level and rears slightly above.

After I finish putting up the crown I will not be able to change the length of the wires to the speakers so I need to get the speaker placement right before I can finish putting up the crown.

What I specifically am looking for is a good audio file that I can use to check my setup before I make my speaker locations permanent. The DVD's and blurays I have would require a good amount of searching to find the things I am looking to test.

When properly set up, sounds that travel left to right and front to back need to sound like they are moving around the room and not like they are jumping from one speaker to the next.

My blu-ray player is integrated with the surround sound (boxed setup) and will accept audio files on a memory stick. Additionally I can burn to CD or DVD.

Can anyone point me to a good test track/file I can use for setup purposes?

Advice is also welcome.

 

[gonefishie]

Re: Home theatre set up/ audio file

I don't know about a test track but there are amplifiers nowaday that have "auto calibration". The Samsung system I set up at my mom's house has this capability. You can place the speakers wherever in the room then run the auto cal. It has a microphone that you place in normal viewing position. The amp. send out a test sound from each speaker one at a time. The mic. picks up the sound then the system adjusts everything accordingly based on distance and height of the speaker from your viewing position. Slick as snot.

 

[scipper77]

Re: Home theatre set up/ audio file

Auto calibration can't compensate for poor speaker placement. Right now my fronts are at the ceiling. Ideally you should have them at seated ear level. I don't think I will be able to get them that low but would like to experiment with different speaker heights.

My rears are at about 6' high. If I put my fronts at around 5' they will be at the same height as my center channel which is desirable. think of it this way, if a sound moves from left to right and the speakers are at different heights then the sound will not seamlessly travel from left to right.

I want to play a track where the sound moves around the room so I can make sure that my speaker placement makes the sound move around seamlessly. Then I will permanently mount the speakers and install the crown moulding so there is zero excess exposed wire.

Please someone help me. The crown is half up and if I don't feel good about my speaker placement when I put up the rest of the trim it will really bother me.

 

[JustJason]

Re: Home theatre set up/ audio file

I worked at a high end AV company for years.
Long and short of it is, if the speakers are more for movies, then placement doesn't matter to much.
The tweeters on the front speakers should be about ear level when sitting. If they are a foot to high or low it won't make a difference.
But if they are up high against the ceiling, down low on the floor, or corner loaded then the bass output from the speaker will double against 1 surface, triple from 2 surfaces (corner). And that can throw off the overall sound of the system, it's to bassey. And sometimes it's not so much that there is to much bass, it's that the bass drowns out the mids, where most speech falls (as in movies) you'll be turning your bass/treble knobs up and down and never be satisfied.

Now if the system is equally for music, and you are a critical listener, then follow the speaker manufactorers recomendations for placement. Width, depth, and toe placement of the speaker can make or break a soundstage. A Klipsch is going to set up very differently than say a Paradigm.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: Home theatre set up/ audio file

I use equalizers on my sound systems and use a "banana curve," with the mids below zero and the highs and lows above zero. I adjust so that the volume level doesn't change with or without the EQ, but the sound is shaped better. I find that most of what you play through a home sound system is in the mids - be it speech or otherwise. As such, defeating the mids and pumping up either end of the spectrum balances the overall sound and givers a tone that is more rich.

Of course, this sort of thing is as much about personal preference as anything else, but I have found my approach to be pleasing to most people.

BTW, if anyone is using the latest version of Win Media Player for tunes and movies, it has an EQ built in. I didn't expect much, but its really not too bad.



???

 

[marlboro180]

Re: Home theatre set up/ audio file

Not really sure if I can help, but check here- audiophile site!

I know, you are looking for an audio file.......

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?icomp&1&ctg&0&50&

 

[scipper77]

Re: Home theatre set up/ audio file

Not really sure if I can help, but check here- audiophile site!

I know, you are looking for an audio file.......

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?icomp&1&ctg&0&50&

Thanks for the link,
I will check this out when I am not at work. One forum at work is more than enough.

If anyone has a cd or dvd with any audio tests and could make an ISO file for me it would be great. I'm not looking to violate any copyrights or profit form this.

If you do have anything that may help me please PM me. Even if it is commercial I would like to know what is out there.

 

[Fergus20]

Re: Home theatre set up/ audio file

I would suggest what the previous response was.