Bring Your Set-Up to 11

Hello boys and girls! Professor K here to put some wisdom in your skull.

The epicenter of your gaming universe is your television. You’ve shelled out big bucks; make sure those pixels are giving you their all.  CNET has a great viewing-distance chart.  Your viewing position also informs your 5.1 sound set - up. Find a piece of string, cut it to the length of your optimal viewing distance and have a buddy hold it there. Then, take a protractor and measure 30 degrees from center to the left and right. This is where your front right and left speakers go. Be sure to angle them to the listening position. The surround left and right speakers are measured at a 120 degree angle, also  pointed at the listening position. Your subwoofer can go anywhere along the length of the string, also pointed at the listening position. In the illustration below, the subwoofer is the box called LFE or ‘Low - Frequency Emitter.

Speaker height should be with the tweeter (the smallest circle of the two or three speakers) at the height of your ear. The highest frequency sounds are the most direction - dependent, your subwoofer puts out the lowest frequency sounds and are the least direction - dependent.
Ideally, your speakers should all be at least 5’ away from any walls and especially away from corners and doors. Not everyone has this kind of architectural freedom (I don’t) but it will make a positive difference if you can get away with it. The least you need to know: symmetry in set up makes the biggest difference.

The final piece of sound advice: play with the volume. The mix can vary greatly here and it won’t take but a moment to find the right volume for whatever may be going through your speakers.
Your attention to detail here will be rewarded and must be heard to be believed.

For those who have an auto-tuning a/v receiver - you’ll want to re-run the automatic set up after you’ve moved your speakers.

After you’ve set that up you’ll want to fix your television’s picture settings. CNET again offers a great place for advice on this subject.  The forums here are also lousy with nerds who can help answer any questions about optimal settings. You’ll also want to do your adjusting during a time when you’re usually playing video games. This way you won’t have to fight the ambient light. You might even have an artistic friend who has a good sense of color do your adjusting for you.
After all that, re-reading the f-ing manual couldn’t hurt either. You never know what gold lay in those hills. Can’t find it? They probably have it.

Better cables definitely mean better picture and sound. Think of the information traveling down that cable as bandwidth. Gizmodo has a great article. Most speakers can benefit from 16 gauge speaker wire. (Smaller numbers here mean bigger wire.)

Ok, so now your set up is exactly the way the audio/video-mixologist expects it to be. Now what?

Wired offers a great article on kid-proofing your set up. As the Dalai Llama must have said some time during his lifetime, “Sh-… stuff happens.” Ignoring everything else in that article, the safety straps seem to be the best idea.

Easily the best purchase I’ve made is my Harmony remote. This sucker is the world’s first truly universal remote.
Amazon is currently having a deal on Logitech stuff and Logitech’s remote line-up is robust enough to fit any budget. Sounds like a sales pitch but I’m a believer baby.

Home Theater, Peripherals

Further Reading

ViewSonic Unleashes a Rockin' New 3D Gaming Monitor

The Ultimate Gran Turismo Wheel is the Price of Two PS3s

UPDATE: Rock Band 3 Squier Stratocaster will be a Best Buy Exclusive

First Shots of the Official Wheel for Gran Turismo 5

2 Comments

sethnintendo (on 16 July 2010)

I guess I'm stuck back in about 2002 era (CRT HD TV, no surround sound). My apartments insulation is so crappy I don't think I could even have a surround sound without neighbors complaining....

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voty2000 (on 16 July 2010)

Nice article, thanks.

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