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Speaker Tips
Send us your tips on how you place your speakers. Which position of speakers gives you the best sound quality. Does placing speakers far apart do better for you?
We also have a small guide to show you how you can change the speaker settings in Windows without using the surround mixer.
More Speaker Information
Confused about FourPointSurround, 5.1, 7.1 and all that confusing terminology? This article from Cambridge SoundWorks might clear up some doubts.
Cambridge SoundWorks also has an article on speaker positioning for 2.0, 4.0, 5.1 and the subwoofer.
3DSpotlight has a soundcard tweak & speaker setup guide.
Hardware Extreme also has an article titled Optimize your PC's Audio that focuses on speaker positioning.
Anandtech has a Speaker Buyer's Guide that talks about how to read specifications, and the several audio formats available.
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Here are my tips for speaker positioning!
O.K. so lets rock.
Front speaker should allways be installed so that their
Tweeter-element is at your ear level (same applies to rear
speakers also!).
The speakers should be placed as far apart as far you are
sitting from the speakers (so you form a triangle, all
sides same lenght with you being on a top of triangle).
Both of those things apply to rear speakers also.
So you should have them at same level as front speakers.
If you have cheap plastic "sub" then you might consider
putting it to corner so the walls amplify its bass.
If you have good sub, then you should place it between
the front speakers and against the wall.
So there you go!
Sounds better, doesn´t it ;)
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I use total of 6 speakers and 3 amps with SoundBlaster Live!
My front speakers are from Cerwin-Vega (hehe). They are a
bit old model, but come on, it's "Cerwin-Vega". =P They
are not small enough to put on my desk =), so I set
them aside from my desk. NOT right next to it, but a
bit far away.
I also added phonebook under my front speakers so I can hear
it more clearly. It's about 4~5 ft. away from my ears.
Then my rear speakers are from Yamaha. New ones, 100W each.
I don't have enough space to put them around me, so I actually
hanged at the wall, right behind of me. Not too high though;
about a feet higher than my ears.
And my ears are about 6 ft. away from the rear speakers.
The most important part is my subwoofers.
I use 2 Bazookas, in stereo mode. I actually connected to
my Roland Mixer then filtered-out all treble sounds. Anyways,
having 2 Bazookas in both left and right is pretty sweet. Especially
when you play Quake2 and other shooting games; you KNOW where
the rockets are coming from.
I set my Bazookas RIGHT NEXT TO MY DESK, for real-time experience.
I chose Bazooka for my bass because Bazooka can actually
"SHOOT"s the sound -> I set them to shoot on the FLOOR,
but a bit of angled-open-space between floor and Bazooka.
I tested in many other ways, but leaving a little space
between floor and Bazooka was the best way to feel the
shake.
Cool, huh?
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I have my rear speakers sitting on an ironing board behind.
This is good because :
- I can adjust it to the same height as the front speakers
- It is cheap, ie didn't cost anything
- Gives me an extra surface to pile crap, I mean computer
stuff, onto when the desk becomes full
- Is quick and easy to fold up out of the way when I'm not
doing anything that requires 4 speakers
- Reminds me to do the ironing
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I just read your report on the FPS2000 sound system and
think the same, I love it! I have a tip that could be useful, instead
of using the crappy stands i placed the rear speakers in the top corners
of the room. The effect is great because you have sound coming from
everywhere without any obstructions and no wires (i stapled them to the
ceiling!)
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Our Sponsor:
| 4 Digital Outputs?! |
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The Sound Blaster Live! has 4 separate S/PDIF digital outputs, with each of them carrying stereo (left & right)!
These outputs are available on a I/O card with the Digital DIN output.
The latest SBLive! 5.1 series uses 3 of these outputs to carry 6 channels of information.
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