Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers - Gizmodo Comments

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

karoooszka — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:48:12 EST

Two solutions for those of you that can't hear sounds from rear surrounds (besides not having them hooked up):

1.) Read the manual and learn how to use the test tone to adjust the separate speaker volume levels

and/or

2.) Make sure you have the correct sound mode selected. Ie. Neo 6 or Dolby Digital Ex/Dolby Surround II to turn on the extra speakers in 7.1.

karoooszka

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

stephenbb — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:13:38 EST

I never hear anything from my back speakers. Maybe once a month, usually from a tv show I might hear a door shut. (Once) and then silence. Been like this on my for two different stereos now. Same thing for most of my friends too. I don't think they work on the lower end models.

stephenbb

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

hagrun — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:22:52 EST

Everyone needs this thing...
[www.thinkgeek.com]
I can't even tell you how freaking nice it is to not have wires running around the floor or ceiling. This thing actually works really well too.

hagrun

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Kiamat — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:24:08 EST

I'm an apartment dweller so no hiding wires under the carpet, no going through the walls, etc. My current solution is a Yamaha soundbar that I'm really happy with-just need to get a subwoofer. I'd really like to see more wireless technology deployed on the surround sound front, though.

Less is more.

Kiamat

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Evil_Snow_Man — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:39:49 EST

Hard wood floors, room where there are gaps and hallways in the walls on all sides of the tv, house is a rental and we have been denied the ability to run cables through the walls...

*sigh*

Trying to find a rug that actually doesn't look like it was placed just to hide cables (one that when it runs from under your tv display stand straight across the room under a couch it doesn't make people say WTF?)

Evil_Snow_Man

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

jennyfur — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:33:41 EST

@axiomatic: Speakers can't be a WAF problem if you already own them!

jennyfur

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

nickexperience — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:26:10 EST

The funny thing is that most people, even if they do "man up" and run wires to their surrounds, put them in the wrong place. They think that because they are "rear" channel speakers that they're supposed to go behind you. They're supposed to go on either side of you pointing directly at you. If you don't have them set up like that, they don't sound the way they were mixed to sound, and you might as well not have them. Personally, I like the sound have the sensation of coming from the picture.

nickexperience

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

axiomatic — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:06:27 EST

Most of the time the problem is the "spouse" factor and not a technical or knowledge issue.

axiomatic

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Captain Angry — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:01:28 EST

Surround sound is so much more important than a big screen. When you can hear a plane fly over you or echos of voices off walls it brings you into the movie.

Captain Angry

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

junkmail — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:48:12 EST

[www.amazon.com]

junkmail

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

jennyfur — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:35:42 EST

I can understand the ones that neglect to do it due to unsightly wires (I'll even admit that I once postponed this chore a good 5 months for this reason) but HOW on EARTH could the excuse be that they don't know what they're doing? How hard is it to plug in a wire? Blindfolded monkeys on crack could handle a task that simple.

jennyfur

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

pajamamoose — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:27:44 EST

I wish I had the technical knowlege and ability to invent wireless back speakers. Talk about an untapped market opportunity.

pajamamoose

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

pikes — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:24:26 EST

Lucky for me, I was able to run the speaker wires through the wall down and across the basement to the other wall on the other side of the room. I have nice wall plates with speaker wire clips and everything! :D No visible wires!

pikes

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Shrike — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 10:08:00 EST

I can't remember which TV does it (pretty sure I saw the review here on the Giz around E3 time) but I thought that this was a particularly brilliant idea:

Left, right, and center channels are incorporated into the TV itself. The rear surrounds are connected to the subwoofer, which is connected wirelessly to the TV. So, once your TV is set up, plug the subwoofer into an AC outlet behind your couch and plug the surrounds into the subwoofer.

The main drawbacks I see are having to turn your TV on to listen to music and being stuck with the TV manufacturers speakers (Sony, LG, whatever...).

Shrike

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

gamehendge2000 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:40:43 EST

hiding back channel speaker wire behind crown moulding is your best friend. Your wife thinks you're doing her a favor

gamehendge2000

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Barcard — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:59:04 EST

I've got 5.1 surround now, but it was a process. I had stereo speakers in the days when getting stereo FM sound from SDTV broadcasts was a big deal. Then, with 5.1 more common, I decided a center speaker would help us hear the dialog over all the thundering music and sound effects, so I bought a center and two surround speakers. Paid someone to run the surround speaker wires out of sight. For a time I thought that since my left and right speakers had 12" woofers, I didn't need a subwoofer. I was wrong. Finally got a subwoofer and am now happy. It may be that others are midway in this process.

Barcard

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

f0rge — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 08:57:30 EST

i'm running 3.1 right now, i'm hating the wires on the ground and i'm far too lazy to hide them, so no rears for me

f0rge

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

BigViper — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 04:38:17 EST

@CaptainCynic: maybe think about moving yout tv to better accomidate your speakers. Or Do what i did for my old man and invest in a good set of canned speakers that mount directly into the ceiling like canned lighting does.

BigViper

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

DeLarge — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 03:09:58 EST

The main reason people is putting all speakers in front is that they can't afford 100ft spool Moster Cable speaker wire that the Best Buy guy tries to sell them!!!

DeLarge

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

MONSTERGOC — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:25:54 EST

Suck it up and snake the wire like a Man for godsakes. A fiberglass snake is under $50. Go through the basemet or the attic last resort through the walls with as few notches as you have to. Sometimes you just have to pay up.

Now..

No Soup For You!!!

Next!!

MONSTERGOC

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Balance_In_Life (PSN) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:21:18 EST

God i deal with this a lot. When we sell surround sound systems it's most of the time (not bashing women) the wife that doesn't want the rear speakers due to the wires running across the floor. If you can get to these groups fast enough they won't settle on Bose but have a professional do the in wall speaker runs. Most of the time running a demo of rear speakers on and off will do the trick. I for one will never have my main home theater system without rear speakers.

Balance_In_Life (PSN)

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Lux Aeterna — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:46:38 EST

ashwinmudigonda

What kind of reciever do you have? On our HK735 using Logic 7, Dolby PLIIx or DTS:Neo 6 gives great rear channel sound. However, you can't really expect the rear channels to fire too much; I notice it best when bullets whizz past the screen or something like that

Lux Aeterna

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

D.LYTE — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:44:45 EST

alright. here's my deal.

i have a kick-ass set of front (stereo) speakers and a dual-10" sub hooked up to a carver m-400 pushing about 350-watts/channel into 4 ohms. it's a sweet gig. and holy hell...is it loud and thumpy.

in october, i bought a 50" panny plasma thinking that i could just use the variable audio output of the tv as an input for the amp. all of my audio/video gear could then go through my tv. guess what!!! no variable audio output of the plasma. only a line out.

so now i HAVE to buy a surround sound (pre-out capable) receiver to enjoy my speaker setup again. here's my question. within a decent (relatively meager) budget, what are some good choices for the four surround speakers? i have a center channel speaker, the two fronts and the sub already good to go.

i knew i'd have to step into the 90's and get a surround receiver. i'm thinking the Onkyo 705 should do the trick. but i don't want a lame surround setup. i emailed www.madisound.com to get some specs on a "full range" speaker and the reply was that "full range speakers won't give enough clarity at the correct volume" in my setup. do surround sound speakers provide that much volume that i need a $150 speaker at each location? can't i just build them myself with correct cabinet volume (sealed or ported)?

any ideas would be AWESOME.

peace.

D.LYTE

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Smooth1nfernal — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:26:52 EST

most people have no idea what a speaker cable is.

"OMG I WAS S'POSED TO PLUG IT IN?"
...
"and what's this "enstrucshun man-well" that you speak of?" :/

Smooth1nfernal

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

rsquared — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:08:06 EST

@klew: You don't need to set the volume at high, but if you're reading the subtitles and not hearing all the subtle sound fx then you're missing 1/3 of the movie (at least). You really can't downplay the importance of sound in movies.

@ashwinmudigonda: Are you being sure to select the correct sound output from the DVD's audio menu? If you're watching a broadcast (even HBO, Showtime, or the like) they probably aren't sending a 7.1 signal or your cable company is downconverting it.

rsquared

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

mannyv — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:54:55 EST

It depends on the kinds of movies you watch. Most action movies have good surround channels, because there's a lot of stuff going on. Other movies, though, aren't worth the aggravation of setting up the rear channels.

A test: remove all your speakers except your surrounds. Most of the time you won't hear anything. The times you do are neat, but they're hardly integral to the movie.

mannyv

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

subyfan — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:36:17 EST

@ashwinmudigonda: Many movies only have 5.1 (or 6.1) sound tracks. You may need to have your receiver "matrix" the 5.1 into 7.1. Visit an AV forum like avsforum for help.

subyfan

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

clayton620 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:31:10 EST

@ashwinmudigonda: Try the different settings for surround sound: Theater, Hall1, Hall2, etc...

I had the same problem with my speakers but when I put it on Hall, it worked great

clayton620

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

kadtech — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:20:45 EST

All about the dipole speakers

kadtech

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

ashwinmudigonda — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:18:44 EST

I have 7.1 and I set it up as intuitively as I could. However, I have yet to see a movie where something happens from the rear speakers. Everything tests out fine when I run it through the calibration. Even when I set the iPod to play "all channels", I get sound from all 7. It's only during movies, I get nothing from the rear.

ashwinmudigonda

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

quantumbits — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:11:50 EST

You haven't lived until you've watched The Hours in its full, surround sound glory.

quantumbits

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

crashmaxx — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:51:03 EST

Surround sound is definitely a pain in the behind and pretty much overrated. A good 2.1 stereo is very nice to have, but the extra three small speakers don't do all that much.

I have 5.1 properly setup now (I think) and have definitely had it working well in the past. It is cool when it works to have sounds behind you and seem to move around the room. But to do it I need to run wire along nearly every wall and spend a while tuner the receiver to properly distribute the sounds.

On the other hand, a stereo setup takes just a couple wire behind the entertainment center and will easily sound excellent. So it really makes more sense for many people.

My parents are hilarious with their sound system. They have went through a few sets of speakers and had 5.1 for a while. But even though the rear speakers were placed and wired properly, something was wrong with the receiver and they never produced any notable sound. Now they have a nice Bose stereo setup, but they are so funny, they refuse to use it most of the time. We go to watch a movie and they insist we don't need to bother turning on the stereo and just use the TV audio.

crashmaxx

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

klew — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:50:46 EST

I don't have surround sound because I never bought a speaker setup, and I don't like loud volumes. I prefer to use the lowest volume setting and subtitles.

klew

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

homerjay — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:42:31 EST

A drill, a coathanger, and a willingness to make holes in your walls will take care of this problem. If you're not willing (or allowed) to make some holes then tapewire can do the trick. Stick it to your wall (or floor), paint over it, and you're done!

homerjay

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

joch — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:40:15 EST

@Mizzle fo Shizzle: same here. In this case, less is more. If you have great "stereo" speakers and you enjoy a soundstage, I don't see the bother of having a home theatre that you don't need.

joch

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

ninjahaiku — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:33:11 EST

This is what I did:

Bought a house that needed some remodeling. I put all my speakers in the walls and subwoofer jacks at the back of the room. Tv is wall mounted and all my a/v equipment is in an adjacent room connected through the wall. No wires no equipment in the living room. One harmony 880 remote, and my wife loves it.

ninjahaiku

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

sidmuchrock — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:29:54 EST

I didn't hook mine up for over a year due to the icky wires. I have them hooked up now, but it's not in any sort of normal placement bullshit. Really I would be happier with two sets of stereo speakers a right and right over there and over there and a left and a left over here and here.

sidmuchrock

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

bigpolla — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:25:57 EST

my god dam center speak won't work

bigpolla

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

hardisonthefloor — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:16:36 EST

basically.....exposed speaker wire is ugly, and hiding it well is a huge pain in the ass.

hardisonthefloor

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

CaptainCynic — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:11:00 EST

Man, I'm guilty of this. My main issue is that my living room is shaped weird, so the speakers would be in an inconvienent place. That and the speaker wires would be a pain in the butt. I need to run wires through the attic, but my ceiling is vaulted so it's tricky to get where I need to run them.

Anyone have any good ideas here?

CaptainCynic

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

leetXcore — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:52:03 EST

It is so fucking annoying, because everyone does this.

I would gladly take them if no one wants them. :3

leetXcore

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

rdldr1 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:49:48 EST

My 5.1 setup has its rear speakers more towards the side. This is definitely due to the cords being way too short.

rdldr1

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

IUSEAMACSOSUEME — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:48:29 EST

@klrobinson: Exactly! A subwoofer during an action movie or a basketball game adds sooooo much.

IUSEAMACSOSUEME

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

matto — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:48:19 EST

News Flash: 50% of Home Theater Buyers are below average intelligence!

matto

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

nocar — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:42:02 EST

Lots of folks with a new HDTV also watch standard def broadcasts because they don't realize the HD version of shows are broadcast on a different channel.

nocar

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

klrobinson — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:36:35 EST

subwoofer. end of story.

klrobinson

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

MrMaestr0 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:27:13 EST

I didn't hook up my rear speakers either. I payed someone to do it for me.

MrMaestr0

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

ab3 — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:24:26 EST

My friend said he always has to turn the subtitles on when he watches a movie cause he cant tell what the movie was saying so i finally decided to witness this for myself. He was using a really old tv (the one that only has RF connectors!) and the single mono speaker on it. O my it was bad, either that or im just spoiled with a center channel and 7.1 surrond sound. Bad thing is im really the only person within my friends that has surrond sound so you can bet whenever a game or new movie comes out on blu-ray it means party at my house (and nasty cleanup).

ab3

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

geekinky — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:18:33 EST

I ran my surround wires under the carpet before we moved in, and I can't imagine watching movies without them. I'm sure it can be a pain in the butt thought.

@jaydez You and your GF are watching the wrong kind of movies in the bedroom if surround sound is important! :P

geekinky

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

awperk — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:10:35 EST

my only issue is not being able to find an acceptable pair of speaker stands for my rear speakers. i have them set up but i guarantee that they aren't being put to their full use. that being said, i think a good crisp subwoofer is the key to successful movie watching.

awperk

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

jaydez — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:02:15 EST

umm... just buy a rug that covers from the TV to the couch and go under the rug with the wire.

And I hate when my GF makes me watch a movie in the bedroom where I only have stereo. I need my surround sound.

jaydez

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Mizzle fo Shizzle — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:00:18 EST

I'm still a "stereo" man myself. I listen to a lot more music than I do watch movies, and so 5.1 or 6.1 or whatever isn't that useful to me... and it's definitely not worth added footprint and unsightly wires. My stereo speakers are sexy.

Mizzle fo Shizzle

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

digdah — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:56:41 EST

@IUSEAMACSOSUEME:

Very true. Without spending too much on a system and hand-in-hand with proper speaker placement it really makes a difference. Mine forced my to upgrade my TV cause it saw 'smaller' than the rest of the commotion going on.

digdah

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

Darlyn — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:54:31 EST

This just in: most buyers are clueless fucks.

Darlyn

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

IUSEAMACSOSUEME — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:50:52 EST

Sound is so important, I have a decent home theater and I haaate watching movies at friends houses who have bad audio. It's like missing out on half of the movie.

IUSEAMACSOSUEME

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

ChuckBlack — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:42:22 EST

Dolby 2.1 stereo sound baby!

Sounds great IMO...

ChuckBlack

Experts Say That as Many as 50% of Home Theater Buyers Don't Set Up Their Rear Surround Speakers

FlashSandbox — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 20:34:25 EST

I know that it took me 5 years to hook up my rear speakers due to unsightly wires.

FlashSandbox