It might surprise you that it took five chapters to actually get to the subject of speakers, and even with that, this chapter begins with organization of your racks and gear before jumping into speaker selection. If you’re an old home-theater guru, this might not be that odd. But newbies rarely realize that killer speakers without the right gear are just expensive paperweights. Don’t get me wrong: the reverse is also true; high-end gear can’t put out great sound on its own. However, if you get your components set up and working well, selecting, installing, and testing speakers becomes far, far easier.

In this chapter, you’ll get a handle on how to keep your wiring orderly. That rather simple-sounding task turns out to be daunting, and a constant maintenance issue. (If you think it’s not a big deal, wait until the first time something goes wrong and you’ve got to trace a cable through 20 twisted feet of components.) Then I’ll dive into speaker selection and really focus on the surround speakers that are so critical to home theater. Finally, you’ll learn more than you ever really wanted to know about wiring, from choosing the right kind to using banana connectors to bi-wiring wiring and bi-amping. Get ready for some sound: this is the chapter that makes it happen.

With hundreds of cables involved in connecting your components, you’ll need to be careful and logical in placing each audio or video unit on shelves or racks. You also should take care to label and group cables and components.

When it comes to setting up your home theater, you’ll find that you’ll spend as many hours connecting cables and wires as you spend tweaking the picture and adjusting the sound. And, as you’ll always find some new piece of killer gear later on, this isn’t a one-time operation; you’ll be back in that morass of cables again and again. Taking some time to figure out where best to place your components will save you frustration, hassle, and wasted dollars on additional, longer cables down the line. From there, you can use labels, a bit of Velcro, and banana plugs to take the mess that is your theater setup and turn it into an organized, easily maintained audio/video system.

Use Banana Plugs for Connectors

It’s a nightmare to thread thick speaker wires into the tight cluster of binding posts on most receivers. Not only is it awkward, but also, you cannot leave any tiny strands of copper sticking out. Stray threads can cause shortcircuits, which will overheat your receiver and cause damage, or reduce the lifetime of your amplifier. Wiring is one of those places where neatness counts.

I recommend the dual banana plugs from RadioShack, part #278-308, available online at:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&product;%5Fid=278-308

These units have a solid black spacer between connectors, which ensures the wires don’t touch. They also have a nice oversize hold, allowing for a 12 gauge wire to fit through easily. Finally, there is a knob for tightening, meaning you can get a solid, tight fit for a great mechanical connection.

However, the spacing of the binding posts on these is nonstandard. Before buying 10 or 15, try out one pair with your amplifier or receiver to ensure it fits properly. These units also add 3 inches of depth, which might prevent your components from fitting into your cabinets. Consider all these factors before committing to the dual banana plugs.

If these don’t serve your needs, consider single plugs from RadioShack, part #278-306, available online at:

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLGproduct;%5Fid=278-306

These also are easy to use: unscrew the back, insert wire into the red section, and fold the cooper strands over the lip of the plug. Screw the banana back down, and you’re all set.

Finally, don’t be swayed by the naysayers of banana plugs. There are some “golden-eared” reviewers who swear they can hear the difference between speakers wired with banana plugs and those wired without. These same folks also will insist that your speaker wires all be the same length [Hack #45], which is also largely worthless advice. Banana plugs provide ease of use with no perceptible sonic change; Figure 5-1 shows some cables with banana connectors, all soldered together and ready for use.

Figure 5-1. Banana connectors on speaker cables

Speakers are the most obvious features of any home theater, and they can turn even a lousy movie into an in-depth, surround sound experience. Learn how to choose the best speakers for your room.

Speakers will stand out in any theater, even if you’ve got the coolest HD set with all the toys. Ultimately, home theater means surround sound, and it’s your speakers that will bear the task of pushing out this sound. So, take some time to understand the technical issues, and then go forth and buy!

The primary decision in choosing a rear or side speaker is selecting a monopole, bipole, or dipole unit. Learn the difference, and when each is appropriate.

Although the side and rear speakers generally are used only for effects, and then only a small portion of the time, they make a tremendous difference in the overall feel of a theater’s soundscape. There’s nothing as impressive as hearing a shuttle fly overhead, as well as seeing it move across the screen. The type of speaker—monopole, dipole, or bipole—determines much of the quality of these effects.

Speaker manufacturers are enticing more and more consumers to go with small, mini-, or micro-speakers for even the front and center channels. Although these speakers might look great, they just can’t do what the large speakers can do.

These days, many home theater speaker systems feature very small speakers for the front, center, and surround channels. This has the advantage of allowing you to fit a home theater into a closet, if you should happen to use one as your viewing room. Such small speakers also are very unobtrusive and can be more acceptable to other family members. However, if you check carefully into the specifications for what is actually tucked inside those small speaker enclosures, you might find only one small (like two inches!) speaker.

Although that might not sound like a big deal, remember that one small speaker is being asked to cover all the frequencies from where the speaker system’s subwoofer stops, on up to the very top frequencies delivered by your system. Due to their small physical size, these small speakers will not do a good a job of delivering real power at midrange frequencies, let alone the extreme edges of its range (the lowest lows the speaker is asked to handle,and the highest highs).

Some manufacturers design these little speakers with “long throw” capability,which will help them move a little more air for their size. Still, the best analogy I can think of is comparing a big, powerful, eight-cylinder car doing 90 mph to a little, four-cylinder economy car trying to go the same speed. The automobile with the big engine will be cruising along, while the little car will be thrashing as hard as it can just to keep up! Sure, the Volvo looks good, but it’s just not going to get you where you’re going as fast as the car with the big engine. The same is certainly a good (albeit imperfect) analogy for many of the micro-speaker sets that are in vogue these days.

In addition, bigger speakers usually have at least one tweeter while smaller speakers don’t. Tweeters are specifically designed to perform well at the high frequencies, and easily outperform small speakers trying to be all things to all people. So, now you’ve lost some high-end quality and some midrange quality. Guess what’s next on the “not as good” list. Yup: the lows don’t sound as strong, either.

The home theater speaker manufacturer might try to make up for the lack of low end in the little speakers by designing a “matched” subwoofer to work at frequencies up to 120 Hz, 150 Hz, or even higher! This subwoofer essentially becomes required buying if you go with the smaller speaker set. If you check the frequency range of such subwoofers, though, you might find that although they can play some higher frequencies, they end up bottoming out around 40 or 50 Hz, which doesn’t make for much deep bass. Besides, who wants the main sounds of a movie to come out of the subwoofer in the first place?

Further, another difficulty arises from allowing the subwoofer to handle frequencies above 80 Hz. As you move upward in frequency from 80 Hz, it becomes easier to tell where a sound is coming from. Below 80 Hz, it is much harder to tell where a sound comes from. This allows a subwoofer that doesn’t produce frequencies above 80 Hz to be located where it is convenient [Hack #50], or where it makes for the best bass [Hack #52]. This is why Lucasfilm’s THX standard uses 80 Hz as the crossover point between the subwoofer and the rest of the speakers in the system. It allows for varied placement of the sub, and it lets the sub focus on what it should do best: produce bass.

If your system uses a crossover frequency much higher than 80 Hz, make every effort to put the subwoofer right near the television, so the illusion that the sound is coming from the screen is maintained even at the higher subwoofer frequencies. If the home theater speaker set manufacturer is careless, or cares more about delivering deep bass, the subwoofer supplied might not reach “up to” the frequency where the little speakers start to be able to produce a useful signal. The result is a hole between the top end of the subwoofer frequency range and the bottom end of the little speaker’s frequency range. Low male voices will sound thin, and music with low to midrange frequencies also will be weak.

Because our hearing is so adaptable, many folks can listen to home theater speaker systems with small speakers and not know what they’re missing. Before you purchase a home theater system using small speakers, listen to the same movie or music on a good home theater speaker set where each center and front speaker has at least a four-inch diameter midrange speaker—in addition to at least one tweeter. Then compare that sound to what you hear on the small speakers. This way you will be aware of all the trade-offs in using small speakers.

—David Gibbons

Everyone’s home theater has bass, but with bass shakers, you can ensure that your listeners not only hear the bass, but also feel it.

Bass shakers could very well be one of the best “bang for the buck” additions to any home theater. Yes, a 5.1 home theater audio system gives you the full range of aural dimension but adding these bass shakers, more formally called tactile transducers, can bring a new and exciting dimension of feeling to the sights and sounds of your home theater.

Not only will you see and hear action in whatever you are watching, but you will also feel it! Bass shakers allow you to experience every thump, thrust, and shake...the way bass sound was originally intended.

Buying a Shaker

Several manufacturers make bass shakers. The following list details the most popular brands:

• Aura Systems (http://www.sensaphonics.com/aura.html)

• RBH Sound (http://www.rbhsound.com)

• Rolen Star (http://www.invisiblestereo.com)

• Clark Synthesis (http://www.clarksynthesis.com)

• Buttkicker (http://www.thebuttkicker.com/)

Figure 5-2. Bass shakers on seat backs or in seat cushions

The Auras are the least expensive (and a great value); the Buttkickers usually are rated as the best, but also are the most expensive.

Tip

If you love this idea but just can’t afford the Aura model, you might want to consider using a sub to produce tactile bass sensations [Hack #42].

Sample Installation: Aura Systems

The Aura Systems bass shakers look like Figure 5-3.

Figure 5-3. Aura Systems bass shakers

When you get your kit, you’ll have the parts shown in Figure 5-4.

Installation is pretty straightforward:

1. Turn your sofa or loveseat upside down. Carefully remove the fabric cover on the back or bottom. Find two places on the sofa frame that allow for some resonance and mounting of the shakers (D).

   Figure 5-4. Parts in bass shakers kit

2. Mount the shakers (D) from the inside of the frame, as shown in Figure 5-5. Use the provided Phillips screws (H).

   Figure 5-5. Positioning shakers on sofa

3. Attach the RCA cable lugs (C) to the shakers (D) and lead the other end of the cables out of the back of the couch before reclosing the cover fabric with new staples (see Figure 5-6).

4. Plug the RCA connector (C) into the OUT jack of the amplifier (A) and the transformer (B) connector into the POWER PACK jack of the amplifier (A), as shown in Figure 5-6.

   Figure 5-6. Attaching the amplifier

5. Plug one end of the first 3.5mm mini cord (E) into the SOURCE jack of the amplifier (A) and the opposite end into the splitter jack (F), which you then must into the second amplifier (A). Attach the second mini cord (E) to the music source and to the splitter (F).

6. Plug the amplifier transformer (B) into the nearest AC power outlet.

7. Turn on the amplifier (A) by setting the VOLUME and FILTER levels to your desired intensity of bass vibrations. Level 5 is suggested. For bass only, set the filter level to 10.

Tip

For optimum performance and volume, the green LED should light (signal input indicator), with occasional flashes of the red LED (clipping indicator).

Figure 5-7 shows a single-sofa installation.

Figure 5-8 shows how to set up an installation with a sofa and two loveseats; this is a bit more complicated, but really gives a nice group effect.

Figure 5-7. Single-sofa setup

Figure 5-8. Multiseat setup

Although bass shakers in their default configuration add some punch to your home theater, you can tweak the resonant frequency of the Aura models to create an even deeper shake and better performance.

I have a pair of Aura Pro Bass Shakers [Hack #40] attached to my couch. The shaking they produce is always a hit with visitors and is vital to my listening experience because my wife hates loud noises, and I love LF (low-frequency) effects. I can’t crank up my subwoofer, but the shakers keep us both happy. Anyway, they normally have a peak effect in the low 60s—measured in hertz—but that’s just a tad too high for best effect. Some people use bass equalization to tame this peak, but I decided to lower the resonant frequency of the shakers themselves.

It’s easy to open the Aura Pro Shakers using a #20 Torx driver. Once you open them, you’ll see a three-legged plastic spiral spider that supports the moving magnet/mass. The voice coil is fixed and on the periphery of the unit. To change the resonant frequency, you can either increase the mass, or make the spider more compliant.

The legs of the spider are quite stiff; they are more than able to support the mass. Because there was little room to add more mass, I used a Dremel tool and cutter bit to trim the spiders on both speakers so that they were thinner, narrower, and slightly longer. In my case, I took off nearly half the thickness of the spiders, and also cut into the periphery to lengthen them slightly. Obviously this can shorten the shaker life if you take off too much plastic, but they are cheap enough to replace if you goof up. By the way, don’t cut too far into the peripheral or you might damage the voice coil!

I probably took off just more than half of the spiders’ plastic, mostly in thickness, and was careful to smoothly contour all of my trimming. Maybe they’ll break a bit sooner, but I suspect they’ll do fine. In the meantime, they are more fun.

When I was done, the spiders still firmly supported the magnet. Checking with the LFE low-frequency sweep in AVIA [Hack #62] the shakers now peak at just under 45 Hz instead of about 60 Hz. They also now produce output down to the high 20s instead of giving up in the 40s. I needed to turn down my shaker amplifier slightly, as the shakers are now more efficient. The effect is definitely deeper and fuller-bodied. After going through the opening scene in Lost in Space and the helicopter scene in The Matrix, I am convinced my hour of work paid off. Of course, all the usual caveats apply; this definitely voids any warranty on the shakers, but they’re pretty inexpensive.

A side effect of lowering the resonant peak to the 40s is that less high-frequency audio leaks through. The shakers get a low-pass signal, but their former peak—just over 60 Hz—made them respond to things that shouldn’t be felt in a “bass” shaker. Now they intensify low bass effects, but the annoying “voice in your butt” effect is greatly lessened.

If you love the idea of shaking to low-bass frequencies but can’t afford a “real” bass shaker, you can make do with some low-end subwoofers and clever placement.

The Aura bass shakers [Hack #40] can easily run more than $200, and some folks won’t want to mess with the extra cabling and connections [Hack #41]. For those of you who want bass shaker theaters without going the extra mile, you can use a second sub to accomplish the task.

I discovered this trick as a result of my house being built on slab. Unlike wood subfloors, concrete slab doesn’t conduct bass very well. My seating (a loveseat) was not shaking as much as I wanted, but I didn’t have the dough for professional bass shakers. As an experiment, I moved my 15-inch front-firing Velodyne sub from the front corner of my listening room to where I could point it directly at the loveseat we use to watch movies. I played parts of Star Trek: Insurrection that contained low-end bass and I was nearly thrown onto the floor with all the shaking!

Then I turned the sub down to one-quarter volume and turned the adjustable crossover down to 80 Hz. This produced incredibly deep shaking, but the bass was lacking elsewhere in the room. At this point, I realized I needed my trusty Velodyne to produce bass and a smaller sub to handle bass shaking.

It wouldn’t take much of a powered sub to accomplish the task. I went to Best Buy and found two that I hoped would do the trick—a $149 Infinity 8-inch 75W and a $189 KLH 10-inch 100W, both of which were front-firing. The choice became simple: the KLH was in stock, and the Infinity was not.

For less than $200, I got a sub with a (built-in) 100-watt amp, an adjustable crossover, auto power on, a phase reversal switch, and a level control! Place this sub in your room, pointed directly at your seating—preferably as close as possible (see Figure 5-9).

Figure 5-9. Bass shaker pointed at loveseat

After some experimentation, I finalized on these settings for the sub:

The crossover also is set so low because I didn’t want the second sub to compete with my 15-inch Velodyne. I wanted it to bolster the “feel” frequencies only. The phase reversal sounded a little better to my ears; your mileage may vary.

Also, the sub needed to practically touch the loveseat for best performance. This allowed for maximum conduction from the sub to the couch. I’m tempted to make a foam rubber collar (and somehow paint or encase it in something black) to seal where the two meet, but it is working so well now, I’m going to let well enough alone.

In retrospect, I wish I had found a used sub for sale instead of buying a new one. I’m sure there are many used, smaller-powered subs for sale by those who upgraded to larger ones; that would practically give them away.

—Tim Procuniar

Sometimes that great set of in-wall speakers from your last house just won’t work in your new house. However, it’s easy to convert in-wall speakers to in-ceiling speakers, saving hundreds of bucks on a new set.

Have you ever set up the perfect home theater and then had to move? I’ve had this happen twice now, and both times I lugged my expensive in-wall speakers with me. However, at one home I owned, there was no room on the walls for these speakers, at least not where I wanted the sound to come from (see Figure 5-10 for what these looked like before modification). In these cases, many consumers would bail on the in-walls and buy a new set of speakers, or have expensive remodeling done to support the in-walls. That’s awfully wasteful, though; with a little caution you can convert a good in-wall speaker to a good in-ceiling speaker. You usually can position these anywhere on a ceiling (short of where a fan is mounted), and angle them just as you want.

Figure 5-10. In-wall speakers from Dayton (8-inch, three-way speakers)

That said, you can’t just pull the speakers out of the wall and mount them on the ceiling. There are three problems when using in-wall speakers for ceiling installation:

I was able to solve all three problems by building plywood enclosures to surround the backs of the speakers. I found that 1/2-inch plywood fit perfectly into the groove of the in-wall frames on my speakers; you might find this size works great for you, or you might need to alter that measurement slightly (see Figure 5-11).

Figure 5-11. Speakers fitted into plywood enclosures

I then mounted the boxes in the ceiling, butting them against a ceiling joist. I drove screws from the inside of the box into the joist, which helped support the weight of the speaker and wood enclosure. To be honest, you probably don’t need to offset the entire weight of the speakers/enclosures, but stability is better than nothing. The ceiling can handle some added weight, but I played it safe, especially because I built the enclosures with plywood that was as thick as the frame channel would allow. The drawing in Figure 5-11 shows my completed setup.

Figure 5-12. Diagram of mounted in-ceiling speaker

This quick and painless procedure saved me a bundle of dough on new speakers, and I still get my unobtrusive wall speakers.

—Tim Procuniar

If you want the absolute best connection between your receiver/amplifier and your speakers, use one piece of cable and connect the bare wires at the ends to the terminals. However, there are times when a whole lot of convenience trumps a tiny bit of signal.

Any audiophile will tell you that the best way to get a clean signal from one place to another is with an unbroken signal path. The fewer breaks in a connection, the less likely it is that the wiring will oxidize, and the less opportunity for signal to be lost in transfer. In the home theater realm, this means that running a single wire from your amplifier or receiver into your speakers will result in the best signal transmission. I’ve seen too many homes with multiple strands of speaker wire spliced together, either because the wiring through walls [Hack #46] was done poorly, or because the person making the connections was just careless.

Further, you’ll get the best connection between your binding posts on your speakers with bare wire; there is no signal jumping from wire to wire, wire to banana plug, or anything else. You’ve created the cleanest, simplest signal path possible. That said, you’ll almost never find a high-end home theater that doesn’t use banana plugs! That might seem strange, but it turns out to be a simple case of trade-off.

The binding posts on receivers, and most amplifiers, are usually in a small, tight area. It is a real challenge to get 12-gauge wire [Hack #46] threaded into the small holes on these posts without leaving strands of copper sticking out. If you do have wire sticking out, you can end up with short-circuiting, overheating, and all sorts of nasty problems. Furthermore, have you tried connecting 10, 12, or even 14 speaker wires to binding posts, while lying on your back, often behind a cabinet already stuffed with cabling? It’s not so easy (although if you have your receiver on the bottom shelf [Hack #36], it’s at least workable).

Given all of these negatives, it’s a simple decision to give up a fraction of a fraction of your signal for the sake of banana plugs. They’re easy to connect to speaker wire (even when you’re lying behind that equipment rack), they ensure you don’t have any stray wire sticking out, and they are simple to connect to your binding posts (see Figure 5-1 earlier in the chapter for a picture). Additionally, friction-fit bananas have a good chance of pulling out without taking your receiver with them should your dog or young child trip over (or rip out, in the case of the child!) your speaker wire.

As mentioned in an earlier hack [Hack #36] , I recommend the dual banana plugs from RadioShack, part # 278-308. These are paired units, which keep a pair of speaker wires together, making organization easier than using individual plugs. It’s easy to fit 12-gauge wire through them, and the knob on the side makes for easy tightening. However, the spacing of the binding posts on these is nonstandard. Be sure to try out one pair with your amplifier or receiver to ensure it fits properly. If these don’t serve your needs, consider single plugs from RadioShack, part #278-306.

—Robert McElfresh

As long as the length of wire connecting your various speakers is fairly similar, you’ll get great results and sound, without interference or adverse delays.

One of the more popular home theater myths going around today is that the length of speaker wire connecting your receiver or amplifier to your speakers must be identical, especially for rear and surround speakers. The prevailing thought is that a longer wire introduces additional delay in transmitting sound, resulting in an uneven production of audio between two speakers (left and right). Although this sounds good (and probably will make your friends think you’re really smart when you dispense this as advice), it’s absolute nonsense, at least outside of a laboratory.

We did a calculation to try and determine how much speaker wire it would take to get a 1% phase shift (time delay) between the left and right speakers. These calculations demonstrated you needed a difference of about 80 feet of speaker wire before this would happen; keep in mind that most home theaters use between 80 and 100 feet of speaker wire for the entire room!

At the same time, this isn’t an admonition to cut your speaker wire to the absolute shortest length, either. If you are installing a new speaker system, cut your wires to length, but add 3 to 6 feet of extra wire to each run. This will give you room to play with speaker positions. Once you have decided on the final locations, cut the wires off to the required lengths, leaving about 2 feet of slack. You want this additional slack so that you can move a connected speaker around a bit, and so that you have some extra to trim back as the exposed copper oxidizes over the years.

—Robert McElfresh

If you’re running cable for any length greater than 20 feet, use at least 12-gauge speaker wire.

Many home theater newbies get tied up into knots when it comes to determining the difference between 12-, 14-, and 16-gauge speaker wire, and that assumes they’re even noticing the gauge of wiring to begin with. To make matters more confusing, smaller gauge wiring is actually thicker than higher gauges. Using gauge as the unit of measurement comes from when a rod of metal was run through rollers to squish it to a smaller size. A rod that ran through the rollers 12 times was thicker than a rod that ran through 16 times. This is why the higher numbers mean thinner wires.

To put this into perspective, here’s a typical recommendation for speaker wire gauge versus the length of the run.

Using this and the definition of wire gauge, you can see that you’ll need thicker wire for longer runs; however, many neophytes actually read this as just the opposite and use their thickest wire for the front and center channels, where it’s needed the least.

Rather than spending your free time with a tape measure and these measurement guidelines, buy a large amount of 12-gauge wire and use it everywhere. It will drive your rear and surround channels with no problem, and of course it will work great with your front channels. As an added bonus, you won’t have to worry about the length of your runs; 12 gauge works fine all the time.

It is worth pointing out why some will claim you need different gauges of wiring, especially for the odd occasion when someone turns up his nose at your setup and criticizes your thinking. People who claim to hear the sound change caused by long, thin wires are not talking about the rear speakers of most home theater systems. They are referring to a setup using, at a minimum:

This is a very different situation from the rear speakers of a home theater system. Rear speakers are active only about 20% to 40% of the time, largely carry special effects, rarely transmit dialog, and usually echo what the front speakers are doing. I doubt even the audio gurus could notice the effect of 16- versus 12-gauge wire going to the rear speakers in this setup.

—Robert McElfresh

You’ve probably been told by your home theater buddies about how they’ve bi-wired their speakers—or maybe they’ve bi-amped them—or both. Learn what all these “bi” terms mean, and which you want to put into play in your system.

The best way to figure out if you want to bi-wire or bi-amp your system is to understand what each is.