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How to make your home theater setup sing in 2024 with a few simple tweaks

DA Gadgets September 12, 2024 Home Theater, Televisions

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You
can’t
beat
the
impact
of
a
proper
home
theater
set
up
on
your
movies
and
boxsets.
Not
only
will
it
help
you
to
feel
fully
immersed
in
whatever
you’re
watching,
it’ll
also
get
you
much
closer
to
the
director’s
original
intent.

Now
we’re
no
AV
snobs
here
at
TechRadar.
Sure,
we
love
a
high-end
set
up
as
much
as
the
next
home
theater
fan,
but
home
cinema
is
what
you
make
it
–
so
whether
that’s
a
full
surround
sound
set
up
and
flagship
telly
or
a
soundbar
and
something
more
mid-range,
there
will
be
things
you
can
do
to
make
sure
your
system
is
performing
at
its
best.

From
simple
settings
tweaks
to
ways
that’ll
help
your
products
work
better
in
your
room,
read
on
for
our
top
tips
on
getting
the
most
out
of
your
home
theater
set
up
in
2024.

Tip
1:
Perfect
your
settings

It’s
fair
to
say
that
TV
menus
can
be
pretty
daunting,
but
if
you
haven’t
delved
into
them
since
you
fished
your
TV
out
of
its
box,
we
would
really
encourage
you
to
do
so.

A
lot
of
manufacturers
have
tried
to
help
here,
by
simplifying
the
options
and
offering
more
visual
ways
of
understanding
what
changing
a
setting
might
do.
That’s
a
good
starting
point,
but
there
will
likely
be
other
settings
hiding
in
the
full
menu
that
are
well
worth
your
attention.

For
the
most
accurate
picture,
you
will
either
want
to
look
for
Filmmaker
Mode
on
more
recent
TVs,
or
Cinema/Movie
mode
elsewhere.
To
many
people,
who
are
used
to
poorly
set
up
TVs,
this
can
look
quite
warm
to
begin
with,
and
sometimes
lacking
in
‘punch’
too.

Stick
with
it
a
while,
and
allow
your
eyes
to
adjust
to
the
new
picture.
If
you
really
can’t
enjoy
it
as
it
is,
steer
well
clear
of
Vivid
or
Dynamic
settings
and
give
the
Standard
mode
a
whirl.
This
will
usually
add
the
punch
that
some
people
miss
without
being
overly
saturated
and
cartoonish.
Just
be
aware
that
pictures
will
be
cooler
in
tone
than
is
considered
accurate,
and
you
may
sacrifice
things
like
black
level
and
contrast
performance
for
that
brighter
overall
picture.

Once
you
get
past
the
picture
mode,
cast
your
eye
over
the
full
settings
to
ensure
everything
is
configured
well.
As
a
rule,
we
would
suggest
turning
off
(or
to
low/minimum)
all
additional
processing,
and
then
slowly
adding
it
back
in
if
you
spot
any
issues
you
think
it
could
fix.

In
particular,
switch
off
any
eco
modes
for
the
best
picture
performance,
and
pay
close
attention
to
motion
processing,
which
will
often
be
ramped
up
unnecessarily.
The
result
is
an
overly
smooth
picture
with
a
loss
of
detail
–
something
that
is
called
the
“soap
opera
effect”.
In
fact,
motion
processing
can
sometimes
do
more
harm
than
good,
so
don’t
be
afraid
to
turn
it
off
completely
if
you
spot
distracting
wiggly
lines
around
moving
objects.

Tip
2:
Consider
speaker
placement

Whether
you’ve
got
a
proper
surround
sound
setup,
a
soundbar
and
sub,
or
even
wireless
satellite
speakers,
where
you
have
your
speakers
in
your
room
can
make
all
the
difference
to
how
they
sound.

While
it
can
be
tempting
to
tuck
speakers
away
to
keep
things
looking
neat,
they
generally
need
a
bit
of
space
to
sound
their
best.
Place
them
too
close
to
a
rear
wall
and
bass
can
be
overemphasized
to
a
point
of
boominess.
Look
up
the
manufacturer’s
recommendations
for
how
far
from
a
back
and
side
wall
they
should
be
placed
–
a
general
rule
of
thumb
is
2-3
feet.
Pull
them
out
of
the
corners
and
you’ll
hear
the
sound
open
up
immediately.

That’s
also
the
case
with
a
subwoofer.
Tucking
an
ugly
black
box
into
a
corner
may
be
preferable
from
an
aesthetics
perspective,
but
you
will
get
the
best
performance
if
it
is
in
line
with
your
front
speakers,
so
make
room
for
it.
Haven’t
got
a
sub?
Buy
one,
it’ll
throw
some
much-needed
welly
behind
those
all-important
movie
action
scenes.

A
lot
of
soundbars
don’t
deal
too
well
with
being
tucked
away
in
TV
cabinets
either
–
particularly
those
with
upwards-firing
drivers
for
Dolby
Atmos
sound.
For
this
reason,
Atmos-capable
bars
in
particular
should
be
placed
on
top
of
any
TV
rack
with
no
restriction,
so
you
can
hear
the
spatial
sound
effect
in
full.

Finally,
if
you
have
standmount
speakers
or
wireless
satellites
sitting
on
low
TV
racks
and
tables,
consider
investing
in
proper
speaker
stands.
These
will
lift
your
speakers
to
ear
level,
which
will
ensure
you
hear
them
at
their
very
best. 

Once
there,
it’s
also
worth
experimenting
with
“toeing
in”,
or
angling
your
speakers
inwards
—
just
slightly
—
towards
your
main
seated
position.
It
won’t
be
necessary
for
all
rooms
or
all
speakers,
but
it
can
help
to
improve
focus
and
imaging.
Check
your
speakers’
user
manual
for
any
manufacturer
recommendations
too.

Tip
3:
Rearrange
your
room 

How
much
you
can
lug
furniture
around
to
optimize
your
home
theater
setup
will
be
somewhat
down
to
the
size
and
shape
of
your
room.
But
there
are
a
few
things
you
could
consider
if
you
want
to
get
the
best
from
your
kit.

Firstly,
bringing
your
sofa
away
from
any
back
wall
will
help
with
surround
sound
setups.
If
you
can
imagine
drawing
a
line
between
your
speakers,
they
should
make
a
circle,
with
your
viewing
position
at
the
center
—
sitting
equidistant
from
each
one
if
at
all
possible.
If
not,
your
AV
receiver
will
help
to
account
for
this
in
its
calibration,
but
not
having
a
rear
speaking
blasting
directly
into
your
ear
at
close
range
is
the
aim
here.
 

The
sofa
should
ideally
be
directly
in
front
of
a
TV
too,
with
as
few
side-on
viewing
positions
as
possible.
Even
the
very
best
TVs
can
suffer
with
a
loss
of
picture
saturation
and
black
level
off-axis,
so
ensure
as
many
people
as
possible
can
view
it
from
front
on.

This
also
matters
when
it
comes
to
wall
mounting
your
TV,
which
should
be
done
at
eye
level.
The
trend
for
placing
TVs
above
fireplaces
has
done
nothing
for
neck
aches
or
picture
quality,
so
make
sure
you
mount
it
lower
if
you
want
your
TV
looking
its
best.
If
there
really
is
no
other
place
for
it,
consider
adding
a
tilt
to
your
mount,
to
improve
the
viewing
angle
from
your
sitting
position
and
relieving
that
front-row-at-the-cinema
feeling
somewhat.

These
things
matter
more
than
being
a
specific
distance
from
your
TV,
these
days.
As
long
as
your
TV
is
a

4K
set,
you
have
much
more
flexibility
with
how
far
you
sit
from
it
than
you
did
with
full
HD,
as
the
pixels
are
so
small
they’re
almost
unnoticeable.
Still,
a
good
rule
of
thumb
is
to
account
for
a
viewing
distance
of
1
to
1.5
times
the
size
of
your
screen
if
you
can.

Finally,
moving
a
lamp
or
lighting
source
behind
your
TV
will
create
something
called
bias
lighting.
This
helps
to
reduce
eye
fatigue
when
watching
TV
in
low
light,
without
it
being
too
distracting
or
creating
reflections
—
just
one
of
the
reasons
we
love
Ambilight
TVs
so
much.

Tip
4:
Run
your
calibration

Now
that
you’ve
moved
things
around,
you
will
want
to
re-run
the
auto-calibration
process
built
into
your
AV
receiver
or
soundbar
—
something
you’ll
want
to
do
any
time
you
make
changes
in
your
room
or
speakers.
And
if
you
didn’t
do
this
in
the
first
place,
then
it’s
well
overdue.

This
process
will
usually
fire
a
series
of
strange-sounding
tones
into
the
room,
to
understand
its
size
and
shape,
and
how
sound
reacts
within
it.
More
thorough
setups
will
use
a
calibration
mic
as
well,
to
pinpoint
the
main
sitting
position,
and
how
this
relates
to
any
speakers
in
the
room.

This
is
usually
over
and
done
with
in
a
matter
of
minutes,
with
automatic
tweaks
being
made
to
your
kit
to
improve
the
sound
afterwards.
 

Now
your
home
cinema
setup
is
optimized,
it
will
be
ready
to
perform
to
the
very
best
of
its
abilities
at
your
next
movie
night.
What
a
way
to
kick
off
2024.

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