On occasion I will toy around different ways to set up commonly done audio setups. Through this experimentation I've been able to create what is in my personal experience, a flawless gaming surround for 5.0/5.1 (7.0/7.1/7. pseudo 2 coming soon) configuration. This guide is put together under the assumption that you only have a reciever and no speakers. One quick note about my sound experience is that I am in no way a professional at this stuff and I don't just go around seeing what other people do either. With the exception of a few basics, this is all done out of my own experimentation.
This guide is intended for PC gaming, I have yet to find a home theater setup that works better than the standard layout.
5.0/5.1 PC
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Components
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Center: A PAIR of two-way, two-driver (1 tweeter, 1 woofer) fairly small magnetically shielded bookshelf speakers that have bass-reflex and twice the impedance of your reciever as well as half the wattage of the rest of your speakers (you'll see why later).
Corners: Four IDENTICAL two or three way speakers that are significantly (preferably 3-4 times) bigger than your center bookshelf speaker pair. I recommend NOT using bass relfex speakers for corners.
Sub: Personal preference here, though I would recommend a chair mounted one if your just doing 5.1. Alternatively you can decide that your corners are good enough with bass that a sub is not needed.
Placement
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Center:
Depending on monitor size, you'll want to either place your cetner pair either to the sides of your monitor, or if possible directly under it. The more you spread them, the more you'll have to turn them to face you. You'll also want the tweeters to be at ear-level. The cetner speaker pair will be closer to you (except maybe the sub) that any other speaker.
Corners:
Ideally, you'll want the corners at EQUAL distance from where you are sitting. Depending on the spread of them you may chose to make them face each other directly or aim them at you. If you can not place them equally then you'll have to balance them out with your volume controll so that they all sound equally loud. The tweeters should also sit several inches HIGHER than the ones that are on your center pair.
Sub:
Depends on type. Standard reflex towers should be placed directly under your desk as should front-fire and down-fire. Chair subs obviously get mounted on the back of your chair.
Wiring
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Center Pair: Your two speakers will need to be hooked up in PARALLEL. To do this, run a set of wires of EQUAL length from each speaker to your center output on your reciever.
Corners: Regardless of where you place your speakers, you will need to use THE EXACT SAME LENGTH OF WIRE FOR ALL YOUR CORNERS.
Illustration showing basic layout of 5.0 surround
Thanks to Nexuiz Ninjaz image hosting
http://pics.nexuizninjaz.com/
Equipment this was done with:
Receiver: Sherwood RD 6500, 5.1, 100 watts per channel, 6 ohms (can handle 4-8)
Corners: ESS HD 308 Speakers 200 watts max, 2 way, 5 inch horn tweeters, 8 inch woofers, 8 ohms
Center: Pioneer S-HF21 pair 100 watts max (each, together they can handle 200), 2 way, 1 inch semi dome tweeter, 5 inch woofers, 8 ohms (each, 4 in parallel)