Speaker Components
	The Parts You Need

So you bought your speakers and they are sitting in a nice pile.  Let's take a quick look at each one and see what they do.

Front Speakers: The front speakers are very important to your system. They provide a good majority of the sound (high, mid and low) from what ever you are listening too. When you are purchasing these speakers, it is extremely important that you buy identical speakers so one side is not unbalanced from the other. 

Center Channel: This speaker is one of the more important speakers in your system.  It is mainly responsible for voices and sound effects.  Just make sure you get one that is magnetically shielded. 

Surround Speakers: The surround speakers are responsible for creating the atmosphere of the movie/game/music.  They have a full bandwidth that is produced in mono or stereo format. This means that the speakers should be matched to the front speakers so not to effect the overall sound. 

Sub-Woofer: This speaker, in my opinion, is the most important. In movies and some music DVD's a whole sound channel is designated to just producing the low frequencies. By including this into your system, it lightens the load on the other speakers which results in a much better overall performance.

	Setup Basics - Listening Area
	"Your Room, The Forgotten Component"

I am sure some of you are thinking, "why does my room matter?"  If you read the first part about how sound works you will have a bit better idea. Since sound interacts differently with different objects/materials, what you have in your room or around your speakers, can effect how they perform. To help minimize sound distortion in your room all you need to do is follow these few rules:

• Avoid having a large number of bare surfaces (empty walls).  This can cause the sound waves to bounce around and cause "muddy" or "harsh" sound.  Placing carpet or drapes will help because they act as sound baffles. 
• Avoid perfectly square rooms or ones with one dimension exactly twice the size of the other.  This can cause echoes and reverb that is unwanted.
• Place your main seating area between the sides walls in which you plan to mount your surround speakers.
• Stop pictures and other furniture from rattling from sound vibrations (I.e. Bass).

	Subwoofer Setup
	Who Says You Need Pictures on the Walls

Well this is what I would call the "meat" of the system.  True, the other speakers do put out a lot of sound, but this one I find is the one that makes or breaks a system.  Some people go get the biggest/cheapest sub they can find, either way the system is overwhelmed or underpowered.  Spend time doing research before you buy this component.  It should complement the rest of the sound from your system, not knock over your neighbor's walls (even though that is a nice feature sometimes).

Since subwoofers only reproduce low non-directional bass.  They do not produce localized sound.  What this means is you can basically put your subwoofer anywhere and facing any direction in the room and still hear it.  But placement to get the most accurate and smoothest bass is still key.  

If possible the best place to put your subwoofer is either in a corner of a room or near a wall. By doing so you will increase the bass levels by as much as 6dB.  When placing you want to make sure you have clear bass, not a "boomy" or "thuddy" sound.  Walk around to different listening positions in the room, until you find the best sub placement. Personally I use a range of music/movies to help in placement.  The opera scene from my Fifth Element Superbit DVD, is my favorite to use.  It has nice bass and good highs.  Just make sure you try out a few different types of media, games DVD's, CD's etc.

How Speakers Work and Digital Systems	How To Set Up Your Speakers