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Audio calibration turns ugly ducklings into audio swans, it can make an inexpensive system sound very good, and a good system sound great. If you haven’t carefully calibrated your system, you are not getting the best sound and you are missing out on details and nuance you never knew existed.

Audio calibration allows you to adjust for the differences in your room size, layout, furniture, floor, and even the decorations that hang on your walls. Every room is different and the factory levels are dead flat. Many new receivers have auto calibration features that detect and adjust delays and levels for you. In my experience, many of these do a good job but need a little tweaking after giving the starting point.

The starting point of audio calibration is measuring the distances and setting the speakers as close to the recommended distances as possible from the seating area. The front three speakers are of the most concern as they do the majority of the work. The center channel in particular is important in that it provides a solid foundation for dialog, the important part of most movies. Distances are important and it is often necessary to play around with exact positioning and angle to achieve the best sound.

Finding the best position requires a calibration disc and sound level meter. I have found all of the calibration discs available today do a great job of walking you though the setup of both audio and video calibration. I recommend using an inexpensive analog sound level meter, the digital models have received some criticism over the years so I have never tried one.

Now that the front speakers are in place, at least for the moment, let’s focus on the surround and rears if you have them. Most homes allow for easy placement of the front speakers but the rears are likely to be more difficult. I prefer the rear channels to be set up high on the side and back walls. Homes however have a way of making placement difficult, especially in living rooms where side and rear walls many not exist. Do the best you can and don’t mount anything to a wall yet, you will almost certainly have to move it.

This is where having a friend around can be handy. Have them hold the rear speakers up in the position you feel will work best, one at a time of course and make sure they are not standing with their body between you and the speakers. Start the calibration disc and set your analog sound level meter to “C weight,” “slow,” and “70.”

Let the calibration disc run through all of the speakers to find the loudest one and adjust the volume until the sound meter needle is dead center. This is your reference for the rest of the calibration as well as the reference volume point you will use for movies if you want to exactly replicate the volume level of a movie theater.

Run the calibration and adjust all of the speakers with the receiver controls until they are all showing dead center on the sound meter. It is now time to mount the rear speakers and put in a DVD you are familiar with. Action movies are best for this, as you want action in the rear speakers. Adjust speaker angles and placement to make sure you are getting the best imaging and recheck all of the sound levels again.

Finally, it is time to adjust the subwoofer. This is done exactly the way the rest of the speakers were calibrated except the sound level meter should be set to “80.” Placing the subwoofer a few feet out from a corner is usually best, but not always possible. One old trick is to place the subwoofer in one of the chairs and walk around the room to identify the position that has the best volume. If you are limited to one place for the subwoofer, adjust it the best you are able.

You have now calibrated the audio levels for your receiver. If you are not using the 5.1/7.1 analog inputs you are finished and can enjoy the newfound life in your movies. If you are using the 5.1/7.1 analog inputs, we get to do it all again. These analog inputs bypass any settings on the receiver so the process must be repeated by calibrating the sound on the DVD/Blu-Ray player.

Some receivers require calibration of each input individually. Use the original settings and make adjustments from there, it should be a minimal and quick process for each input.

After calibration is done, you will need to go through this process whenever you add or remove equipment in your system, move, add, or remove furniture and once a year just for good measure. Speakers and amps can change over the year without you realizing it and besides, it gives you a chance to keep familiar with your system and identify problem areas that appear out of nowhere.

Some of the very best bargains in home theater are found at online only electronics manufactures. Online only companies skip the middleman and pass the savings directly to you and in many cases they give you the most bang for the buck.

Some of these manufacturers started building products as a hobby and found enthusiastic buyers in home theater forums. After making a few and selling them it became apparent, a successful business could be created. This was the case with the first online only manufacturer I became aware of. SVS started out building cylinder style subwoofers with a perfect combination of punch, deep bass and accuracy that simply can’t be matched for the price. SVS has since added traditional subwoofer designs and front and rear speakers that are every bit as good as their first mind-blowing subwoofer.

The advantages of buying from one of these manufacturers is easy to see, the downside is you can’t walk into a brick and mortar to listen to their equipment. To address this they all offer amazing customer service and an easy return policy that protects you in the event you decide the product just isn’t for you.

You can find more information on any of these manufacturers on any home theater forum and if you ask nicely, it is pretty easy to find someone in your area happy to let you demo the product in their own system.

The next manufacturer I came across, who also has a loyal following was Outlaw Audio. Outlaw started building powerful, well-featured receivers at a great cost. They have since added amps, speakers and accessories that meet the original Outlaw vision of quality and performance at a great price.

When it comes to cables, there are a lot of opinions and most home theater enthusiasts believe price is the last factor in getting quality cables. An additional thought, one I agree with, is that Monster Cable is a huge rip-off. This is where I have really saved a lot of money while getting some of the very best cable made. Blue Jeans Cable builds hand made cables for every audio and video need using the highest quality parts. Blue Jeans Cable researches each cable carefully and offers clear choices based on your individual needs. These are in my opinion audiophile cables at basement bargain prices. Do yourself a favor and ignore the advice you get in the local store, go online and buy the best at a fraction of the cost.

Elemental Designs has been a well-known manufacturer in the custom car audio community for a long time, now they are building a reputation for best bang for the buck home theater speakers and subwoofers. When I upgrade the speakers in my living room system, this is where I am going. Elemental Designs also has a big discount when buying packages and offers an easy to use tool that lets you build a custom system from 2.1 – 7.1. I have had the pleasure of setting up several of these systems up for friends and I love the sound of their speakers, especially for the money. One note on these speakers however, even the smallest bookshelf speaker they make is enormous, if size is a factor, measure carefully before ordering.

This brings us to our final online only manufacturer and these folks put power, lots of power, into your system. Emotiva builds big, heavy, powerful amps at unbelievable prices. Being the owner of the famously power hungry Magnepan speakers these amps make me drool like a dog watching the chicken coop. Emotiva amps are fully 4 ohm capable and push anywhere from 125 watts into 8 ohms to 500 watts into 8 ohms. Even more impressive is that they double or nearly double their watts into 4 ohms, which is an indicator of a well-built amp.

I am sure there are other quality online only electronics manufacturers out there and I would suggest giving them a chance. To find out more from people who own these products and will happily answer your questions with real world experience, check out Home Theater Forum and AV science Forums.

 What is home theater? The definition is “the use of electronics to recreate the movie going experience in ones home.” I take this definition pretty seriously, I have many viewing areas in my home including three bedrooms and the living room. All have a DVD player or Blu-Ray and are used for watching movies but I only have one room I consider a home theater. All of my systems have a receiver and multiple channels although not always 5.1 or better. My main system is the only one I consider a home theater and not because it is a dedicated room, which is not, specified in the definition.

 The reason I consider only one system a home theater is because it is the only one I have made the effort to push the viewing experience as close to going out to the movies as possible, minus the gum and soda on the floor. I have carefully replicated the sound, picture and feel of the movie going experience in that one room.

That’s not to say I haven’t calibrated all of my televisions, dialed in the audio of each sound system and made every effort to maximize the experience. I simply have not gone to the lengths I consider necessary to make each room a home theater.

I have run into many people, friends and family who come to me for advice on setting up their home theater. I consider their budget and their priority in creating the system in their home. Like so many however, the advice is wasted or forgotten. They are likely to take my advice and get a great television and DVD or Blu-Ray player but that is where they stop.

I always provide a list of options, well within the budget that includes a receiver, speakers and subwoofer in various sizes that can fit any decor. This allows them to walk in and make purchases without spending a lot of time dealing with sales people or lingering over making the decision. I am all for listening to a system and making up your own mind, that however doesn’t really matter to most people who just want to get a decent system within their budget and for these people, the complete not enthusiast, they really don’t have much of an opinion on the sound system.

Just to prove the point, in almost all cases these people forgo my advice and my offer to make it simple by setting it all up for them. I get a call a week or two later to come over and check out their completed system. I know what to expect after so many of these visits and I bring along my standard equipment. Anyone who knows me well enough to call me up to check out their new system knows me well enough to expect me to put the finishing touches on things.

Here is where things get a little hairy as 9 out of 10 times I find a home theater in a box set up so that all 5 channels are sitting haphazardly on the cabinet below the television. The exception is when the surrounds have made it to the back of the room but very different distances from the sitting area. Nothing is ever calibrated, the system was simply plugged in.

I am not being a snob, I understand fully that the majority of people want to watch a nice picture and be able to hear the dialog, anything beyond that is a bonus for them. This is fine and I happily assist in making the most of what they have within the limits they impose. Is this a home theater? No it is not, it is an entertainment system and in no way resembles a home theater.

The first thing I do is check all of the connection on the television. I remove the coax running from the Hi-Def sat or cable box and replace it with an appropriate HDMI or component cable. Make sure all of the other connections are maximized and start making the correct audio connections.

 I always take a few minutes to explain how 5.1/7.1 works and how we can make that work in their house. This usually ends up with me disconnecting the surround speakers and disabling them in the receiver. This is not home theater but it is what makes them happy and that works for me.

Finally I pull out my calibration discs and analog sound level meter and get to work, making the absolute most out of what they have. They are happy and I am happy and for my final act I program their universal remote, hopefully one I suggested like the Harmony 550 which is both inexpensive and works well for most small set ups.

I am not a saint and I do have an elitist streak when it comes to an actual home theater. A television, source and speaker system capable of recreating as closely as possible, the movie going experience is not what most people want or strive for so when I am told about someone’s home theater, I smile and nod knowing the odds of them having a home theater is low, very low which gives me a warm elitist glow in my belly. What would I ever do if everyone did have an actual home theater, I might have to get into something like space flight where an actual space craft is much less subjective.

Home theater in a box is OK if it is set up properly.

No surround, not a home theater.

Non-HD television… You bet as long as it is 36” or larger, this is also dependant on the room. A 36” television watched fro 17’ away doesn’t work.

Subwoofer is required unless bass shakers have been installed, both are better.

Connecting an HDTV to HD sources with the wrong cables… Definitely not a home theater and close to unforgivable even for non-enthusiasts.