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The center speaker throws out most of the dialogue. The dialogues are the soul of modern movies. That’s why its placement is very critical for a good home theater experience. So, Can I put the center speaker behind the TV?
At A Glance: You can’t place a center speaker behind the TV because there are no acoustically transparent TVs. The dialogues will seem like coming out of a well behind the TV because a lot of the flow of dialogues will be blocked by the TV itself.
Keep reading as I will discuss this in detail and a lot of its aspects. I will also answer the most related questions. This guide will help you a lot in understanding the center speaker placement.
TV Vs Acoustically Transparent Projector Screen
There are acoustically transparent projector screens. If a speaker is placed behind it, it will never filter the sound of it when coming through. The sound will always be pure and its form.
No wrinkles occur on the screen too due to the high sound coming through it.
These screens never ruin the user experience for the audience.
But there is no acoustically transparent TV. At least at the time of writing this article.
That’s why it is a very bad idea to place a center speaker behind the TV. The TV will block most of the sound.
Know how to improve the experience of the home theater both audio and video from my this guide.
Center speaker placement above or below the TV?
In-Short: You can place it below or above the TV, but it must be as close as possible to the TV and its tweeter should be pointed at ear level.
In-Depth: There is no bound on placing it above or below the TV, but there are a few rules to be taken care of.
The tweeter of the center speaker should always be pointed at the ear because you have to keep the audio as realistic as the video. They should match the level of realism.
Another point is that it should not be away from the TV. You have to feel the dialogue is actually coming out of the mouth of the main character. The dialogue should not feel like they are coming out of the cabinet below the TV.
So, to keep the realism of the movie, the tweeter should be at ear level and the speaker should be as close to the TV as possible.
Know how to place the speakers in the home theater for the best experience. You will know a lot of new things from my this guide.
Does the center speaker have to be centered?
In-Short: The center speaker should always be kept at the center and should be as straight to the audience as possible. It should be at a 0° angle with the viewer.
In-Depth: When a character is in the middle of the frame of the movie. Its dialogue will come out of the center speaker. The surround sound is made to bring the situation on the screen virtually to the theater room. That’s why each speaker creates its side-sounding effects.
The center channel is made to create dialogue and sound effects when the character is in the middle of the screen and firing a gun with dialogue delivery.
You should feel these dialogues and gunfires are coming from the character by itself and not from a cabinet’s side. At the sides, there are front left and right speakers to produce the sides’ sounds.
That’s why you should also center the center channel speaker to feel the realism of the movie. The surround sound will now be able to bring the movie’s situation to the theater room and around you in the form of a virtual sound bubble.
Read my guide to know about the best center speaker for home theater. You will know many more cool things.
Can the center speaker be vertical?
In-Short: You should never place a center speaker vertically because the center speaker’s sound dispersion is horizontal, and you will change its dispersion nature by doing so.
In-Depth: As like every speaker has its sound signature. In the same manner, every speaker has a sound dispersion.
The center speaker has a horizontal sound dispersion. Due to this nature, the center speaker can fill the room with sound from left and right. The center speaker covers the audience in the row.
But when it is placed vertically, the sound dispersion will also change to vertical. Now, the center speaker will not be able to cover the audience in the row. It will fulfill the needs of only one person.
That’s why it is not recommended to place the center speaker vertically.
Know can any speaker be used as a center speaker? You will know what are the alternatives for it.
Did you get something out of this center speaker guide? Hold On We Have Something Exciting To Share.
[the_ad id=”4771″]FAQs
Can you put the center speaker floor?
You should not put it on the floor as long as the TV itself is not on the floor. The center speaker is meant to be at the center and as close as possible to the TV. So surround sound can produce the magic of realism for you.
When it is on the floor and the TV is somewhere in the cabinet. The hero’s lips will be moving on the cabinet and the actual dialogue’s sound will come up from the floor 5 feet below. This will ruin the whole experience.
What dB should my center speaker be?
The center speaker should be a few dB higher than the rest of the speakers if you want the dialogues to stand out. The suitable number is 75db for each speaker in the home theater and in this manner, the center speaker should be at 76-77dB.
Should speakers be at ear level?
On-ground speakers in the surround sound must be at ear level. This is because the audio should be focused around you. You should feel like you are in the middle of the action.
You don’t want the train in the middle of the screen to seem like it is traveling on the floor, or the characters on the screen should not seem like they are talking to you from the floor.
Where should a center channel speaker be placed?
The ideal place for the center speaker is to be behind the screen. This will give a sense of like the dialogues are coming out straight from the character’s mouth.
But since TVs are not acoustically transparent and not all projector screens are acoustically transparent, then this placement is not possible for everyone.
That’s why the second-best placement will be to keep it above or below the screen.
Helpful Resources For The FAQs To Read More
- This is was my opinion. Know more from this discussion on Audioholics Forum. (Resource for the first answer)
- This was my opinion. Read more from AVsforum. (Resource for the second answer)
- Know more from this youtube video. (Below Video Resource for the fourth answer)
