Home Audio: DIY Surround Sound

With advancements in home audio technology it is now possible to bring the sound of a crystal clear orchestra straight to your own living room. If you don't have the space for a full sized home theater, then a mini stereo is the route to go, don't be fooled by the size of these, all though they look like a bookshelf radio, some higher end models achieve similar results to a full sized home stereo setup.

Wiring your PC into your Home Stereo

This is one of the cheapest improvements you can make to your home audio setup if you haven't done so already. You will need to get a "Y" cable with (red & white) or (red & black) male RCA connectors on one end, and a 1/8 inch stereo jack (headphone plug) on the other. Now plug the 1/8 inch stereo jack into the back of your computer in place of where your computer speakers are plugged in. Then connect the RCA connector to the AUX input in the back of your stereo amplifier. If your amplifier does not have an auxiliary input than you can route it into the tape, CD or VCR input.

Now turn on your stereo and computer and set your stereo to AUX (make sure the volume level is low until you can register how loud the sound is coming from your your computer). There you have it, now your Mp3's can be heard in clarity instead of through those tiny tin sounding computer speakers, and a great improvement to your home audio setup.

Create a Media Room

If you are an avid music listener maybe it would be worthwhile to dedicate a room to your music or media. Having a room set up specifically for music and media can increase your listening pleasure considerably. Usually the only thing aside from seating in these rooms are the home audio system and any media that you own.

Speaker Placement

Having your own media room will make achieving speaker placement very simple but if you do not have room to do this, no worries, there are many tricks to getting good sound in any room of the home.

Elevate your speakers - Most people set there speakers on the floor, but sound will travel directionally so you really want the speakers to be the same height as your ears, when you are in your optimal place for listening (usually sitting down).

Left and Right - amplifiers were labeled for a reason, don't only make sure your left and right speakers are not crossed but also make sure they are separated with an adequate distance between them. The further apart the the speakers are positioned the better stereo effect your music will have.

Do not crowd your speakers - make sure that your speakers are 12-18” from the corner of the room. This will give the speaker the proper placement to allow a quality sound wave to develop from the speaker.

DIY: Surround Sound Center Speaker

If your amplifier does not have surround sound, you can still hook up a your own budget surround sound by running your left and right speakers normally and use the positive from one side and the negative from the other side to power the center channel.