Setting up a 5.1 system on Windows 7. Programs for setting up sound
Hello dear readers. Today's article will be especially useful for music lovers, as I will tell you how to set up surround sound in the Windows 7 or 8 operating system.
The first thing you will need is to purchase speakers and a good sound card. Let's assume that you already have these two components. Then, be sure to install the drivers for the sound card. You can find out the name of your “sound speaker” using the program “ Everest "or any other similar.
The 5.1 stereo system is connected to the system unit via the following outputs:
- Orange – subwoofer and center speaker;
- Green – front speakers;
- Black – rear speakers.
By the way, do not forget that surround sound also depends on the location of the speakers in the room. I'll give you a few examples of how to properly arrange speakers from stereo systems.
Now let's get back to the drivers. Let me remind you that you definitely need to install the drivers for your sound card. In addition, your stereo system should have come with a software disc. Install it on your computer too. Typically, the software (drivers or utilities) included with the system can be installed on Windows 7 or 8 without any problems.
If there was no disk, then try looking for the software on the official website of the manufacturer of your speakers.
Let's assume that you have installed everything, connected it, etc. Now let's move directly to setting up surround sound for Windows 7 or 8. Why for both operating systems at once? Yes, because the setup principle is absolutely identical.
So, let's go. Go to the menu " Start" and click " Toolbar" Then select the category " Equipment and sound", and then click " Sound».
The dialog box “ Sound", in which you will see the devices connected to your computer for audio output. Make sure the audio devices you want to configure are set by default .
Now a new dialog box will open " Setup Speaker" In my case, two channels appeared in the list of audio channels: Stereo And 5.1 Surround. In your case it may be 7.1 Surround or some other name. It just depends on the equipment you have connected.
Selects a channel 5.1 Surround. If you set just the value Stereo, then only two columns in the image in the window will “light up” if 5.1
-four additional columns will be added and 7.1
- five additional ones will be added
speakers.
Then I recommend testing by clicking on the " Test" At the end of testing, click " Next" and move on to additional surround sound settings in Windows 7 or 8. I advise you not to change anything special here, since the operating system automatically adjusts to the optimal characteristics.
At the very end, you will see a message that the setup was completed successfully. Click the button Finish” and you are done setting up surround sound in Windows 7 or 8.
Using this small instruction, you will be able to do everything yourself, without resorting to calling specialists or special services. In the end, I would also like to recommend that you read an article that was previously published on our website about one very useful program with which you can convert the sound of your favorite mp3 songs in a matter of minutes.
Instructions on how to deal with a bunch of wires from a 5.1 audio system and correctly connect it to your computer.
What you will need:
- Actually, the audio system is 5.1
- sound card supporting 5.1
- 3 cables “red-white tulips - jack 3.5mm”
Step #1:
As you know, 5 and 1 are the number of audio channels through which the sound signal travels. That is why we have, roughly speaking, 6 speakers at our disposal: subwoofer ( SubWoofer– designated SW) – the main giant of our system, a low-frequency speaker for creating bass; two front speakers (they are called FrontLeft (left) and FrontRight (right), and are designated FL and FR (see photo)); two rear ones (called either RearLeft (left) and RearRight (right), or SurroundLeft/SurroundRight (RL/RR or SL/SR, respectively) and another central column (Center - designated CEN).
Knowing all this, you can begin the connection process itself...
Step #2:
Now your task is to connect all these 6 channels (2 front, 2 rear and subwoofer + center) to the connectors of your sound card. It’s easy to guess that by connecting 6 pairwise combined channels at the output, we should get only 3. And these same 3 outputs should look like this, as shown in the photo...
Step #3:
That is, the connection process is as follows:
— two “tulips” connected to the front speakers must go into the green sound card socket
— two “tulips” connected to the rear speakers should go (as a rule) into the black sound card socket
- two “tulips” connected to the subwoofer and the center should go (as a rule) to the orange socket
ATTENTION! Paired tulips must be inserted specifically into the “Audio Input 5.1” section, because single tulips coming from the speakers themselves are inserted into the “Audio Output” section (sometimes this section is not named at all)! This is the only way you can achieve true 5.1 surround sound.
Step #4:
Now that all the wires are connected to the required connectors, all you have to do is go to Control Panel, select the Sound section (or first Hardware and Sound), then Speakers and click the “Configure” button. Here we select the “5.1 surround sound” item, click Next and – voila!
Tips and warnings:
- Remember: any multi-channel audio (sound in a movie or multi-channel music) will be spread over 6 of your speakers ONLY PROVIDED that the recording is designed specifically for such sound! The rest of the sound on your speakers will sound like simple stereo.
- All the necessary cables should already be included in the speaker set, but if, for example, there are no “tulip-jack” cables, you will have to buy them in the store
Call or directly on the website! Our specialists will be happy to help you
Many connoisseurs of music and high-quality sound prefer to use a 5.1 speaker system to listen to songs and watch high-quality films. This kind of acoustics essentially consists of six channels to which their own speakers are connected - a subwoofer (low-frequency speaker), two front speakers (left and right), a central front speaker and a pair of rear speakers (also left and right). We'll talk about how to connect 5.1 speakers to a computer below.
Assembly and installation of a 5.1 speaker system
The subwoofer is traditionally installed on the floor and houses an amplifier with a power supply, to which all other components of the system are connected. But there are exceptions when the receiver is made separately, and all the acoustics are connected to it. The terminals for connecting each speaker are marked. The symbols used to identify the front speakers are FR (Front Right) and FL (Front Left), CEN (Center), RR (Rear Right) and RL (Rear Left). If the subwoofer is passive, that is, it does not include an amplifier, then it is also connected to the receiver itself, which has the corresponding SW marking. According to this marking, the first step is to connect all the speakers and place them in the appropriate order in the room.
Connecting speakers to a computer
To connect a 5.1 speaker system to a computer, you must have a sound card installed on it that allows you to reproduce sound in 5.1. This can be either a sound card integrated into the motherboard or a sound card installed separately in the PCI slot.
The 5.1 system is connected by three pairs of cables, which have a mini-jack on one side for connecting directly to a computer, and on the other side “tulips” (stereo RCA) for connecting to the receiver’s inputs (Audio Input). Here you should pay attention to the fact that to connect speakers to the receiver (subwoofer), “tulip” type connectors with the designation Audio Output and speaker markings (FR, FL, etc.) are also used. You cannot plug computer cables into these connectors!
Correctly connecting the computer's audio outputs to the correct inputs of the receiver will allow you to quickly set up the system and enjoy high-quality sound. So, the front channel (front speakers) should be connected to the green jack, the rear channel (rear speakers) should usually be connected to the black jack, and the subwoofer and center speaker channel to the orange jack. To ensure that everything is completed without errors, you should first carefully study the manual for your motherboard or sound card, which should indicate which socket is responsible for which channel.
Setting up 5.1 sound in Windows 7/10
After all the cables are connected, you should proceed to setting up 5.1 acoustics in the Windows 7 or 10 operating system itself. Open the “Control Panel” and go to the “Sound” section. Here, go to the “Playback” tab, where select “Speakers” from the list.
Next, click the “Customize” button at the bottom of the window and select “5.1 surround sound” in the window that opens. At this stage, you can check that the speakers are connected correctly by clicking on one or another speaker and checking that the speakers match the diagram. If necessary, check that the speakers and audio outputs from the computer are connected correctly. Complete the 5.1 audio setup by following the steps to the end.
As a rule, no further action is required from you; the only thing you should pay attention to is the system operating mode switch on the receiver (subwoofer). On many models, in addition to 5.1, there are other operating modes, such as stereo and, if there is a digital input, SPDIF. When connecting using the above method, the switch must be set to position 5.1. If your sound card does not support five-channel sound, then you can play regular stereo sound on a 5.1 system by simply moving the corresponding switch to the desired position. Of course, in this case you will not be able to enjoy truly five-channel sound. The same applies to the audio files themselves, which are recorded as stereo. Even when using a 5.1 sound card, they will sound like stereo, only on 5 pairs of speakers.
After purchasing acoustics with support for 5.1-channel sound mode, I encountered a number of problems. Simply put, 5.1 mode did not work in Windows 10; out of five columns, only 2 worked, and even then in compatibility mode. At first I thought that it was all Google Chrome (which itself controls the sound), but no, I needed to know one feature when setting it up. We continue with detailed instructions for setting up 5.1 sound on Windows 10.
First you need to check which sound card is installed on your PC. To do this, you need to go to the “Device Manager” and find the item “Sound, game and video devices” (this can be done by right-clicking on the “Start” button, “manager” will be the fifth from the top). If the sound card is from any other manufacturer other than VIA Audio, skip the next point.
If the sound card is made by VIA Audio, then before setting it up you need to install the driver version: “VIA HD Audio v 11.11.00” (you can download it from the link). However, the VIA programmers made a mistake and assigned the wrong one to the built-in mixer, so after downloading the archive with the drivers we simply unpack it into any folder. Then you need to go to the “Device Manager”, then in the “Properties” of the built-in sound card, find the “Driver” tab and click on the “update driver” button. Next, “search for drivers on this computer.” Then select the folder with the unpacked drivers from VIA. Upon completion of successful installation, reboot the PC.
To configure 5.1 sound on Windows, you need to go to the “Playback Devices” tab (right click on the volume icon in the Windows tray). Next, select the speakers we need and click on the “Settings” button in the lower left corner. Next, and this is very important, you need to select the 7.1 sound mode!, then click “next” and uncheck the “side pair” of speakers. Then we simply click “next-next” and exit the settings window. 5.1 sound activated, congratulations.
You also need to configure the virtual surround sound mode so that when playing files with stereo sound, not 2 speakers work, but all 5. To do this, you need to go to the “Properties” section (the button in the lower right corner). There is a tab “Enhancements”, where there is a list of different modes, we are interested in the “Enable Speaker Fill” mode - check the box opposite. This completes the sound setup.
Correct placement of speaker systems in the room
This article opens a series of materials talking about the most exciting issues that, one way or another, arise when selecting and installing a home theater. Today we will talk about possible options for arranging speaker systems in a room. Of course, typical situations with domestic small-sized rooms will also be considered.
How everything should be ideally
It's no secret that building a serious home theater, following all the rules, is possible only if you have two things: desire and a lot of money :-)
Ideally, a special room is allocated for a home theater. Particularly wealthy movie connoisseurs often build a room specifically for a home theater. In this case, the geometry of the room is calculated specifically for a specific audio system, which will be installed in the room. And the acoustic optimization of the room is carried out very seriously. But in this case, the area of the room often exceeds a hundred square meters, and the cost of equipment and work can be estimated at many tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is why there are not as many such projects nowadays as one might think. More often, if there is a sufficient amount of money, a separate room (usually 30-80 m²) is allocated for a home theater, and the cost of equipment and work does not exceed several tens of thousands of dollars.
But most people do not have such serious financial resources, and it is often unrealistic to allocate a special room for this event, so you have to build a theater in one of the living rooms of your apartment. Today’s article will be of interest precisely to this category of people.
But first of all, you need to talk about your starting point. That is, how home theater speaker systems should be located in the room if all the rules are followed. I’ll make a reservation right away that we won’t talk about installing a subwoofer in this article, since the location of the subwoofer in the room is a personal torment for each movie theater. The fact is that the sound of a subwoofer strongly depends on the acoustics of the room, on the location of interior items in the room and, in fact, on the location of the subwoofer itself and the listener. And here there is a huge number of possible combinations, even some of which are simply unrealistic to describe. Therefore, I can offer two methods for solving the problem of installing a subwoofer:
1. Turn on some musical composition with a clear and expressive bass (say, one in which an acoustic double bass will sound) and start experimenting: place the subwoofer in some place in the room, sit in a predetermined listening position of the home theater system and listen. If the bass is clear, clean and not buzzing, if you hear not “mess” and “rumble”, but the double bass, then you can leave the subwoofer in that place and be glad that the experiment ended so successfully and quickly. If the bass doesn't suit you, keep trying to place the subwoofer in other parts of the room and listen to the result. It is possible that you will have to make a small rearrangement of furniture in the room....
2. The second option is called “by contradiction”. It is simpler, more efficient and less time-consuming. But remember that the bass in the test musical composition should be as long as possible and monotonous in sound, because you will have to... crawl around the room. So, place the subwoofer in the place where you plan to sit while watching a movie. Turn on the test track and start slowly crawling around the room. Unfortunately, you will have to crawl on all fours so that your head is at a height of about 30-40 cm from the floor. This is not very convenient, but there is nothing to do. The purpose of this event is to find the place in the room where the bass of a working subwoofer will be most comfortable and correct. Put the subwoofer there.
If you imagine that all the speaker systems are exactly the same, the room acoustics are also ideal and there is free space, then you should install the speakers by looking at this diagram. In this case, we describe a system layout model for operating the complex according to a 5.1 scheme (five channels, one subwoofer). It is with this arrangement of speakers that multi-channel soundtracks are mixed into films in modern studios:
The center and front pair are located on a line of a virtual circle, the radius of which is the distance from the listener to the central speaker, and the center of the circle is the listener's head. The distance from the listener to each of the front speakers and the center speaker is equal. The distance between the front speakers is equal to the distance from the listener to each speaker. The rear channels are located at the same distance from the listener (also on a virtual circle) at an angle of approximately 110° to the listener-screen axis.
In this case, all possible inaccuracies associated with the artificial delay introduced to compensate for the sound when the speakers are incorrectly positioned in space are minimized, and the influence of room acoustics on all speakers is equalized. In theory, all channels are completely equivalent both in volume and sound reproduction, which is what we need in a real home theater.
In practice, many inaccuracies in the selection and placement of speakers can be compensated for by the electronics of the AV receiver or AV processor.
The following diagram shows the ideal placement of speakers in a home theater operating with 7.1 sound.
In this case, there are not 2, but 4 rear speakers - two of them are located strictly on the sides of the listener, and the other two are located behind.
So, if opportunities and the situation allow, when arranging speakers in a home theater, you need to focus on these two placement schemes (for a 5.1 system and for a 7.1 system), because they are reference ones. Just don’t forget about this - this is a very important detail when building a home theater. And you need to take this seriously, since poor room acoustics can easily “kill” the sound of even the most expensive and well-chosen complex.
What does this look like in practice?
If you try to build a 5.1 home theater using the reference design, it will look something like this:
If you have a desire to build a cinema not only for two or three people, but to arrange viewing with the whole family or with friends, then the most logical solution would be to simply put in a few extra chairs. However, there are pitfalls here too. For example, it’s not worth placing everyone sitting like this.
The fact is that listeners sitting on the edges (on chairs) will be outside the zone of a balanced sound field (green zone in the figure), because they will feel a clear imbalance of the theater channels: the nearest rear speaker will literally “pound” in the ear (no, no , the name Dolby Digital does not come from this), and the front speaker farthest from the person sitting in the outer seat will be practically inaudible. As a result, the effect of being in the thick of things will completely disappear, and there will be no pleasure from watching it.
You can accommodate everyone correctly by placing the sofa and armchairs as follows:
If the room in which the home theater is installed has an area of about 25-30 m², then one pair of rear speakers will not be able to cover all those sitting (and you should not place more than 5-6 people in such a room) - in this case it is highly advisable to install a second pair rear (as in the diagram). That is, it turns out that each pair of rear speakers works for a certain zone (in this case, for one row of people sitting) - this is exactly what happens in large cinemas: many rear channel speakers are installed in the hall so that each person sitting does not feel an imbalance of channels in system.
Well, if your listening room has an area of 40 m² or more, then you can create the correct sound field for everyone sitting (up to 10 people according to the “3 rows of 3 chairs” scheme) with one pair of fairly powerful speakers, because the speakers will be located at a decent distance from those sitting, which means their sound will have time to spread more widely.
If you try to build a 7.1 home theater using the reference scheme, the system will look something like this:
Again, if you want to set up a theater for 5-6 people, you can use an additional pair of side surround speakers (there will be only one pair of rear speakers in any case). If the room is large enough, then you can use the reference layout for 7.1 systems (figure above). And one more thing: in the case of building a 7.1 system according to a scheme with two pairs of side surround speakers (as in the figure below), it is necessary to move the first pair of side surround speakers slightly back, relative to the first row of people sitting, and orient the speakers of these side speakers towards the first row (as in the diagram below), otherwise viewers of the second row will hear the sound of the side speakers of the first row, that is, the rear speakers of the first row will be for those sitting in the second row in front, and, therefore, will cease to be rear speakers - it will not work out very well, since many effects will be reproduced not entirely correct.
If the room is not too big
In very small rooms, the most common scheme is to place the TV on one wall and the sofa on the opposite wall, strictly opposite. And this is the most logical scheme from a reference point of view. However, many people try to squeeze a couple more chairs into the effective sound zone, as in the picture:
No, dear ones, you don’t need to do that. The reason is the same: those sitting in the outer seats will still not be in the “green zone” (therefore there will be no pleasure from viewing), and even the rear speakers will be blocked by themselves. So the most correct layout is this if we are talking about a room with an area of 10-20 m²
“I want it so much!” or “there’s no other way”
A very common situation occurs when they try to install a home theater in a diagonal pattern. And I must tell you, dear readers, that this is a very bad idea.
Often many people bring a room plan and say: “ I will have the system standing like this - it has already been decided».
And then comes the second question: “ where to hang the rear speakers so that everyone sitting is comfortable?" Answer - this is impossible.
With this arrangement of listeners, it is possible to create the correct sound field only for one person sitting in a corner chair. It’s just that if you try to hang the rear speakers widely in order to cover everyone sitting, you will end up with a situation where for someone sitting in a corner chair, the rear speakers will be in front, and those sitting on the sofa will still hear a noticeable imbalance of the channels. So what remains is a “one-person theater”
At the same time, it is highly desirable to move the front speakers slightly to the sides in order to comply with the principle of an equilateral triangle (see reference diagram).
If desired, you can place a sofa instead of a chair - in this case, two or three can enjoy the film, but then the rear speakers will have to be hung a little wider. The main thing is not to overdo it: remember that it is advisable to maintain an angle of 110° for the rear speakers (see reference diagram).
Here are some examples incorrect placement of the AC complex. I think there is no need to explain the reason - just look at the reference diagram.
Current issues
At what height should the rear speakers be hung?
Since speakers often have different directivity characteristics, it is not worth measuring every degree or centimeter. Construct an angle of 30-40° with the vertex at the listening point, where the level of the listener’s head is taken as zero height. Try to follow the reference diagrams as closely as possible (for 5.1 systems and for 7.1 systems). It turns out that the rear speakers will hang above the listener's head (about 0.6-1.5 meters depending on the distance of the rear speakers to the listener).
The picture shows recommendations for placing wall-mounted rear speakers in a 5.1 system. In complex 7.1, the height of the speakers is determined in a similar way, and the placement in the horizontal plane is determined according to the diagram.
If the rear speakers in the system will not be located on the wall, but will stand on the floor, then you should not worry too much. Although it is better when the rear speakers are “bookshelves”, because in this case it is possible to use quite high stands (1-1.5 meters - depending on the distance from the listener to the speakers) or even hang these speakers on the wall (there are many brackets for this).
How to hang dipole rear speakers?
As for the height, everything remains unchanged here, but as for the location, usually the manufacturer’s recommendation is given for each model of such speakers. To describe in general terms, usually such speakers are hung strictly on the sides of the listeners, but taking into account that there is some space and walls behind the listeners (the sofa is at least 1.5-2 meters from the back wall and at the same - from each of the side ones), since for the correct operation of such speakers it is necessary to ensure correct reflections of the sound waves of these speakers from the walls. In this regard, dipoles are more demanding than conventional unidirectional speakers.
Does it make sense to build a 7.1 system in a small room of 10-15 m²?
This doesn’t make much sense, since the surround speakers will be located quite close to the listener’s head, and therefore easily localized by ear, which is not correct. And if the sofa is located close to the wall, a 7.1 theater is not possible at all. So it's better to build 5.1, but wisely.
How much can you deviate from the reference scheme?
As for the options for the location of the speakers, this has already been described above. We can only make one addition: if a home theater is being built in a relatively large room with the expectation of accommodating several (more than 3) people, then it is better to place the center and front speakers in one line. If we talk about the distance from the listeners to the rear speakers, then it is extremely desirable to maintain at least symmetry. That is, the distance to the left and right speakers should ideally be equal. But if this is not the case, or if there are some other small deviations from the reference scheme (especially in terms of distance), then there is no need to sound the alarm, since modern AV receivers and processors have many settings to compensate for incorrect placement of speakers in quite broadly.
“My designer allocated the following places in the room for home theater components and speakers: here, here and here.”
Let's start with the main thing: what does an interior designer have to do with the installation of home theaters? That's right - none. Therefore, the worst thing is when a designer, based on his artistic ideas, tries to leave space for the components and speakers of the system not according to the principle “it should be this way,” but according to the principle “it looks so harmonious.” I must warn you that in a still empty room, you need to plan in advance where and how the components and speakers of the home theater will be located, and then, taking this into account, think about the rest of the furnishings in the room, otherwise it may not turn out to be a theater, but who knows what. So, in this situation, the designer can be tactfully asked to mind his own business. If you yourself are not ready to draw up a room project with a theater plan, then it is better to invite a home theater installer who can discuss with the designer all aspects of the future installation - the room will be beautiful and the system will be installed correctly.
To be continued…