Five Tips To Make the Most of Your Home Speaker System

Whether it be for making beats, throwing a party or just relaxing within the privacy of your very own four walls—a good home sound system is the key to a happy life. It's always fun having a DJ play a unique set at the club, but determining your own audio destiny is living like a king. You might not want to spend the cash on top of the line speakers with crystal clear and even sound. So forget about that. We're here to help you maximize what you've already got. Pay attention to the details becuase the perfect house party speaker system is much closer than you might've first thought. Listen up, young audiophiles.

Place your speakers carefully

These days, receivers come with automatic speaker calibration, so there's no need to get too caught up in the millimeters. Still there is a right way to go about this. If you've got three speakers and a TV, place the center speaker either right above or below your TV and line it up with the midpoint of the screen (this will also help with a surround sound TV listening experience). As for your two side speakers, the goal is for them to form a slight arc pointing towards the main listening area. Use measuring tape to make sure the side speakers are equidistant away from the center speaker and all of the speakers are equidistant away from the listening area. For good measure keep all speakers about two to three feet away from rear walls.

As for the subwoofer, it can generally go anywhere besides the corners of the room, according to Lifehacker. Just try out a few different locations and see where it sounds best. But if you'd like to get a bit more experimental there's a little technique called the subwoofer crawl: place the subwoofer in the spot where you usually sit or dance, and crawl around the room on your hands and knees listening for the best sound. Once you find it, just switch spots with the subwoofer and you're good to go.

Calibrate your speakers

Now that your speakers have been perfectly placed, it's time to make sure the technology is right. There's a test for that. Similar to an ink test with a printer, there is a list of WAV files to play through your speakers to make sure they sound the way they should. Eminent Technology has a handy little guide to make sure everything's right.

Adjust Your Subwoofer

Much of this list is about personal preference. You want these speakers to sound right for you, the only important listener in a home speaker system. The ideal subwoofer gives a deep and dramatic bass, so to get the best possible sound, play around with the level settings. Too much bass makes low-frequency sounds intrusive and overpowering, while too high makes for a dirty, unclear bass. Actually take advantage of the auto setup features and play around until you find what's right for you. Just adjust and perfect accordingly.

Use "Pure" mode for better sound

The more circuitry your music is being sent through, the more opportunity for unwanted noise and distortion. Let's avoid that. Pure, sometimes known as Direct mode gives you the option of switching off unused or uneeded portions of a speakers circuitry to allow for the cleanest possible signal path.

Download quality music

The last, and most necessary step to quality speakers is quality music. YouTube and SoundCloud rips don't count. We're talking 320kbps, mp3s and AAC files. Don't slack off in this department. Trust us, it's not worth it.

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