Genius SW-HF5.1 5000 - Hooking Up the System
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Hooking Up the System
As soon as the cables and wires were temporarily routed, in the middle of my living room, I anxiously powered the system on. After realizing that none of the speakers were DOA (dead on arrival), I took the time to fiddle with the placement of the speakers and woofer in the room until I found the ideal position for each.
Before we move on, let's see the back of the subwoofer, where all the action happens!
(Yes, there's no input yet and the switch is turned off.)
Let's talk about finding the correct placement. First, you have the ability to mount one or more of the satellite(s) on the wall. As you will see from a screen shot, I mounted two of them. But this is by no means necessary; it just saves a lot of space, which is great, especially since the the satellites are quite large.
This audio system is designed for a home theater. As a result, the subwoofer is a so-called long-throw, which means that it should be placed at a relative distance from the listener(s). The woofer is extremely powerful, so don't expect to lay it on the ground below your typical office desk if it's not specifically designed for audio woofers.
If you don't respect these positioning requirements you are going to hurt its level of performance. Imagine the following scenario: your comfortable sofa is on one side of your living room, then you place the subwoofer and front speakers on the other side of the room. This is the necessary distance. The rear speakers should be placed somewhere behind you. If possible, mount them on the wall or get creative. But most importantly, realize that they add to those desirable "surround" effects.
(One of the rear speakers mounted and tilted on the wall at an additional height.)
(Subwoofer on the ground located at one corner of the living room.)
All in all, the rule-of-thumb on how to position your speakers is the following: place them according to the stickers (left is left; right is right; fronts are in front, and such). And while listening to some movie or music of your choosing, if you hear way too heavy bass, agglomerated bass tones, or loud thundering effects, then chances are your subwoofer is too close, it faces you frontally, or the room is small.
Play around with different positions and angles; you will be amazed to hear how the "reflection of sound-waves" depends on the placement of your furniture, objects, and walls. If the subwoofer is too dominant and all you can hear is thundering, unappealing distorted tones, then it clearly isn't an optimal configuration. Leave it that way and you won't be able to hear the best effects and tones from the other speakers.
(One of the front speakers; notice the tube-like design.)
To be honest, I was totally impressed by the satellites' bass-reflex topology (tube). Actually, very few manufacturers are using wooden enclosures for their satellites. Likewise, the bass-reflex topology is often neglected. As a result, these satellites are designed to deliver desirable sounds and tones, not just loud, distorted, and reverberant garbage. So it "impresses" users because of its "colossal output power" (marketing).
Next: Using the 5.1 System >>
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