About Home Theater; Enjoying Home Theater - Onkyo TX-L55 Instruction Manual

About Home Theater

Enjoying Home Theater

With the TX-L55's superb functionality you can enjoy surround sound with a real sense of movement in your own
home—just like being in a movie theater or concert hall.
For best results with DVDs that feature THX Surround EX, use a THX-certified THX speaker system.
With DVDs you can enjoy DTS, Dolby Digital, and THX soundtracks. With TV and satellite broadcasts you can enjoy
Onkyo's original DSP surround listening modes.
Center speaker
This speaker enhances the front left
and right speakers, making sound
movements distinct and providing a
full sound image. In movies it's used
mainly for dialog.
Position it close to your TV (preferably
on top) facing forward at about ear
level, or at the same height as the
front left and right speakers.
Subwoofer
The subwoofer handles the bass sounds
of the LFE (Low-Frequency Effects)
channel. The volume and quality of the
bass output from your subwoofer will
depend on its position, the shape of your
listening room, and your listening posi-
tion. In general, a good bass sound can
be obtained by installing the subwoofer
in a front corner, or at one-third the width
of the wall, as shown.
Speaker Configuration
For the best surround-sound experience, you should con-
nect six speakers and a powered subwoofer.
The following table shows which channels you should
use depending on the number of speakers that you have.
Number of speakers: 2
✓
Front left
✓
Front right
Center
Surround left
Surround right
Surround back
No matter how many speakers you use, a powered sub-
woofer is recommended for a really powerful and solid
bass sound.
Front left and right speakers
These output the overall sound. Their role in a home theater is to provide a
solid anchor for the sound image. They should be positioned facing the lis-
tener at about ear level, and equidistant from the TV. Angle them inward so
as to create a triangle, with the listener at the apex.
Surround left and right speakers
These speakers are used for precise sound positioning and to add real-
istic ambience. Position them at the sides of the listener, or slightly
behind, about 3 feet (100 cm) above ear level. Ideally they should be
equidistant from the listener.
To get the best from your surround-sound system, as a
bare minimum you need to do the Speaker Setup (see
"Speaker Setup" on page 30). This consists of automati-
cally detecting which speakers are connected and adjust-
ing the volume level of each speaker. For a more detailed
3 4 5 6 setup, you should specify which speakers are connected
and their sizes (see page 48), adjust the subwoofer cross-
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
over frequency (see page 49), specify the distance from
✓ ✓ ✓ ✓
each speaker to the listening position (see page 50), and
✓ ✓ ✓
then adjust the volume level of each speaker (see
"Speaker Level Calibration (Test Tone)" on page 30).
✓ ✓ ✓
✓ ✓ ✓
✓
Surround back speaker
This speaker furthers enhance
the realism of surround sound
and improve sound localiza-
tion behind the listener. Posi-
tion it behind the listener about
2–3 feet (60–100 cm) above
ear level.
15