Originally posted by: knyghtbyte
blending and panning is simply following a few rules.....
the centre speaker should have its mid/bass driver/s at the same height as the mid/bass drivers on the main stereo pair of speakers......they should also be the same size and material, same goes for the tweeter in regards to size/material, its height will be a little lower but that will be ok as its only a couple inches....
in a 5.1 speaker system, the rears should be more to the diagonal than behind you, and the mid/bass driver at the same height as the stereo front pair....
in a 7.1 system the surround back channels should be at front stereo speaker height, but the side surrounds should be up higher and angled downwards to your listening position..
this should give a nice full field of surround sound......but do make sure u use a sound pressure level meter correctly set to have the speakers individual volume levels at an equal level.......your ears can do the job, but not as accurately.....
as for sub-bass, this is tricky.....if your sub supports hi and low level, then find your stereo speakers lowest bass freq range (ie 38hz or 50hz etc) and set the hi-level roll off to that and wire it up.......then for low level (referred to as LFE usually) make sure the settings on your surround amp are correct (ie if your main speakers go under 45Hz and have 5in or bigger drivers then on amp they should be set to large, your centre speaker if it achieves the same as the main speakers is set to large also, if not then set to small, same goes for the surround speakers......if your amp only allows you to set all speakers as large or small then i suggest u choose small and let the sub cope with the bass)
that lot really covers the blending.....the panning is more to do with your amps capabilities......if your amp isnt sophisticated enough then the panning will be simply reasonably.....you need to get up to Denons 3805 range (or other companies equivelants) for the really cool stuff...........but also take in to account some films just have a craply panned soundtrack..heh....try playing Gladiator, Master and Commander, Star Wars films, Fight Club, Apollo13, to name but a few, their DD or DTS recordings are so well done and well choreographed it shows on even cheaper equipment.....
one good test for panning is the Creative Audigys calibration mode, its a funky little jazz number that pans around your speakers....if that works well but the DVDs dont then your amp is either not good enough or not working properly.......if that comes across as good as the DVDs then it might be the speakers, mebbe get different cable, it can make a difference....
