Where should your speakers go? Plan a 2.0, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 or Dolby Atmos layout with exact angles, distances and a top-down diagram — anchored to Dolby, ITU-R BS.775 and CTA/CEDIA CEB-22 guidelines. Plus a stereo triangle solver, Atmos height planner, room-fit checker and receiver distance-trim readout. Default units are imperial (ft); toggle to metric below.
This page works as a 5.1 speaker placement calculator, a 7.1 speaker placement planner and a dolby atmos speaker placement calculator in one. Whether you need a surround sound speaker placement plan, a home theater speaker layout, or a 5.1 speaker placement guide you can act on, you get exact numbers: a surround speaker angle calculator for every channel, a listening position calculator built on the 38 percent rule speaker placement, and a top-down diagram of the result.
It answers the classic questions: how far apart should speakers be, where to place surround speakers, center channel speaker placement, how high should surround speakers be, the front speaker angle 30 degrees standard, equilateral triangle speaker placement, speaker toe in angle, speaker distance from wall, rear surround speaker placement 135 150, atmos ceiling speaker placement for both 5.1.2 speaker placement and the 5.1.4 speaker layout, and upward firing vs in ceiling atmos trade-offs. It also handles small room speaker placement and speaker placement for rectangular room shapes via the room-fit checker.
Soundbar placement height is out of scope here: a soundbar sits at ear level under the TV, while this tool plans discrete-speaker layouts with real surround angles.
Use the listening triangle: at a 10 ft listening distance, place front speakers about 11.55 ft apart for the +/-30 degree ITU-R BS.775 angle, or 8.08 ft apart for the +/-22 degree Dolby minimum. A good middle ground is the +/-26 degree midpoint, which gives 9.75 ft of separation. Separation = 2 x distance x tan(angle), so just scale these numbers with your listening distance. Per side, 5.77 ft equals 1.76 m if you prefer metric.
Dolby places 5.1 surrounds at 90 to 110 degrees from the center axis, to the sides of and slightly behind the listening position. For example, at 110 degrees with a 10 ft listening distance the surround sits 9.40 ft to the side and 3.42 ft behind you. Mount them 2 to 3 ft above ear level (about 5 to 6 ft off the floor) and aim them to face each other across the room, not at your head.
Dolby recommends 135 to 150 degrees from the center axis for the two rear surrounds (CTA/CEDIA CEB-22 cites 130 to 150 degrees). At 150 degrees and a 10 ft listening distance, each rear speaker sits 5.00 ft to the side and 8.66 ft behind you; at 135 degrees that is 7.07 ft to the side and 7.07 ft behind. You need several feet of open room behind the couch for these to work - with a couch against the wall, use slim on-wall rears instead.
Dolby specifies a 45 degree elevation angle from ear level at the main listening position (30 to 55 degrees is acceptable), with the front pair aligned with your front left/right speakers. With an 8 ft ceiling and a 3.5 ft ear height, that puts each ceiling speaker 4.50 ft in front of your seat. Ideal ceilings are 8 to 12 ft high; below that, use upward-firing Atmos modules instead of in-ceiling speakers.
The 38% rule puts the main listening position at 38% of the room length measured from the front wall - in a 20 ft room that is 7.6 ft from the front wall. This avoids the worst bass nulls at the room center and back wall. Never put the couch flush against the back wall; leave at least 3 ft behind the seat for surround speakers to work properly.
Yes, and your AV receiver can fix it. Sound travels at 343 m/s, so each foot of distance difference equals 0.8886 ms of delay - a 3 ft difference is 2.67 ms. Enter each speaker distance in your receiver's speaker setup menu and it delays the closer speakers so everything arrives together. (This is a receiver distance trim, not the live/stage delay effect our delay-time-calculator covers.)
This calculator solves audio geometry: where speakers go relative to the listener, using Dolby, ITU-R BS.775 and CTA/CEDIA angles. Our tv-size-viewing-lab solves video geometry - screen size versus viewing distance (THX/SMPTE viewing angles) - and our projector-throw-lab solves projector-to-screen throw distance. Same home theater, completely different math. Speaker placement also has nothing to do with crossover circuit design; that is a separate electronics topic.
Free tool by NRTechStudio
Explore similar finance tools and calculators. 100% free, accurate, and runs completely in your browser without sign-up.
2 taps, no typing needed — diagnostics are sent automatically.