Dolby Surround Sound, THX or Dolby Digital AC-3?

Since you may not know which surround format may ultimately be chosen, I recommend to wire for all possibilities. Most current surround sound processors use two front speakers, a center speaker and two rear effect speakers. Some, like Yamaha's DSP, have an added pair of front effects speakers. THX systems use side effect speakers (in place of rear speakers), located at the same room depth as the listener. Each of these speakers have two speaker baffles, one angled toward the front of the room and the other angled toward the rear, so the sound always comes indirectly to the listener.

The listener sits in the "null" position. To cover the possibility of using THX effects, install wires in the expected listening position on each side wall of the room (about the same distance from the front wall adjacent to the logical seating position). In addition, install speaker wires to high wall locations in front for front effects speakers and also high on the rear wall for rear effects speakers. Opt for two wall outlet boxes low on the front wall for floor standing main speakers (right/left), and use heavier speaker wire to that location. A center-channel speaker cable needs to be run to a center outlet box. You can use the same one as used for your TV cables. You will also want to run two sets of audio line level cables and one composite video cable from the main electronics location to the TV. These will allow TV sound to be sent back to the system and picture and sound to be sent from the electronics to the TV.

Finally, install two signal-level wires (line level in/out) to the right front corner (floor level), and to the left rear corner for the possible addition of sub-woofers. The use of two locations meets THX standards, and also allows for greater flexibility in woofer placement on non-THX installations. Since the sub-woofer is expected to be a self-amplified type, low-level interconnect wires need to be used instead of normal speaker wires, and an electrical outlet should be provided near the sub-woofer jacks to power the speakers. One note, AC-3 utilizes five discreet channels of full-range information, plus a bass channel. This means the rear speakers should have the capability of handling greater dynamics and frequency response.

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