Slightly behind the seating and above ear height, on the side walls rather than directly behind your head — and getting that right matters more than what the speakers cost.
Why above ear height
A surround speaker at head level fires directly into the nearest ear, which localises it: you hear the speaker rather than the effect. Raising it 60 cm to a metre above seated ear level spreads the sound and makes the position disappear.
Why not directly behind
Because the effect needs distance to develop. Speakers immediately behind the seats collapse into two point sources; on the side walls, level with or slightly behind, they envelop.
What to do in a room that will not cooperate
Aim them across the room rather than at the seats — bouncing off the opposite wall diffuses the sound in the way dipoles used to. It is a compromise, and it is better than a speaker firing into someone’s ear from 40 cm.
The one thing to fix in the menu afterwards
Distances and levels. Surrounds are usually the closest speakers to the listener, and a receiver that does not know that will have them arriving early and too loud.
Questions people actually ask
What if the sofa is against the back wall?
Move them to the side walls, level with or just behind the seating, and raise them. Surrounds directly behind your head are too close to work: the effect collapses to a single point instead of surrounding anything.
Should surrounds be dipole or direct?
Direct radiating, for most modern content. Cinema mixes have moved toward precisely placed objects, and dipoles deliberately diffuse the sound — which suited earlier matrixed surround formats better than it suits object-based ones.
Last reviewed 4 September 2026