If You're Setting Up a Screening Room

If you're a company, a school or an organization setting up a small screening room, don't make this mistake I often see.

I've just come out of a test screening of my film in a corporate auditorium, and I saw the same problem there as in many other rooms:

The sound comes from two (or more) speakers placed on either side of the room.

People think this will give stereo sound "like at the movies." But that's forgetting that the main speakers in a movie theater are the "center" speakers: the ones placed right behind the screen, which make voices and dialogue come from the characters. Stereo speakers are a "bonus" – not necessarily present in the smallest theaters. (That's actually the principle of so-called "5.1" sound: the center and the stereo channels are separate.)

When you put speakers on both sides with no center, people on the right and left of the room get sound from only one side (the right ear or the left ear), which quickly gets exhausting. And it's disorienting to hear a voice coming from the side when the character you're watching is in front of you.

So when in doubt: start with the center. Good speakers placed at the front (under the screen, or on either side of it, but always at the front) will give the audience a much more even and pleasant result than stereo with no center.

And I have plenty of films to offer for your room's opening night :)