Tool

Speaker placement planner

Dolby’s angles, turned into feet and inches from your walls.

Home Theater Guides Updated Oct 4, 2026 7 sources

Layout

Widthft Lengthft Ceilingft

Your head, from the TV wallft Seat off-center (left − / right +)ft

Angles (Dolby ranges)

Front L/R: 28° (22–30°) Surrounds: 110° (100–120°; 90° beside the seat works)

5.1 for a 14 × 16 ft room

Ear-level angles are measured at your head from straight ahead, in plan. Overhead angles are seen from the side: how far up you look to them, and whether they are ahead of or behind you. “To you” is the straight-line distance. Ear-level speakers sit at about 3.9 ft (1.2 m), Dolby’s seated ear height, where the angle meets the walls (fronts about a foot off the TV wall).
Speaker	Angle	From TV wall	From left wall	Height	To you
L Front left	28°	1.2 ft	2.3 ft	3.9 ft	10.0 ft
C Center	0°	1.2 ft	7.0 ft	by screen	8.8 ft
R Front right	28°	1.2 ft	11.7 ft	3.9 ft	10.0 ft
SL Surround left	110°	12.3 ft	0.6 ft	3.9 ft	6.8 ft
SR Surround right	110°	12.3 ft	13.4 ft	3.9 ft	6.8 ft

The speakers are at quite different distances from you; set each distance in your receiver (or let room calibration do it).

The angles it uses

Front left and right: 22–30° either side of straight ahead (Dolby). ITU’s reference layout uses 30°.
Center: straight ahead, just above or below the screen, tilted toward your ears (SVS).
Surrounds (5.1): 110° by default; 100–120° is fine (Dolby’s diagrams span 90–120° across its guides; ITU-R BS.775 gives 100–120°).
Side surrounds (7.1): 90–110° (Dolby), 100° by default.
Rear surrounds (7.1): 135–150° (Dolby; Samsung’s HW-Q990F manual shows the same range for its rear speakers).
Overheads: top front and top rear at about 45° elevation (30–55°); top middle at about 80° (65–100°). When a wall or a short room stops a pair short, the table shows the angle it actually reaches.

Ear-level speakers go at about 1.2 m (3.9 ft), Dolby’s seated ear height. If the seating is against the back wall, CEDIA/CTA RP22 recommends side surrounds rather than rears: 5.1 rather than 7.1.

Questions people ask

Where should surround speakers go in a 5.1 system?

To the sides of your seat and slightly behind it, at about 110° from straight ahead and about ear height. Dolby’s 2018 installation guide draws 90–110°, its current setup sheets 110–120°, and ITU-R BS.775 says 100–120°; 110° is inside all three. In 7.1, the side surrounds sit a little further forward, at 90–110°.

How high should Atmos ceiling speakers be?

Dolby places top front and top rear speakers at about 45° above your ears (30–55° allowed), and a single top-middle pair at about 80° (65–100°), roughly in line with the front left and right speakers.

Do all speakers need to be the same distance from me?

Ideally, but not necessarily. Your receiver’s distance (delay) settings, or its room calibration, correct for different distances.