Before doing any surround sound (pre-)wiring, you should plan out optimal surround sound speaker placement locations, as well as where you are going to place the rest of your home theater surround sound component system. Unless you're lucky and rich enough to be building and installing a custom high-end dedicated home theater room in brand new construction, there is no such thing as the perfect room setup for surround sound! The goal is to maximize what you CAN control within the constraints of your room size, shape, floor plan, etc.

Home theater surround sound speaker layout is always in relation to the location of the television or projection screen. The most important speaker, the center channel speaker is primarily used for dialogue on movies and TV programs, so it should be placed/aimed at about ear level when seated, as close to the TV screen as possible, usually directly below or above it. Front projector users should consider purchasing a perforated projection screen if they want the center channel speaker to be located behind the projector screen.

The front left and front right speakers will probably perform at their best when placed equidistant from the center channel speaker to the left and right sides of your television screen at approximately the same height. Floor standing tower speakers, in-wall/on-wall speakers, and bookshelf speakers (either affixed securely atop speaker stands or wall/ceiling mounted) are the most common types of front left and right main speakers. In a 5.1 surround sound speaker system, surround effects speakers, especially those with a bi-pole/di-pole design, will sound best when located to the left and right sides (or slightly behind) your home theater seating area, preferably at least at or above ear level -- either affixed securely atop speaker stands or wall/ceiling mounted.

If your surround sound speaker system includes 6.1 speakers, it will also include a rear center speaker to place behind your seating area, perhaps also mounted high up on the wall at the same height as your rear surround speaker pair.

With 7.1 speakers, you will have the pair of surround speakers to the left and right of your seating area PLUS TWO more speakers located behind you.

Your subwoofer(s) will usually sound best located somewhere near a corner or in the vicinity of the front left and front right main speakers. Experiment a bit -- deep bass tones are omni-directional, so you usually cannot pinpoint exactly where the bass sounds are actually coming from.

Many home theater experts today recommend adding at least one additional subwoofer (7.2 channels) for much improved bass response throughout your entire home theater room.