5.1 & 7.1 Surround Sound Test
Play a signal through one speaker at a time and check the right one answers. Works for 2.0, 5.1, 7.1, and the 7.1 bed of an Atmos system. If your browser only outputs stereo, download the WAV and play it from a TV, player, or PC.
If it sounds wrong
| You hear | Fix |
|---|---|
| Everything from the front two speakers | OS or browser is in stereo. Set 5.1/7.1 (below) or use the WAV. |
| Each channel from several speakers | Receiver is upmixing stereo. Its display should say PCM 5.1/7.1 or Multi Ch, not PCM 2.0. |
| Center from left and right | Center set to None in the receiver, or the signal is stereo. |
| Left and right swapped | Wires on the wrong terminals or swapped speaker assignment. |
| 7.1 sides play from the back | Use the 7.1 test, not 5.1. Still wrong: swap side and back wires. |
| Nothing on LFE | Sub off or set to None. TV and laptop speakers can't play 30–80 Hz. |
| Stereo only through the TV | ARC carries 2-channel PCM. Use eARC passthrough or plug into the receiver. |
| Atmos heights never play | Expected. Use the receiver's test tones. |
Set up surround output
- Windows:Settings > System > Sound > More sound settings > pick the receiver > Configure > 5.1 or 7.1.
- macOS:Audio MIDI Setup > HDMI device > Configure Speakers > Multichannel > 5.1 or 7.1.
- Receiver:its speaker menu has a test tone that skips the source. If that works and this doesn't, the problem is the PC, player, or HDMI path.
- Levels: pink noise, SPL meter at your seat (C-weighted, slow), match the mains. Placing speakers? Use the speaker layout tool.
How it works
- Signals: pink noise (500 Hz–2 kHz), 1 kHz tone, or a 200 Hz–4 kHz sweep. LFE gets 30–80 Hz. All at -20 dBFS, generated in your browser.
- Browser: reads
destination.maxChannelCount. With enough channels, aChannelMergerNodesends each burst to one output (L, R, C, LFE, then surrounds). With fewer, you get a labeled stereo preview. - WAV: 16-bit, 48 kHz, WAVE_FORMAT_EXTENSIBLE (mask 0x60F for 5.1, 0x63F for 7.1). 2 s of silence, then 2 s per channel. 17 s for 5.1, 22 s for 7.1.
- Limits: PCM stops at 7.1, so heights need your receiver's test tones. Absolute level depends on your volume settings.
