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Speaker Delay Calculator

Ever felt like your sound system lacks punch or clarity? It might just be a matter of timing. Use our simple speaker delay calculator to align your speakers perfectly and get that tight, professional sound.

Temperature affects the speed of sound!

Required Delay

---ms

Set this value on your closer speakers to align them with the furthest one.

Speaker Delay Calculator Illustration showing listener and speakers

Visualize sound travel time

Why Use a Speaker Delay Calculator?

Okay, let's talk real talk. You know when you're at a concert or even in a nice home theater, and the sound just hits you? It feels tight, punchy, and coherent. That's not magic—it's physics.

Sound travels at a specific speed (roughly 343 meters per second). If you have one speaker 2 meters away from you and another one 10 meters away, the sound from the closer speaker is going to hit your ears way before the sound from the far one.

This creates a "smearing" effect. The kick drum loses its punch, the vocals get muddy, and you might even get some nasty phase cancellation where frequencies drop out entirely.

How to Fix It

The fix is surprisingly simple: you need to "delay" the sound coming from the closer speakers so it waits for the sound from the further speakers to catch up.

  1. Measure: Grab a tape measure (or a laser distance measurer if you're fancy) and measure the distance from your listening sweet spot to each speaker.
  2. Identify the Furthest: Find the speaker that is furthest away. This is your "reference" speaker. It gets 0ms delay.
  3. Calculate: For every other speaker, use our speaker delay calculator above. Enter the distance. Ideally, you'd calculate the difference in distance between the target speaker and the reference speaker, but most modern processors just ask for the distance and handle the math for you.
  4. Apply: Dial in the milliseconds into your DSP, receiver, or mixer.

The Temperature Factor

Did you know temperature changes the speed of sound? It's true! In a hot summer festival, sound travels faster than in a cold winter hall. Our calculator includes a temperature input because we know you care about that extra 1% of accuracy.