Free Surround Sound Test - 5.1 / 7.1 Channel Walk-Around

Surround Sound Test

Play a short tone through each channel of a 5.1 or 7.1 setup, one at a time, so you can verify each speaker is connected, wired to the right position, and mapped correctly by your OS or receiver. When the browser cannot deliver multichannel audio, the tool falls back to stereo panning and front/back volume shaping so headphone users can still validate channel order.

Setup

Layout

Duration each (s)

Tone (Hz)

Volume

Detecting output mode...

Click any speaker to test it

You
(listener)

Front Leftch 1

Front Rightch 2

Centerch 3

Subwooferch 4 (LFE)

Rear Leftch 5

Rear Rightch 6

Pick a layout, then click a speaker or use "Walk all channels". Each speaker lights up green while its tone is playing.

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Surround Sound Test guide

How to use the Surround Sound Test accurately

The test uses the Web Audio API's ChannelMergerNode to route a short sine tone to one specific output channel at a time. When your browser and OS expose 6 or 8 output channels (audioContext.destination.

01 How The Surround Sound Test Works The test uses the Web Audio API's ChannelMergerNode to route a short sine tone to one specific output channel at a time. When your browser and OS expose 6 or 8 output channels (audioContext.destination.

02 5.1 vs 7.1 Channel Layouts A 5.1 system is front left, front right, center, subwoofer (LFE), and two rears. A 7.1 system adds two side channels between the fronts and rears. The ".

03 Why Browsers Rarely Deliver True Surround Most browsers mix everything down to stereo before it hits your audio device, even if the device itself supports 8 channels. This is a safety default — a webpage playing 7.

04 Verifying Your Setup Without This Tool For a true discrete channel test on Windows, open the Sound control panel, right-click your default playback device, select Configure speakers, pick 5.1 or 7.1, and use the "Test" button.

surround sound test 5.1 speaker test 7.1 channel test speaker placement test home theater test channel identification

Most browsers mix everything down to stereo before it hits your audio device, even if the device itself supports 8 channels. This is a safety default — a webpage playing 7.1 audio to someone using stereo headphones would sound broken.

Surround Sound Test FAQ

Common surround sound test questions

Why does only front L/R play on my 5.1 setup?

Most browsers only expose 2-channel output via Web Audio, even if your sound card supports 8. When the test detects max 2 channels, it falls back to stereo panning to simulate positioning.

What is the LFE / subwoofer channel?

LFE stands for Low-Frequency Effects. It is the .1 of 5.1 or 7.1 and is typically routed to a subwoofer with a crossover around 80 Hz. The test plays a 60 Hz tone through the LFE channel. If your sub is miswired or muted, this is where you catch it.

How do I tell if my rears are wired correctly?

Use the walk-around mode and watch which physical speaker lights up for each channel. FL, FR, C, SUB should move through the front of the room; RL, RR should move to the rears. If rear L/R are reversed, Dolby upmix rotations will feel backwards in movies.

Should I use this with Windows Sonic or Dolby Atmos for Headphones enabled?

No. Turn off virtual surround features when testing raw channels. Windows Sonic / Dolby Atmos / DTS Headphone:X are post-processing layers that re-mix multichannel audio into stereo HRTF, which will confuse a channel-identification test.

Checklist

Audio checks to confirm

How The Surround Sound Test Works The test uses the Web Audio API's ChannelMergerNode to route a short sine tone to one specific output channel at a time. When your browser and OS expose 6 or 8 output channels...
5.1 vs 7.1 Channel Layouts A 5.1 system is front left, front right, center, subwoofer (LFE), and two rears. A 7.1 system adds two side channels between the fronts and rears. The ".
Why Browsers Rarely Deliver True Surround Most browsers mix everything down to stereo before it hits your audio device, even if the device itself supports 8 channels. This is a safety default — a webpage playing 7.