Is there a way to check if I got a shitty surround job?

[themctipers]

Title says it all. Speakers: JBL 4412. Surround is going to be fixed in a week, and it's only on the woofer. 

No, I haven't heard the speakers in their prime, only 3 decades after they were bought and after it has rotted away.

[SSL]

Well, for starters all the speakers need to be wired up to the right channels. They should also be oriented correctly and pointed at the listening position. This may seem obvious, but people who have no idea what they are doing can easily overlook it.

 

In addition, the speakers also need to be in phase and properly time aligned. And the levels should also be set appropriately between the different channels. These considerations are to account for differing distances from the listening position and are usually taken care of in the receiver.

 

As for how to check if these things are correct - I assume that when you say "job" you are having this system professionally installed. At which point, if you had the ability to check these things you might as well just do them yourself. Trust the technician to to it properly or don't hire them. If you're really paranoid, hire someone else to check their work, but that will likely be a lot of expense for no reason.

 

Glaring problems should be revealed just by listening to normal material that you are familiar with.