A system is provided for setting various acoustic and visual parameters to improve the reproduction of audio signals and visual signals. The system incorporates a hand-held remote control device which operates the main surround sound unit (e.g., home theatre receiver and/or digital decoder) and the display device via electromagnetic link, for example. The remote control includes a sensor capable of detecting various types of signals emitted by a number of speakers, and a processor that makes adjustments to the signal provided to each of the speaker based on the signal received from that speaker.