Speaker-placement tips for audiophiles

Stereophile magazine editor John Atkinson's recent article, "Getting the best from your loudspeakers," provides gobs of useful information.

Atkinson's observation that "inexpensive speakers, optimally set up, may well outperform more expensive models just plonked down willy-nilly" is absolutely true. Proper speaker placement is crucial to getting the best sound out of your speakers.

This CD can help tweak the sound of your speakers.

(Credit: Stereophile)

The article explains how room acoustics affect the sound of speakers, and it's definitely a complex relationship. You won't need a microphone or any technical skill to get the job done, but an Atkinson-produced Stereophile test CD can be a big help when fine-tuning speaker placement.

Perhaps his most important bit of advice comes early on: "Entire books have been written about the relationship between loudspeakers and room acoustics, but the starting point for any successful setup is to position the two speakers and your listening chair as the pieces of an equilateral triangle; that is, the speakers are each as far away from you as they are from each other."

Check with your owners manual, but it's usually a safe bet to have your speakers' tweeters positioned at your ears' height when you're sitting down. Also try to avoid placing speakers in, or within 2 feet of a corner. Unless your speakers are designed for wall mounting, they will probably sound best a foot or more from the wall. Atkinson provides far more detailed info on that score.

Atkinson's feature looks at stereo speakers; I'll tackle 5.1 channel placement soon.

[ohjoy]

I have sold some of the very finest in Hi-End Audio & Video for over 30 years, and have always emphasized that speaker placement is the single most important aspect of any audio system. It can make an inexpensive system sound impressive if done correctly, and a very expensive system sound like mid fi if not done correctly. Speaker placement is everything. It is not easy to do and yes it can be taught, a novice can get it in the ball park and can make significant improvements, but honestly it takes someone with trained ears, and years of experience to get the most from your system. Find a retailer or audiophile friend who knows how to setup speakers, or at the very least help you. Keep in mind if you do try this at home, be very patient, use tape on the floor to help you mark were you've been and how you can get back to it if needed, and yes a 1/4 inch can make the difference. It can take hours to days to get it right. I would be happy to post some information on were to start, what to listen for, and some sound advice on room acoustics. Ohjoy

[pubmat]

What if you can only put your speakers in ONE place? Not everyone has the luxury of multiple placement options, which is exactly what I have to deal with.

[moon_brain]

pubmat, It's true that lots of people are in a situation where they are limited by where they can place their speakers. Sometimes it's the room. Sometimes it's the significant other you live with. In whatever case, it is unfortunate that a few mid-fi loudspeaker and electronics manufacturers make false claims regarding flexibility of placement and speaker size. It's as if they're claiming to defy the laws of physics, and people go for it. I think you know the little cube and little box systems I'm referring to. Talk about a waste of money and false advertising! It's better to let people know the truth about speaker placement so they don't waste their money!

[ohjoy]

No doubt there are situations were placing your speakers in the optimum position can be difficult, if not impossible. I myself have that issue, I live in a small home and my girl friend doesnt like the speakers out in the middle of the room, but what I do is set my speakers up were I get the best possible sound and then mark the floor, and when I want to do some critical listening I pull them out, which doesnt take long (of course tough to do with very large speakers but) and set them up on the marks I made so I can always get them back to there optimal position. You can also take measurements from the back and side walls and get it close as well. Certainly I envy those with dedicated sound rooms, but like most I dont have that luxury ether. Ohjoy

[J G M]

The idea that there is a "listening chair" is a silly audiophile concept to begin with; how many people reading this have a room/chair dedicated to listening to music (and how many of *those* woudn't already know this basic stuff)?

"Place speakers in an equilateral triangle" is also an oversimplification. Many speaker manufacturers design for and recommend larger ratios (NHT, for example, recommends the distance to the speakers be 1.5x the distance between the speakers for many of their models).

The real message here ought to be, if you are not willing to build your room around your audio system (rather than vice versa) you should stay away from speakers that are finicky about placement. *That*, byt the way, is the reason that 5.1 speaker systems have become more popular and also why "cube" systems with wide dispersal patterns have taken over from "stereophile" speakers.

[WhyFi]

How is a listening chair a silly concept?

Placement of the listening position relative to the speakers is more about timing than about dispersion patterns, as you seem to imply (also, the speaker companies that tout dispersion and huge sweet spots generally have NO sweet spot). You simply can not get a great soundstage from speakers if the sound from one channel is reaching your ears more quickly than the sound from the other channel - the soundstage will skew towards (or completely collapse upon) the speaker closer to you. Having multiple speakers (surround) will give you more anchor points, so to speak, and setting delays via the processor will also help, but it's still damn near impossible to compensate for poor placement.

[pubmat]

JGM...cube speakers?? As far as I know, (besides them sounding just awful) cube speakers do not have any wider a dispersal pattern than any other type of speaker. In fact, the opposite may be true. The reason cube speakers are popular is because most men's wives won't allow large speakers to mess with their "good house keeping" vibe. Any high end speaker can whip the tail off ANY cube speaker. To say otherwise is just plain incorrect.

[DaveOCP]

A few basic tips: if you have a tricky room and limited placement options, try monitors rather than floorstanders. As a very general rule, monitors tend to be easier to place and less finicky about reflections. If you need to place your speakers close to the wall, avoid rear firing ports. Monitors also tend to produce a wider soundstage and a bigger "sweet spot", though some very narrow baffle floorstanders can also do a good job there.

If your main speakers have limited bass response, use stereo subwoofers to even out response, and reduce the effects of room modes at certain frequencies. Subwoofers with PEQ can be a huge help. A few strategically placed diffusion/absorption panels can also do wonders for a tricky room.

"Lifestyle" cube speakers with 2" drivers suck. Period.

[pubmat]

DaveOCP......Good advice, and lol, the Bose "lifestyle".....what a joke. I can't imagine how anyone can endorse cube speakers with a straight face.

[bachman1961]

pubmat;
I'm old school and way out of date in the audio environs but back in the day, the better choice in speakers for the least room effect were smaller to mid size book shelf designs that had a wide flat front face. This helped control dispersion and created a nice mid vocal range, good sound stage - imaging.
These designs were not elaborate (expensive) and were not power hungry. With the trade offs many of us have to make, who wants to wrap up thousands in a set up that is way limited in performance by our real world room acoustics? If placed on a floor with a bit of a riser or base /stand the low freqs might be tunable to a good degree and you can experiemnt by use of the wall at a side or behind. Because the low freqs are omni-directional, I don't believe it is critical to match the left - right for Bass effect. Both might be too much anyways. If placed up on shelves or mounted, you might want to get a sub to use as a sub-sat system.

~bachman1961

[pubmat]

Bachman1961--I acually have a pretty decent set of monitors that I'm satisfied with. (for the moment)
I'm just limited to my placements options, and I'm pretty sure i can get better sound from them if the room were more versatile. Especially my sub, its really compromised in my room. The low-rise stands on the floor is a good idea--I saw some pretty cool solid wood stands from Mapleshaderecords.com, and they believe in the same concept--low placement for monitors, angled UP toward the listener. They're beautiful, but expensive, and despite that, I was considering trying them.

[ohjoy]

It?s important to understand why speaker placement is so important. First thing to know and what you are trying to accomplish is getting the flattest (or most natural to your ears) frequency balance. By doing so you will hear each note of all instruments with detail and clarity. If this is not accomplished and you don?t have the ability or choice of were you place the speakers you most likely hearing colorations that will not allow you to hear the music clearly. Bass is the most effected first because it is reinforced by the distance from back and side walls. Bass response can be changed as much as 20 to 30 db, or even more at certain frequencies. Colorations in bass frequency's will not only color instuments that play bass notes, but will effect the whole frequency spectrum. Bass is hugely effected by the speaker placement to room boundary?s.

The other thing that most people don?t know exist is called imaging. Music if played through a properly setup system not only will allow you to hear all the music details without colorations to distract you but will give you (with most recordings) a 3 dimensional soundstage of the performance. Most people don?t know that well recorded music will not only place instruments in space laterally (left to right across the soundstage) but also front to back. That means you can hear that the drums are behind the vocalist, or the bassist is in the back left corner, which gives you a whole other reality to music.

(and no a surround sound system will not give you a truly believable perspective, not to mention the many other limitations that that surround sound systems have )

The point here is you can have a much deeper appreciation of the performance, which makes it that much more enjoyable, believable, and will give you a deeper emotional connection to the music.

There is a deeper appreciation of music that is achievable that unfortunately most people have not heard, and only from a properly setup two channel (2 speakers only) system.

Go listen for yourself at your local HI-END audio store, and hopefully on properly setup system.

If this sounds interesting to you and want more information, there is a good book to read called the Guide to Hi-End Audio (by Robert Harley) that is very informative and well writen. Check it out

Ohjoy

[ohjoy]

Sorry JGM but you have never heard a properly setup system, dont know what a good system should sound like, and dont know what imaging is. Most importantly your missing out on a whole other level of enjoyment from music. Hey dont feel bad the other 95 percent of the public dont know ether. Hell most people think Bose is the best too lol . Do yourself a favor and go to your local Hi-End audio store, listen to some nice systems and take the time and read Robert Harleys book I mentioned above and you can thank me later.
Ohjoy