Speaker placement

[michaelhigh]

I'm going to talk as a Mr. know-it-all, which I'm definitely not, but after seeing many setups, both 2 channel and surround, I've noticed that some people's speakers, mainly the front mains, are improperly set up for the best sound. Keep in mind that many people are constrained by their room dimensions, windows, door openings, and preferences. Ignoring that and thinking in terms of an ideal set up, there are "general" rules to follow for best sound.

First and foremost, the main problem I see is the main speakers are too close together for their listening distance. For best sound, you should sit as far away from each speaker as they are apart, which would be an equilateral triangle. This means that if your speakers are 7 foot apart, you should sit 7 foot from each speaker. Also, the speakers should be toed in and aimed at each ear. What happens when you do this is that the speakers sonically disappear and you become more aware of the recording and soundstage. Nothing is free so the downside of this is that the center image will drift when you move away from the center (sweet spot). This is less of an issue with a surround system with a center channel.

The second mistake is having your speakers against the wall. Moving you speakers away from the front wall will make your soundstage deeper. How deep depends on how far from the wall they are. This doesn't go on ad infinitum, but it certainly helps to move them into the room as far as possible. I suppose that 1/3 of the room depth would be about ideal. The down side is that it changes your bass response. The more they are in the room, the less bass you have (up to a point). Some people move them away from the wall just for this reason.

The last issue is distance from side walls although I think this is the least important of these 3 issues. Side walls create reflections and the closer the speakers are, the stronger the reflections. Reflections create secondary images that mix with the direct sound from the speaker and cause the image to smear. Generally, the best way to tame these reflections is to add sound absorbers or diffusers at the main points of refection relative to your listening position.

There are too many variables to say that these suggestions are ideal for each and every room and type of speaker. As I said, these are general guide lines that might get you in the ball park for further tweaking.

I'm sure most people here know these things, so this post is mainly aimed at newer people who haven't yet been exposed to these ideas. Also, these are not my ideas, they have been published on the net by people that know a great deal more than I.

The main thing to keep in mind is that your room is part of your sound system and proper setup can change a good system into a great system.

I have one question... Are there any "new" people here or am I talking down to everyone? If I am, I apologize. Many of us are here to learn, as I am, but sometimes it's fun to teach what we know.

What prompted this post is that I was repainting my surround room and in the process, I moved my main speakers further apart and the change was dramatic. I knew the rules, but when I set up my system initially, I put aesthetics over function. Since my speakers (magnepan) are made to hang on the wall, moving them meant putting more holes in the wall and repairing the holes where they were before, so it was not a task I was looking forward towards. Anyway, this redecorating was a reminder for me.

I have 2 sets of Heritage Klipsch, Fortes and KG2's. PWK recommended you set them up close to walls, preferably in corners as well, because they utilize a rear-mounted passive radiator that, when placed as suggested, uses the boundaries to produce additional bass response, and they're 98db efficient too. The KG2's are 90.5db efficient as well. So, just like cable discussions, YMMV on any particular opinion about placement. Originally the placement suggested was to face them straight ahead but your suggestion of equilateral triangle always worked for me, and toe-in facing directly at the listener is my preference as well. Remember that preference is in the ears of the beholder.