Most people tend to place their stereo speakers wherever is most convenient, however we’re working towards excellent audio/video on a budget, not mediocre audio/video on a budget. To get the best sound quality out of your speakers you need to put them in the right locations and aim them properly. Thankfully this task is normally free, so it’s very frugal!
Seating Position
Before you jump into moving the speakers around you should first experiment with your seating position. The seating position you use affects how you hear the standing waves of sound in the room. These waves of sound are present because of how your room is shaped. Certain frequencies tend to become louder in some spots and softer in others. The affect of standing waves is most noticeable on bass sounds, so keep that in mind as you figure out your seating position.
Procedure
Play some music that has a repeating bass groove that’s very present, such as jazz with an upright bass line. Move your couch or seats out of the way and start walking (or crawling) around the room with your head at about the same height it would be when you’re seated. In some areas of the room the bass will sound thin or hollow, and in others it will be strong and loud. Your goal is to find the spot that sounds the most full in the bass region. If you can place your seating at that spot then you will get better results with the rest of the tuning you do.
Speaker Position
Walls
The hard thing about placing speakers for good stereo listening is that they shouldn’t really be up against a wall. Why you ask? Well, sound radiates from the speakers in all directions and when the sound from the back or sides of the speakers hits the wall it creates reflections that end up traveling to your ears. When your ears hear the sound from the speakers they hear the “direct” sound that comes straight at you from the speaker, and then a little bit later they hears all of the reflections from the various surfaces in the room. If the reflections arrive very shortly after the direct sound then your ears perceive it as all one sound wave that is just distorted over time. If the reflections arrive long enough after the direct sound then your ears are able to separate the sounds out and the imaging and detail you hear from the speakers will be more clear. The distance from the speaker to the various surfaces in the room dictates how long the delay in the reflections is, thus the desire to keep the speakers from being right next to any hard surfaces.
Another note on reflections – If the bass response of your speakers is weak you can actually improve it by putting them near the wall or even in a corner. The reflections of those low-frequency bass notes actually amplify the bass sound since the wavelengths are so long. You will sacrifice some imaging if you do this, but it can help weak-sounding speakers seem a little more impressive.
Vertical Position
Once you figure out a decent general area for the speakers you need to make sure that they are at the correct height. You want the tweeters to be around the same height as your ears, and pointed at them. If you don’t have floor-standing speakers it’s best to place your speakers on stands instead of big solid objects like tables; this will reduce reflections.
Horizontal Position
Regardless of if you can pull the speakers away from the wall or not, you should still have some control over the left-to-right position. The final location is somewhat up to your personal preference, so you’ll have to experiment. For stereo listening you should start with the distance between the speakers being about the same as the distance from your seating position to the speakers. Basically you’re making an equilateral triangle between your listening position and the two speakers. Play some music that you think should have good imaging and give it a listen. The vocals and snare drum should seem firmly in the center of the two speakers. If those center-panned instruments seem to be coming from both speakers, or if the imaging seems kind-of vague, then try moving the speakers closer together. Move then listen, move then listen, until you find the spot where the imaging seems the strongest while still remaining wide. You generally don’t want to place them closer together than about 70% of the distance from you to the speakers.
Toe-In
Once the speakers are located properly you can play with toe-in. You should begin with the speakers pointed right at your head. From there you should try angling them outwards some, and then inwards some. Your goal is to find the most natural sound possible. Listen to the acoustic instruments and voices to see what angle provides the most musical and neutral character. The final position is really just a matter of personal preference.
Those are the placement basics. Next time I’ll go over the specifics of placement for surround speakers.
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