Loudspeaker Placement Really Does Make All The Difference

Having recently upgraded to the widely acclaimed Audiolab 8200CD Player and Cyrus 6XP Amplifier I had been enjoying a much more excitable and detailed sound than ever before.  What a great combination and very content I’ll be for many years to come I thought.  Well, many years got shortened to about 2 weeks later because along came a very challenging album, bass extension-wise, from Thievery Corporation.  Deep and low bass lines led the way on many of the tracks, and to my ears these were coming across boomy and not defined how the artist surely intended.  Did I need a more powerful amplifier or more capable floorstanding speakers to handle this kind of music and the volumes I wanted?

Well thankfully it turns out no.  All that was needed was a bit more consideration and experimentation with loudspeaker placement.  My speakers were a bit too close to the rear wall and to each other vs. the listening position.  After taking the time to follow some expert steps I not only resolved the bass resolution but the whole system sounded even better than before….for free!

It’s easy to neglect this area in a real world situation where room shape and other furniture requirements offer limited options.  However, if you can, do experiment to ensure you are hearing all you paid for, it’s often really worth it.

4 Steps To Better Loudspeaker Placement

These steps (edited down and simplified from another resource online) are based on a standard 2-channel stereo setup and both your left and right speakers are placed either on stands or floorstanding models…if they are resting on a bookshelf then it’s worth investing in proper support.

1. Nearly all loudspeakers work best positioned away from room boundaries (i.e. further out in the room, not too close to the walls) with the speaker’s tweeter at your listening height.

2. Position the two speakers and your preferred listening position as the apices of an equilateral triangle (so the speakers are toe’d in aiming directly at your main listening position).

3. You do not want an equal distance between your Loudspeaker woofers and nearest boundaries (floor, side and rear wall).  The boosts and dips will occur at the same frequency causing a lumpy ill-defined even balance on low frequencies.  To get the smoothest low-frequency performance, aim for an unequal distance between the speaker’s woofers and nearest boundaries.

There is a ‘golden ratio’ to help you achieve this which is apx. 1.618 : 1

a. Measure the distance from the center of the woofer to the floor. (e.g. 20”) 

b. Multiplying that by the Golden Ratio (1.618) gives a distance of 32" required for your woofer and side wall

c. Multiply that distance again by the Golden Ratio gives a distance of 52" for your woofer and rear wall

Keep distance to the listening position the same as the speakers distance apart.

This is theory so try some light adjustment afterwards e.g. reducing the speaker ‘toe-in’.  In a smaller room you can of course scale the measurements down proportionately.

4. You can use a test CD to aid you with the above setup

Further Adjustments

5. Stereo imaging might improve if you remove furniture in between speakers and listening position e.g. a coffee table

6. Remove the speaker grills