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Positioning your
monitors as satellite speakers
in a multi-channel mastering or surround sound system
Emotiva’s airmotiv powered monitors work great as satellite speakers in a high-quality
multi-channel playback or mastering system. When choosing optimum locations for
speakers in a multi-channel system, the goal is to optimize the frequency response
and imaging. However, because more speakers are required, you are more likely to
encounter practical constraints on where they can be located. Various surround-sound
systems and standards also recommend slightly different speaker placement for
optimum performance.
When listening to most music, the surround speakers are primarily used for ambience
information. In most movies, important and highly localized information is present in
the front and side channels. It is therefore more critical that those speakers be placed
in their optimum locations.
A typical surround sound system may also use a mix of different models and types
of satellite speakers (possibly including bipole or dipole speakers for surrounds). For
example, a superb system could be built by using Emotiva’s
airmotiv
6
powered monitors
for front speakers and
airmotiv
4
(or
airmotiv
5
) powered monitors for surrounds. Since
all airmotiv monitors share the same basic technology, and are voiced similarly, they
will work exceptionally well together in any combination in a surround or multi-channel
playback system.
Some systems may also use a mix of airmotiv powered monitors and traditional
speakers and amplifiers. For example, if you already own passive monitors and a stereo
power amplifier, you could upgrade to surround-sound by adding a pre-processor
and three airmotiv powered monitors (one front center and two surrounds). This way
you would avoid the need for more amplifier channels and minimize the number of
additional connections.
Sound is subjective,and both room acoustics and personal preference play a big part
in the listening experience, so use these guidelines as a starting point, but feel free to
experiment until you achieve the sound you like best.
• If possible, for best imaging and soundstage, mount all of your airmotiv speakers
upright (with the high-frequency transducer on top), vertically (not angled upwards
or downwards), with the middle of the front baffle at approximately the same
height as the listener’s seated head height.
• Place your left-front and right-front speakers flanking the video display (TV).
The distance between left-front and right-front speakers is a matter of preference;
placing them close to the display will tend to focus attention on the picture
(especially with smaller displays), while moving them further apart will tend
to widen the soundstage. Whether to apply toe-in or not is also a matter of
preference.
