Grimm Audio LS1, User Manual, Page: 9 / 62

In this respect the LS1 is not different from any other loudspeaker. A special feature of
the LS1 however is that the LS1s subwoofer can be taken off the foot plate of the main
system so both can be positioned independently. If your room acoustics are particular-
ly difficult, feel free to experiment with placing the sub closer to the wall than the main
speaker. You can use the parameters in the subwoofer preference pane (Gain and Delay)
to compensate resulting alignment errors. Please read the chapter ‚Software Control
Settings‘ for more information.
An annoying asset of most rooms is they resonate at low frequencies (below 200 Hz).
Tones bouncing back and forth between walls interfere and at certain frequencies they
form node and anti node patterns which means that certain tones sound silent in one
place in the room but are very loud at other spots. These resonances are called room
modes and since they are dependent on the dimensions and the weight of the walls, they
vary from room to room. Some rooms therefore sound ‚better‘ than others. Whether a
certain room mode is triggered or not is dependent on the position of the source and of
the listener. So again, it makes sense to spend some time positioning the LS1‘s carefully
to find the optimal compromise. Consult a specialized acoustician if you have a real strong
room mode problem in your room.
Some companies apply DSP for ‚room correction‘. We rather not use DSP in the LS1 for
this since the effects are influenced by the position of the listener. If we again look at the
three acoustic factors: first reflections are strongly dependent on the listening position.
There is no way to correct these with DSP. This is certainly true above 200 Hz.
The low frequency coupling effect could perhaps partly be compensated by DSP, but only
in the very low end where the energy adds up. But the majority of listeners associates
that with powerfull bass and does not want to attenuate it. In the region around 100 Hz
where often energy is lowered due to the reflection being out of phase, DSP will not help.
Finally, room modes are also strongly dependent on the position of the listener.
Theoretically it should be advantageous to attenuate peaks in the room response that
reside in the whole listening area, but all DSP solutions for this we tried so far challenged
the LS1‘s performance too much. We are now working on a better alternative instead.
page 9
Positioning
Positioning