6 Placement
P
LACEMENT
By now your speakers should be placed approximately two to
three feet from the front wall (the wall in front of the listening
position), and at least one to two feet from the side walls. Your
sitting distance should be farther than the distance between
the speakers themselves. What you are trying to attain is
the impression of good center imaging and stage width.
There is no exact distance between speakers and listener,
but there is a relationship. In long rooms, naturally, that
relationship changes. The distance between the speakers
will be far less than the distance from you to the speaker
system. However, in a wide room, you will still find that if
the distance from the listener to the speakers becomes
smaller than the distance between the speakers them-
selves, the image will no longer focus in the center.
Now that you have positioned your speaker system, spend
some time listening. Wait to make any major changes in
your initial setup for the next few days as the speaker sys-
tem itself will change subtly in its sound. Over the first 40
hours of play the actual tonal quality will change slightly
with deeper bass and more spacious highs resulting.
After a few days of listening you can begin to make refine-
ments and hear the differences of those refinements.
The Wall Behind the Listener
Near-field reflections can occur from your back wall, the
wall behind the listening position. If your listening position
is close to the back wall, these reflections can cause prob-
lems and confuse the quality of imaging. Actually it is
better for the wall behind you to be soft than to be bright.
If you have a hard back wall and your listening position is
close to it, experiment with devices that will soften and
absorb information (i.e., wall hangings and possibly even
sound absorbing panels).
The Wall Behind the Speakers
The front surface, the wall behind your speakers, should not
be extremely hard or soft. For instance, a pane of glass
will cause reflections, brightness and confused imaging.
Curtains, drapery and objects such as bookshelves can be
placed along the wall to soften a hard surface. A standard
sheet rock or textured wall is generally an adequate
surface if the rest of the room is not too bright and hard.
Sometimes walls can be too soft. If the entire front wall
consists of only heavy drapery, your system can sound too soft
or dull. You may hear dull, muted music with little ambi-
ence. Harder room surfaces will actually help in this case.
The front surface should, optimally, be one long wall
without any doors or openings. If you have openings, the
reflection and bass characteristics from one channel to the
other can be different.
The Side Walls
The same requirements exist for side walls. Additionally, a
good rule of thumb is to have the side walls as far away
from the speaker sides as possible, minimizing near-field
side wall reflections. Sometimes, if the system is bright or
the imaging is not to your liking, and the side walls are
very near, try putting curtains or softening material directly
to the edge of each speaker. An ideal side wall, however,
is no side wall at all.
Experimentation
Toe-in
Now you can begin to experiment. First begin by toeing your
speakers in towards the listening area and then facing them
straight into the room. You will notice that the tonal balance
changes slightly. You will also notice the imaging changing.
Imaging
In their final location, the Montage’s should have a stage
width somewhat wider than the speakers themselves. On
well-recorded music, the instruments should extend
beyond the edges of each speaker to the left and to the
right, yet a vocalist should appear directly in the middle.
The size of the instruments should be neither too large nor
too small. Additionally, you should find good clues as to
stage depth. Make sure the vertical alignment, distance
from the front wall, and toe-in, is exactly the same from one
speaker to the other. This will greatly enhance the quality of
your imaging.
Listening Position
