aspen FR20
Operation Guide
®
Basic Setup
and Placement
9
Loudspeakers and rooms work together as a system and, to get the best performance,
great care in setup is important to optimize the listening experience.
Some helpful tools include a tape measure (or laser measurement tool), pen/paper to note
the distances and listening impressions, and some demo music.
Distances to sidewalls/front wall:
One of the most important aspects of speaker placement is distance from boundaries. In
particular, best performance is typically found when the speaker is a minimum of 3 ft from
the side wall and placed symmetrically (or very close to that) from sidewall boundaries.
This distance minimizes early reflections off the wall from interfering with the tonality of the
sound coming directly from the speaker.
Distance from the front wall (if in a dedicated space where the speaker can be placed out
into the room somewhat) should be chosen through listening but, in general, should start
around 18 inches from the front wall. From there, listen to acoustic/vocal music with good
bass and percussion and gradually inch the speakers away from the wall, assessing the
sound as you go. (You want to make sure that the lower range voice and bass instruments
are the most natural sounding and balanced with the midrange.) Keep inching both
speakers into the room until the current position sounds worse than the previous position.
Then move them back to the previous position where the tonal balance was the most
natural.
Speaker width and toe-in:
In general, your listening position should be about 20% outside of an equilateral triangle
formed by the width of the speakers (+/- 30 degrees from center). For instance, if the
listening position is 10 ft (~3 m) from the speakers, a starting width for the speakers
should be ~8 ft (~2.4 m).
Placing the speakers closer together gives a bit less “width” to the sonic image but can
give a stronger phantom center image and more warmth and bloom in the low midrange.
The speakers should be toed-in a little, aimed at a point in space about 3 ft behind the
listening position.
Further pointing of the speakers towards the listening position will increase “focus” and the
level of the extreme treble at the expense of the spaciousness and “width” (perception of
sound coming from outside the width of the speakers).
