Some rooms, especially narrow ones,
can benefit from placing the speakers
along the long wall. Although space
behind the speaker and behind the
listener is reduced, this positioning in-
creases the space between the speak-
ers without side-wall interference,
and can improve overall performance.
Figure 4 shows the same average size
room as Figure 3, but with long-wall
placement. The speakers should be
at least a foot from the rear wall, but
the amount of toe-in can be adjusted,
along with listener position, as well
as the amount of spacing between the
speakers.
In a larger room, the optimum
positioning suggestions on pages 3
and 4 are easier to implement. Figure
5 shows one set-up with the speakers
five feet from the side walls, three feet
from the rear wall, and the speakers
aimed straight ahead. This arrange-
ment provides an ample amount of
space around the speakers to reduce
unwanted reflections and should give
excellent spatial performance and a
very “open” sound. Other placement
options in this room include: wider
spacing between the speakers, add-
ing toe-in as the spacing increases;
increased space between the speaker
and the back wall to improve imaging
depth. Various listening position dis-
tances can also be tried.
As mentioned at the beginning of
the positioning section, all rooms are
different and no hard rules can be
given. Even rooms with similar dimen-
sions can have differences in wall,
floor and ceiling construction that
greatly affect the sound. Also, “live”
rooms with hard surfaces, glass, and
little damping sound much different
from “dead” rooms with heavy carpet,
drapes and plush furniture. In other
words—EXPERIMENT.
Figure 5. Large listening room speaker placement
Figure 4. Average listening room with long wall
placement
8'
3'
5'
12'
8'
5'
3'
18'
25'
8-12' Listening Distance
1'
8'
1'
18'
14'
8-10 ' Listening Distance
10'
10'
4'
4'
5
