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Y O U R E N T E R TA I N M E N T R O O M
Experiencing the most pleasure from your speakers depends on the room you’ve
chosen for watching movies and listening to music. Because every room is different,
THIEL offers general rules on speaker positioning in the paragraphs below for both
two-channel and surround sound systems. The variables covered include room size,
the position of your favorite sofa or chair, and room furnishings. We encourage you to
experiment with the placement of your THIEL speakers and with your furnishings to
achieve the sound results that best suit your taste.
The 3rd Avenue Collection speakers are high-performance sound reproducers and
work best when you pair them with the best sound system equipment. Because THIEL
speakers are extremely accurate, they will reveal sources of distortion generated else-
where within your system, for example from poor quality cables, an inferior or inade-
quate amplifier, or inferior electronics. Poor recordings, which sometimes happen, will
also be reproduced with stunning accuracy by your THIEL speakers!
We recommend that you use clean gloves when handling
the speakers so that no smudges occur on the cabinets.
The two-channel/stereo environment
A reasonably large room gives you the flexibility to position a pair of speakers (book-
shelf or tower) away from all of the walls. Your room’s walls do have various effects on
the speakers’ sound. In general, when a speaker is close to a wall, the bass response
is stronger.
Consider the following:
• In a large room, if you’re using bookshelf speakers (the TM3s), you may want to
move them closer to the corners of the room for more bass, if that’s your preference.
• In a small room, however, the bass from the bookshelf speakers may suit your taste
just fine when the speakers are well away from the walls and corners.
• In a small room, if you’re using tower speakers (the TT1s), you can position them
well away from the walls and corners for less bass.
Typically, the bass is amplified in a small room. If your listening space is small, you may
feel as though the bass “room gain” (the effect of the room itself on the bass) is exces-
sive. In that case, use the port plugs (enclosed in the original box) to seal the back port
opening on each speaker. That should give you a more realistic sounding bass and a
better balance with the midrange and high frequencies.
In a two-channel/stereo set-up, the THIEL speakers’ mid and high frequencies sound
best when the speakers are not against or near any walls.
Reflected sound
Imagine you’re sitting in a favorite chair or sofa inside a sphere. Sound comes toward
you from all directions, vertically and horizontally. In any room no matter the size, you
want the primary sound from the speakers to be distinctly separated in time from the
secondary sound, which is reflected off of your walls and furniture.
Figure 1
shows that in a two-channel system, by positioning the speakers away from your
room’s walls, the arrival of the primary sound waves is well separated from the arrival of
Caution:
Do not bend the grilles. Bending the grilles will cause permanent
damage, and the grilles will no longer properly mount to the baffles.
The THIEL engineering team designed the grilles to protect the speakers’
components. If you have not already done so, please attach each magnetic
grille (included in the original box) to the front of the speakers right now—
aligning each grille with the top of the speaker.
If you must remove the grille at some later time, use both hands to carefully pull
the grille frame away from the front of the speaker. Do not twist or bend the grille.
Figure 1
