THX ARENDAL, Handbook

Page: 33 / 48

Positioning - You
It would also be worth mentioning that, you the listener
are also part of this bass and stereo imaging equation.
Just as it is ideal for the speakers to create the right image
depth, it is also ideal that you as a listener are 38% of the
room’s length from the rear wall. This is considered ideal
in terms of reducing the rear wall infl uence on the sound
from the front speakers (that sound will have travelled
just over twice as far and be over 4x quieter), but also
divides the room’s dimensions so as to help smooth the
bass response.
Again this is a rule of thumb as you don’t want that
measurement to be equal of any of the three used to
position the front speakers and preferably not a multiple
of the speaker to front wall dimension for the same reason.
However, moving a sofa an appreciable amount can be the
cause of much ‘discussion’ in a family household, but as
we said, these are just handy rules of thumb that should
be accommodated, if they can.
Basically, other than the distance from you to each
speaker, try and mix it up a bit!
Positioning - Center Speaker
The Arendal Sound 1723 Center & Center S uses the
tweeter waveguide to great effect. As previously mentioned,
increased tweeter effi ciency allows a lower crossover than
conventional systems, so the problems of off-axis comb
fi ltering have been greatly reduced and down-shifted to
much less sensitive frequencies. Thus, the 1723 Center &
Center S is ideally suited to center duties and used with
identical left and right monitors, provides an absolutely
perfect tonal match.
Whilst positioning has been (relatively!) unproblematic to
achieve for the front left and right loudspeakers, owing
to the spatial freedom they enjoy, the center channel will
have to deal with the small matter of fi tting in with where
your screen needs to go.
Whilst you might be able to fi re the center speaker
through an acoustically transparent projection screen,
that obviously isn’t possible with TV displays. Do all you
can to mount the center speaker up as high as possible
(up against the TV) and try to avoid housing it in an
enclosed space in a cabinet. It will just end up sounding
thick, muddy and unclear on dialogue. Likewise, sitting
the Arendal Sound 1723 Center & Center S on a solid shelf
that is up against the front wall is akin to putting the left
or right speakers in a corner and will also thicken the bass
and mid-bass making voices sound chesty and indistinct.
In this case, you can at least pull the speaker to the front
of the shelf to ameliorate this effect.
The center speaker equivalent of toe-in is limited to
tilting it up/down until it’s fi ring straight at you. If you
are lucky enough to be fi ring through an acoustically
transparent projection screen, we recommend placing the
center speaker at least ear height and if possible slightly
higher as this gives additional help in terms of lifting
the combined output of the front three loudspeakers up
into the middle of the screen. For the best performance
and tonal balance, the center channel speaker should be
installed vertically. If you can mount three Arendal Sound
1723 Center/Center S & Monitors/Monitor S behind the
screen, try and get then all to the same height, ideally
1/3 of the way up the screen, or ear height - whichever is
higher.