S E T U P D E T A I L S
16
already relatively well damped, then diffusion is preferable, which will control the direct
reflections without decreasing “air”.
Room Compensation
To start, in a moderately lively, fairly large room, you will probably get the best sound when
the speakers are toed in so that they face each of your shoulders or toward a position a couple
of feet behind you. This will also give the widest seating area with uniform sound from both
speakers.
Exaggerated Treble
Of course, the tweeter setting can be reduced as a first pass. Remember that this control
responds very slowly to decreases, but quickly to increases. You can reduce the time you spend
adjusting this by turning off the bias supply and turning the control all the way down, doing
something else for 15 or 20 minutes, then repowering the supplies and gradually increasing the
tweeter level until you are happy with the sound.
Another way of reducing the high frequencies is to simply reduce the amount of toe-in.
The upper treble might be exaggerated by reflections from the wall behind the listening
position, or by a generally lively room, that is, one with lots of hard surfaces and not many soft
ones. Adding absorption is the cure for this, and the topic is covered well in many places on
line and in print.
You can also try reversing the positions of the speakers, placing the even serial numbered unit
on the left and the odd on the right, then aiming them so their axes cross a couple or a few
feet ahead of your listening position, rather than behind it. By aiming the speakers more at the
far side walls than the near ones, this will increase the mean distance from the speakers to the
side walls and thus reduce the net amount of wall splash.
Exaggerated Bass
If you find that it is necessary to place the speakers near walls or into corners, the bass will be
reinforced by the nearby surfaces. If your equipment has a bass knob or low frequency
equalization control, or your file player has some DSP capabilities, that will be the best way to
handle the situation. Otherwise, if the tweeter level is not all the way up, set it so.
Note that there is no file player software at this time that can perform DSP directly on DSD
files, i.e., your player EQ will only work on PCM files. If you need your player to EQ DSD
files, you’ll need to set it to convert the streams to PCM.
Room Boom and Suck Out
Room resonant modes can cause certain bass notes to be greatly exaggerated and others to be
nearly missing. Properly tuned and positioned bass traps are the ultimate solution, but no one
will blame you if you don’t want to bother.