Installing the system correctly
The format of modern apartments rarely allows you to achieve ideal parameters when installing the system. Meanwhile, the rules for placing speakers in the listening room are extremely important. And even very expensive acoustic systems can not give that same supernatural sound that was in the cabin, if they are installed incorrectly at home. The described ten steps when arranging the speakers will help both novice audiophiles and advanced ones - a number of subtleties can be completely forgotten, trying not to spoil the interior.
1. Orient the system along the long side of the hall
Mounting on the long wall of your listening room is a real boon for bass line quality and accuracy. As a rule, with such an orientation, the waves simply do not have time to turn around and “start” the room with low-frequency modes. If possible, start the installation with this format.
2. We move the speaker away from the walls for a long distance
The closer the loudspeaker is placed to the wall, the more bass there will be - but also the less quality it will be. Only a few speaker models (such as the legendary Klipsch Klipschorn) require installation in the corners of the hall, the rest of the models will only play perfectly when pushed forward 1/3 of the length of the hall! At the same time, if the speakers have large phase inverter ports brought back, they can be safely placed at a distance of 1/2 of the length of the hall from the walls - you can often see such complexes at High End exhibitions. "Porridge with butter" in the case of a dwelling is difficult to spoil.
3. Orienting the tweeter according to the level of the ears at the listening point
The height of the seat is also extremely important - if the sofa is strongly "failed" (or raised) relative to the height of the speakers, the high frequencies will suffer. It is necessary to choose the optimal height - if this is not possible, go to step 9.
4. We observe the "golden section" - an equilateral triangle
Finally, we came close to choosing a position. The ideal design of the listening area is an equilateral triangle oriented downwards. The distance from the listener's ears to the speakers and the distance between the speakers should be equal or approximately equal. This point is decisive in the construction of stereo imagery, the scene, and the observance of sound coherence.
5. We turn the speakers so that the listener does not see the side faces of the speakers
Sometimes you can see speakers installed parallel to the side camps of the hall. This is a mistake, according to all the canons, the speaker systems should be turned “facing the listener”. The rule for such an installation is very simple - sitting at the listening point, the user should not see either the left or right sides of the speakers (this will give a clearer rendering of the scene and create the effect of a real holography of sound images).
6. Resorting to an unbalanced setup in case of bass problems
If the configuration of your furniture, the presence of windows and doors in the hall give bass modes - even if all the conditions described above are met, you can try an asymmetrical installation by turning the speaker line to the corners of the hall. Or even extending and rotating one column. Of course, subject to par. 2, 3, 5.
7. Remove grills
Any grills slightly blur the sound. First of all, the drop in detail is noticeable at high frequencies. If small children or pets do not go to the listening room, it is better to remove the grills from the speakers.
8. Untie the columns from the floor
As a rule, spikes are included with floor speakers (you will have to buy special stands for bookshelf speakers). It is best to change the decoupling system from the floor, acquiring more massive supports and spikes, so the sound will become more accurate in terms of bass. The overall sound fidelity will also improve.
9. If possible, we use additional anti-vibration platforms
Additional anti-vibration systems will not only help increase the height of the acoustics and ideally orient the height of the tweeter. This will also become an additional amplification of item 8, having a positive effect on the sound quality! If there is no budget for branded plates, the decoupling can be arranged by ordering regular 5 cm aluminum or steel plates in the size of the AC bases. But marble solutions can often do harm.
10. For cables, you should also think about stands!
The final touch is cables. Thick wires hanging from speaker terminals can not only vibrate themselves - they also disturb the stability of the speakers themselves. Especially when it comes to shelf models. Take care of cable racks - if you need to save money, plastic wall-mounted bag storage solutions are perfect. There are many holes in them and the cables laid through such systems will not hang in the air.
Denis Repin
October 17, 2019
How to properly position a 5.1 speaker system in a room
Let's start with the basics. Avoid square rooms, look for a room that is close to ideal. A rectangular room is considered ideal, the short wall of which should not be less than 4 meters, and with ceilings 3.5 m high. Not parallel walls are very good for acoustics, the presence of a bay window is also welcome. Do not place the speaker system diagonally in a rectangular room. The Horn effect will distort the stereo effect. Obstacles are also good for sound reflection. They can be shelving, upholstered furniture, curtains made of heavy fabrics.
But it's important not to overdo it. If you overload a room with pillows and carpets, then it will be no better than an empty one, where the echo walks, like in the mountains.
The distance from the walls is another important point.
Two speakers placed along the short wall of the room at a distance of 1/3 of the length of the room and about 0.7 m from the long walls. Of course, it is almost impossible to meet such conditions, it is important to simply strive for the ideal. This rule does not apply to home theater rear speakers placed in corners.
The last condition, no less important than the previous ones, is the height of the columns. It is better that the tweeter (the smallest of all) is about 10 cm above the level of the ears of a seated person.
To adjust the height of the speakers, use stands and pedestals. Turn the front panels of the speaker towards the listeners.
And now about the position of the listener. If we imagine an equilateral triangle, in the corners of the base of which there are speakers, then the listener's place is the top of this triangle. When installing a 5.1 system, the angle between a pair of rear speakers and the listener should be 120 degrees, and the front ones remain at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. If you draw a straight line through the listener's ear, then he should see the rear speakers at an angle of about 30 degrees to this straight line. Take advantage of the compensation mode for inaccuracies in the location of speakers and listeners, since many manufacturers make life easier for the user with this mode.
On the floor
Floorstanding speaker systems are leading in terms of sound quality. Their modern image is tall, narrow cabinets with front-mounted speakers. At the back are the contacts for connection. This helps to get quite powerful bass, allowing you to do without a subwoofer in home theaters (5.0 is called this configuration).
If the speakers are inconspicuous and elegant, this is usually not a guarantee of good sound. Although there are exceptions.
Some of the spurious reflections are eliminated by speakers with rounded side walls.
If you decide to put, for example, lamps on the speakers, make sure that the surface is flat, so that there are no steel plates on top that act as an acoustic mirror.
In a higher price category, there are acoustics, the design of which uses precious woods, genuine leather, and anthracite glass inserts.Fans of ultramodern will suit options in bright red. Speakers can play the role of columns, impressively rising to the very ceiling. Thus, floor acoustics can act as an independent design element.
...and on the shelf
A more economical option would be bookshelf speakers. You can place it on a bookcase shelf or or on the wall only if there are no other options, or if these are the rear speakers of a home theater.
In other cases, acoustics should be considered only together with special racks. Racks can be from the same manufacturer as the speakers. But if the design or model of another company touched your heart, you can safely fulfill the wildest fantasies in design. The choice of such racks is unusually interesting and extensive.
“Electrostats” fit very well into the design of the room. These are flat speakers with a large membrane and a board-shaped case. Electrostats, or planars, belong to audiophile acoustics, in which the highest quality is combined with an equally high price.
And on the ceiling and in the wall
The most inconspicuous in the room will be built-in acoustics. Most often, this is the front panel and the speaker attached to it. Such a system can be built into the ceiling, walls, and also placed in the garden.
The so-called “grill” closes the speakers - a fabric whose color can be matched to the wall decoration.
Acoustics for ceilings are even flatter. A round flange, a bezel around the speaker - that's the whole case, perfectly integrated into the ceilings.
You can easily fit any acoustic system into a modern interior - it all depends on your preferences and capabilities.
