S E T U P D E T A I L S
17
that this angle was simply made up for no good reason other than memorability,
and everyone should use whatever they want.
It is very important to avoid the use of a high backed chair that will reflect
unwanted sound into your ears with practically no delay, even when the headrest
appears to be made of soft, sound absorbent material. This has a disastrous effect
on realism as well as the stereo image.
Lastly, if the back wall less than a few meters [ten feet] behind the listening
position, it is helpful to add absorbent material there, such as heavy curtains or a
decorative carpet. If you are not averse to the appearance of diffusors, adding
those instead of absorption to that area will help, and do so without decreasing
“air”.
Room Compensation
In a moderately lively, fairly large room, you will probably get the best sound when the
speakers are toed in so that they face directly toward you 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
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. This can be counteracted by reducing the amount of toe-in.
If the mid-treble is exaggerated, it will probably be best to increase the woofer setting
to the +3 position, if it is not already set that way, or if it is, then reduce the tweeter
level.
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, or if it already is, then set the woofer switch into its middle position.
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.
