Practice of sound / Installation and placement tips
This chapter contains common information on loudspeaker
placement and installation.
In which room
do you achieve
the best sound?
No matter how good the equipment is, in the wrong listening
environment it will inevitably sound bad. There are some basic
rules concerning a proper loudspeaker installation:
Reflections
Carpets, curtains and soft furniture absorbs mid range and high
frequency sound, and this is preferable. Big empty area, on the
contrary, reflects it and produces a hard sound that may lead to
a blurry dialogue. Apart from coloring the sound, also the
perspective of the sound will deteriorate. Reflections in the
room can roughly be compared to the reflections that yield
ghost pictures on a TV screen.
Amplfication of
bass frequencies
A loudspeaker that is placed near a wall, ceiling or floor will be
amplified in the lower frequencies in a sometimes not desirable
way (since it may lead to an indistinct sound recreation). This
amplification becomes even more obvious if the loudspeaker is
placed near a corner. Thus, for a sound as clear as possible, the
loudspeaker should be placed at least 30 cm (about 12 inch)
away from the wall.
Furniture
Be aware that furniture may vibrate and thus create bad sound
at loud bass.
Room dimension
Quadratic rooms or rooms where the length is exactly twice as
long as the width should be avoided, since they may create
unwanted resonance.
Placement of the
subwoofer
Since it is so hard to judge the direction of bass frequencies, the
placement of the woofer is not that critical as for instance the
placement of front loudspeakers. However, different placements
will
influence the sound. One basic rule is to place the
subwoofer together with or near the front system (especially
important if the front loudspeaker also recreates bass
frequencies) as this will minimize the risk of phase eliminations
in the room.
Note: NEVER place the subwoofer near the wall, as this easily
leads to unwanted reflections and thus a dirty sound.
Never put the subwoofer inside a cabinet, the amplifier need to
be cooled by circulating air.
