Move your speakers before you upgrade them
Distance from the wall, height of the tweeter, and the shape you sit in. The room is half the sound, and it is free to fix.
A speaker plays into a room and the room answers. Most of what people hear as boomy, thin, or vague is not the speaker at all: it is the reflection off a nearby wall arriving a few milliseconds behind the direct sound. Moving furniture costs nothing and beats the upgrade you were saving for.
Off the wall, and up to your ears
Start about 30cm clear of the wall behind them, then raise the tweeter to the height of your ears when you are sitting down. A speaker pushed against plasterboard gets a bass lift it was never designed for, and a tweeter firing at your chest loses the detail you paid for. Those 2 moves fix more complaints than any cable or amplifier ever has.
Sit in the triangle
The 2 speakers and your seat want to form a roughly equal-sided triangle, with each speaker turned slightly toward you. Spread them too far and the center of the image thins out; push them too close and there is no stereo left to hear. Getting this right is what people are describing when they say a system disappears.
- A corner adds bass, usually more than you wanted. Move out of it before you touch the tone controls.
- Put something soft at the first reflection point on each side wall. Slide a mirror along it until you can see a speaker in it, and mark that spot.
- Keep the turntable off the shelf holding the speakers. Vibration travels through furniture and comes back as a hum you will blame on the cartridge.
Maya Brandt
Audio editor
Spends more time in listening rooms than is strictly healthy. Writes about headphones, speakers, and the difference a room makes.
