Sit between two properly spaced speakers it's like having the front seat at your favorite concert venue. Want to get the most out of your stereo speakers?
Follow these tips for better sound:
- Position your seat the same distance from the speakers as everyone else. In other words, your chair and speakers should form a triangle with equal sides.
- Tilt the speakers inward to focus the sound towards the listening position.
- Avoid placing the speakers and seat against walls. When you move them slightly out of the room, you'll get more sound directly from the speakers and less of the sound reflecting off walls and other surfaces. You'll hear more musical details that bring your music to life.
- Strategically placed acoustical panels and treatments can also help dissipate reflected sound. For more information, see our article on room acoustics.
- Every room and system is different. Experiment with your arrangement to see what sounds best.
Location adjustments for better sound
The placement and positioning of the speakers plays an important role in the performance of the system. And in an ideal world, everyone's listening room would have perfectly arranged speakers and acoustically treated surfaces.
But many of us enjoy listening to music in the living room, bedroom, and other real-world spaces. Sometimes our speakers can't go exactly where they sound best. But don't worry, even if your room isn't perfect, making a few simple adjustments will improve your listening experience.
When I moved into my house, I set up the speaker system so it would look good in my living room. I never gave much thought to how placement would affect performance. The bluetooth speakers they may end up pushed against the wall, facing forward. They sounded decent, but never offered the clarity I heard when Polk demoed them at our headquarters.
Speaker placement before making any adjustments
My Polk Audio floorstanding speakers started against the wall, robbing me of the nuance and detail they were capable of delivering.
Recently the way the system is organized can be modified. Suggestions from the industry guru and I consulted with some business experts. I put some of the tricks I learned to use and voila. By simply making a few adjustments, I was able to improve the quality of my system in several ways.
Move speakers away from the wall to reduce reflection
The first step to improve the sound was to move the speakers away from the wall. She had been getting a bass reflex that was too accentuated by the proximity. Taking them out of about 6″ gave me firmer, cleaner bass with better detail.
Tilt the speakers inward to improve performance
Since the speakers were facing forward, I was missing two key parts of the listening experience: the soundstage and the picture.
A good soundstage gives you a clear sense of the physical space where the band is playing, such as the stage or studio. A good musical image means that you can clearly visualize where each instrument or voice is coming from.
I turned each speaker in slowly, until they beamed directly at me. There was a "sweet spot" where the music seemed to fall into place naturally. With me as the focal point of the speakers, the soundstage and musical image sounded fantastic – it was like having a choice seat at a live show.