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How to position your speakers perfectly?

B

Buster

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Best speaker placement tutorial and best speaker placement music?

On youtube there are a great number of tutorials in speaker placement.
Any of these you would especially recommend? PDF manuals link are welcome as well. Cambridge Audio, Cnet, Crutchfield......?

I have downloaded the Sound Liaison DXD sampler "The Visual Sound" The Visual Sound Sound Liaison DXD Music Sampler
as it was recommended to me as being a great speaker placement tool.
(Using the coupon code “XFI2019” you can download the 352DXD for €10 or the24/ 96 files for €5.)
Especially the phase coherent One Microphone recordings on the sampler seems excellent for that purpose:
“These guys and this recording just rocks. Pace, rhythm, tone and soundstage are just off the charts. The precise placement of all four of the musicians perfectly matches the photos of the sessions. The balance of all four instruments is darn near perfect. As you can no doubt tell, I am a huge fan of this recording. It is one of the best in terms of recording quality I have ever heard. Of course, and as always, your view of the actual music content may vary quite considerably from mine. Nonetheless, I think we would all agree that this recording sounds sensational. ” from the review in; Audiophilestyle.
I used to have the XLO test CD but have misplaced it, should I reorder it or do you have better recommendations?


51SLpq9BDqL._SX355_.jpg
 
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Thomas Barefoot's speaker-room boundary interference (SBIR) calculator is what I would use. Some would say use a laser guide to ensure symmetry and precision (having in mind the very short wavelengths of high frequencies)—sure, if you like. But I wouldn't unless I was setting up for a dedicated listening room or a studio. If you consider how much your head moves around and how practical that would be in a living room, it's probably not worth it.
 
These are all very helpful, Thanks.
 
This works for me:

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/monitoring.htm

Remember it is not just where you place your speakers but also your ears/listening chair. Toe-in is also a factor for the mid to higher frequencies, and maybe if you have side firing woofers.

I started with the basic thirds set up as described in the link, then measured for 0-500Hz with Room EQ Wizard (REW). I measured to try and get one speaker with the best bass first, then placed the other speaker in the equivalent best measured position and measured again to check it responded similarly.

In the past I experimented by moving the speakers around on a grid and found that 'The Thirds', and 'The Fifths' were the best locations.

I also used the free Real Traps test tone CD to check if my ears heard the same as the microphone:

https://realtraps.com/test-cd.htm

Using REW I then corrected further in the bass region with a digital equaliser.

I use another test CD to make sure left is left etc., and I have a centred image.

Musical tests are done with music I'm familiar with although some suggestions in Jim Smith's book Get Better Sound can also be useful:

http://getbettersound.com/index.php
 
Thanks!!! all these answers are very interesting and helpful.
 
And the music you all use, is that just music you know well or are there, like the sampler mentioned in the first post, music that is especially fitting for the purpose?
 
Buster said:
And the music you all use, is that just music you know well or are there, like the sampler mentioned in the first post, music that is especially fitting for the purpose?
Click to expand...
Use whatever approach appeals, and refine with that, then just listen to add broad as a selection of music as apeals and see if feels right to you. I seem to prefer quite a bit more bass than measuring and correcting to flat would suggest, so I often find myself adding a db or 2 of bass over time.
 
Hipper said:
This works for me:

http://www.barrydiamentaudio.com/monitoring.htm

Remember it is not just where you place your speakers but also your ears/listening chair. Toe-in is also a factor for the mid to higher frequencies, and maybe if you have side firing woofers.

I started with the basic thirds set up as described in the link, then measured for 0-500Hz with Room EQ Wizard (REW). I measured to try and get one speaker with the best bass first, then placed the other speaker in the equivalent best measured position and measured again to check it responded similarly.

In the past I experimented by moving the speakers around on a grid and found that 'The Thirds', and 'The Fifths' were the best locations.

I also used the free Real Traps test tone CD to check if my ears heard the same as the microphone:

https://realtraps.com/test-cd.htm

Using REW I then corrected further in the bass region with a digital equaliser.

I use another test CD to make sure left is left etc., and I have a centred image.

Musical tests are done with music I'm familiar with although some suggestions in Jim Smith's book Get Better Sound can also be useful:

http://getbettersound.com/index.php
Click to expand...

Good Points!
This point (in bold) is often forgotten in discussions relative to speaker placement: Speaker placement is relative to a listening position. ALWAYS.... Regardless of any other issues: room treatments, speaker directivity, capabilities, etc.
 
All great advice here, and some nice reading material too. I'd also just like to advise you to not ignore speaker height/angle. Many speakers have great, even horizontal directivity but show large dips in the frequency response once you move a few degrees up or down. I don't know about you, but I definitely shift up and down (leaning forward and back) more than left or right when doing critical listening. I like to have things lined up nicely enough that I can move around a bit and still get great sound.
 
napilopez said:
All great advice here, and some nice reading material too. I'd also just like to advise you to not ignore speaker height/angle. Many speakers have great, even horizontal directivity but show large dips in the frequency response once you move a few degrees up or down. I don't know about you, but I definitely shift up and down (leaning forward and back) more than left or right when doing critical listening. I like to have things lined up nicely enough that I can move around a bit and still get great sound.
Click to expand...

And acoustic treatment of the ceiling is a thing that is often forgotten.
 
My approach when setting up speakers in a room is to start out with a stereo opening angle of 46 ° for the speakers. This is based on the fact that we (humans) perceive a local minimum of cross correlation between left and right around that angle. This means that we (theoretically) have maximum aural separation between left and right when sound arrives from a 23 ° angle on each side.

This can easily be achieved by taking the distance between your speakers, X, and use X*1,18 as your distance from the speakers to your listening position.

Like this:
Screen Shot 2019-11-15 at 10.34.16.png

From that starting point, the next thing is to work with the inwards angle of the speakers. This takes a bit of trial and error, and are dependant of the dispersion pattern of your loudspeakers, as well as the near field reflections from the surrounding surfaces. If it's possible to absorb the side wall reflection, that's off course a really good idea.

I tend to start at an angle where I just can see the speakers outside walls, so that they are pointing inwards, then adjust the angle in and out in small steps from there. Do this while carefully listening to well known tracks, some with singer placed dead centre, some with a wide stereo perspective. That will make it quite easy to find the way forward.

A bonus tip is to include your coffee table in the "speaker positioning". Place a mirror on top of it, and make sure that you don't see the loudspeaker drivers from the listening position. This is to not allow that reflection reaching your ears close in time to the direct sound.

Finally, I would like to add that this is just my approach based on what I've learned, from my own (and others) experience it seems to work very well. Low frequency room resonances does also need to be taken in account, off course.
 
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I've tried many placement ideas, but got the best results using the REW modeling tool to place the speakers within the dimensions of the room and by trial and error move the speakers and listening position for smoothest predicted bass. Then I place the speakers using this info and measure with REW, moving the speakers, if necessary, in small increments to confirm.
 
I've tried REW's room simulator several times, it's good, but since the results are purely theoretical they tend to be a bit exaggerated. It's common to have at least one window in a room for example, where the glass pane will work as a reflective surface down to a certain frequency, then start absorbing instead. Door openings or thin drywall behave differently as well. This is good to know for people with limited experience in acoustics.

There is the option to add absorption coefficients to a wall, but to actually get an idea of the absorption coefficient of say, your floor, isn't straightforward. Measurements are always a good supplement to increase your understanding.
 
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