 Speaker Placement
It's important to position your speakers correctly if you want to experience surround sound how it was heard in the studio when they mixed it. If you're serious about hi-fi sound too then it's just as important to get serious about the way your system is set-up. Modest systems can be dramatically improved with some thought as to how your speakers are positioned in the room and even the most expensive speakers can sound poor in the wrong room environment.
There's no hard & fast rule because every room and speaker set-up is different As a general rule of thumb all the surround speakers drivers should be placed as close to ear height as possible, within the constraints of the room you're working with. Keep the centre speaker below and close to the screen if you can as you will hear most dialogue through the centre channel. Because low frequency sound produced by the subwoofer is omnidirectional it can be placed in various places in the room you can run a cable to, although it's best to avoid placing the sub in the corners of the room though as this can lead to it producing an unwanted boomy sound instead of nice smooth bass. Angle all your speakers towards the main listening position often referred to as “the sweet spot”.
Keep your left and right speakers equidistant from each other if possible and both same distance from your viewing seat. It's worth getting out a tape measure or peice of string to help with this. If you can't keep your speaker layout symmetrical then some adjustment can be made to compensate in the settings of your AV receiver, this is automatically done if you use Audyssey or Yamaha's YPAO. How close your speakers are to your rear and side walls will effect the sound they produce. Start with keeping them at least roughly half a metre away from rear and side walls and experiment with their placement by changing one factor at a time. Step them further into the room and observe the difference it makes to the bass responce, soundstage and relections from the side walls. The key is to experiment adjusting different aspects until you have a compromise of good sound and room layout which you can live with.
Ideally for bookshelf speakers you'll want the speakers main drivers as close to ear level as possible when you're seated in your listening position, so purchasing stands the correct height for you and your sofa is also something to consider. For example we stock the Atacama Nexus stands in 4 sizes for just this reason.
The contents of your room, furnishings and positioning of your speakers within the room will effect the quality of sound. Think of sound waves emanating from your speakers a little like ripples in a swimming pool – ripples bounce off the sides off the pool just as they do the walls of your room. Some of these reflected waves collide with each other and combine to make a larger wave, increasing the amplitude or cancel each other out to some extent decreasing the amplitude. This results in some frequency's being louder or quieter than they should be meaning music may sound “muddy” like some parts are missing, or the bass might sound “boomy” in places where low frequencies are being amplified.
To minimise these reflections acoustic panels such as we have installed in our demo room can be placed at the primary points of reflection to absorb the waves and stop them interfering with the waves from the speakers to your ears. If your room allows for it stand your speakers away from the wall as much as 3ft and try not to have your listening position against the rear wall. Even closing the curtains over windows and using thick fabric hangings in place of acoustic panels can have a very noticeable effect.
Top Tip
Sometimes it's not really practical to place surround speakers in their ideal locations either due to the size of the room, furniture getting in the way or just the unwanted clutter of large speakers. Often the surround speakers that are ideally placed to the rear or sides of the sofa are most awkward. The problem can be solved by using smaller wall-mounted satellite speakers to get them out of the way or by using in-wall or in-ceiling speakers. Using in-wall or in-ceiling speakers means you can still have a speaker with a quality large driver but with a clean finish without taking up space like a cabinet speaker would. Infact if you're keen on the minimalist look then it's possible to use in-wall or in-ceiling speakers for the entire system.
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