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sight with the front of the speaker. To
determine the best position, measure the
“listening” distance between the ideal lis-
tening position (your favorite chair or
couch) and the location in which you plan
to install the speakers. Try to place the
speakers so that they are equally distant
from your listening spot and at least one
half of the listening distance apart (this
maintains a large pleasant stereo “image”).
In home theater applications where there
is a center channel you may choose to
space the left and right main speakers far-
ther apart for a “bigger than life” sound
with Dolby
®
encoded movies and TV
shows. However, for combined music and
movie usage stay within the
good place-
ment zone
for music. For example; if you
are ten feet back from the speakers, the
speakers should be between five and ten
feet apart
(See Figure 4).
Tweeters should be directed at the listen-
ing position.
Placement for Varying
Listening Positions
If you want the freedom to sit anywhere in
a room facing any direction, and/or find
that you prefer the “all around you” sound
of some car stereos to a conventional
“sound stage” facing you, consider the
speaker placement techniques profession-
al installers use in restaurants and bars.
They place speakers in an array around
the listening area, so that the music is
always surrounding you, regardless of the
direction you face.
The rule of thumb is to add one pair of
speakers for every 100 to 200 square feet
of listening area. Curiousl
y
, this is not so
that you can play the music louder, but so
that you can play it softer!
When you
have only one pair of speakers in a large
room you will notice that when the sound
is perfect in one part of the room, it is too
loud near the speakers. By placing more
than one pair in the room you will avoid
these “hot spots” of loud sound and you
will create more sonic ambiance while
maintaining clarity and a rich sound
everywhere
(See Figure 5).
You can make listener position still less
critical by using mono rather than stereo.
This can be difficult to achieve with nor-
mal stereo amplifiers. However, Niles
manufactures Systems Integration
Amplifiers
®
which enable one room to be
wired in stereo while other rooms are
wired in mono! Consult your local Niles
dealer for more information.
In smaller rooms or rooms that are infre-
quently used, you typically can’t justify
the expense of more than two speakers.
Try to bracket the room with the two
speakers. Diagonal placement is a very
effective way to stretch the coverage pat-
tern of two speakers. You can also com-
promise between direct sound (for detail
and clarity) and reflected sound (the
ambient or “all around you” effect). The
speakers can be placed near corners to
create more reflected sound. By directing
the tweeters to point away from the listen-
er, so they create as much reflected sound
as possible, you emphasize the ambient
effect. The more reflected sound there is
in the room the stronger the ambient
effect at low volumes. You should use
moderation, however, otherwise the com-
promise becomes too one sided and at
high volumes, the sound will be blurred
and less distinct.
Placement for Home Theater
Rear Applications
In a home theater, the goal is to reproduce
the experience of a great movie theater in
our homes. The biggest difference between
the two is the rear or surround speaker
7
Speaker Placement