Guide to Speaker Placement

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by Rex Anderson

I'm fairly new here and I did not come to stir up the pot. I come in peace!

Just thought I'd share my knowledge and experience as a guy who has spent 40 years as a recording and live sound engineer. I listen to music for a living.

My definition of optimized speaker and listener positions in any given room is the same as the guidelines set forth by other audio professionals, acousticians, recording and mastering engineers.

The listener should sit at the apex of an equilateral triangle, speakers toed in, tweeters at ear level. Speakers should be placed in the room to avoid boundaries that influence their response (walls and corners) and at the location that produces the least amount of room influence (modes that cause peaks and dips in frequency response). I prefer speakers that measure well and then use acoustic treatment to minimize the effect the room has on the interaction with the speaker and the listener. Minimizing first reflections, using bass traps to control bass build up and using diffusion to spread sound from the rear wall is standard practice for recording and mastering studio control rooms where engineers want truth from their monitors and monitoring environment.

I understand most home listening rooms can't accommodate these products or home owners don't want to use them because they don't look great.

However, I think audio aficionados should be aware of the effect a room has on the listening experience and do what they can to get the best sound from their systems.

Now that makes much more sense. Everyone loves a neat, simple, clean answer for a thorny problem but the real world doesn't always accommodate our wishes.

Welcome to AA. This place is better when people share their experiences.

BTW, some of us here also listen to music for a living. It's been a very gratifying career. And clearly you're just as old as I am.

[Grasshopper]

Reading this old thread. Great stuff! What a cool forum!