MartinLogan Monolith III user manual Experimentation, Final Word

Placement

Experimentation

Toe-in.

Now you can begin to experiment. First begin by toeing your speakers in towards the listening area and then toeing them out. You will notice that the tonal balance changes ever so slightly. You will also notice the imaging changing ever so slightly. Generally it is found that the ideal listening position is with the speakers slightly toed-in so that you are listening to the inner third of the curved transducer section.

Experimenting with the toe-in will help in terms of tonal balance. You will notice that as the speakers are toed-out, the system becomes slightly brighter than when toed-in. This design gives you the flexibility to modify a soft or bright room.

Tilting the Speakers.

(Backwards and Forwards)

As can be seen from the diagrams in the Room Acoustics section of this manual, the vertical dispersion is directional above and below the stat panel itself. If you sit in a tall chair, you may get better perform- ance by tilting the speakers back so that the high frequencies are on axis with your ears. Otherwise, with a normal sofa and normal listen- ing, tilt the speakers only slightly back if not straight up. Make sure, when listening, that the vertical alignment, distance from the back wall, and toe in is exactly the same from one speaker to the other. This will greatly enhance the quality of your imaging.

Imaging.

In their final location, your Monoliths should have a stage width some- what wider than the speakers themselves. On well recorded music, the instruments should extend beyond the edges of each speaker to the left and to the right, yet a vocalist should appear directly in the middle. The size of the instruments should be neither too large nor too small. Additionally, you should find good clues as to stage depth.

Bass Response.

Your bass response should neither be one note nor should it be too heavy. It should extend fairly deep to all but the deepest organ passages yet it should be tight and well defined. Kick-drums should be tight and percussive, string bass notes should be uniform and consistent throughout the entirety of the run without any booming or thudding.

Tonal Balance.

Voices should be natural and full, cymbals should be detailed and articulate yet not bright and piercing, pianos should have a nice transient characteristic and deep tonal registers as well. If you cannot attain these virtues, re-read the section on Room Acoustics. This will give you clues on how to get closer to those ideal virtues.

A Final Word

Final Placement.

After obtaining good wall treat- ments and attaining proper angle, begin to experiment with the distance from the back wall. Move your speaker slightly forward into the room. What happened to the bass response? What happened to the imaging? If the imaging is more open and spacious and the bass response tightened, that is a superior position. Move the speakers back six inches from the initial set-up position. Again, listen to the imaging and bass response. There will be a position where you will have pin-point imaging and good bass response. That position becomes the point of the optimal placement from the back wall.

Now experiment with placing the speakers farther apart. As the speakers are positioned farther apart, listen again, not so much for bass response but for stage width and good pin-point focusing.

Your ideal listening position and speaker position will be deter- mined by the following:

1.Tightness and extension of bass response.

2.The width of the stage.

3.The pin-point focusing of imaging.

Once you have found the best of all three of those considerations, you will have your best speaker location.

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