Von Schweikert Audio
World Class Reference Speaker Systems for Music and Film
2.If you are not sitting in the focal point, the noise will be diffuse, without a center image. Although you will hear noise coming from the center, it will sound as diffuse as the sound coming from the speakers themselves. Even though the speakers will image music when set up like this, the imaging will be diffuse and non-localized. There won’t be enough ‘body’ to the images, and it will be hard to hear space between the instruments. There is a distinct lack of image focus in this situation.
To find the focal point of the VR system, move forwards and backwards slowly while listening to the pink noise ‘ball’. You can either rock in your listening seat, or move back and forth by several feet if you are way out of the equilateral triangle (using a director’s chair for this works great). If you have a fixed seating position that can not be moved due to furniture considerations, you will have to move the speakers either closer together, or further apart, depending on the strength of the pink noise ‘ball’. If the speakers are closer together than 8 feet, try spreading them further apart.
*Note: if the speakers cannot be separated more than a few feet due to room considerations, as in a video application, it may be necessary to toe the speakers outwards.
If you are placing the speakers further apart than 8 feet, try toeing them in towards you, listening for the ‘ball’ to lock in. It really helps to have two people moving the speakers while you sit in the listening position, giving orders. Toe-in is often critical, with only 1" movements being very apparent. When you have found the correct spacing and listening distance, you will immediately know it, since the image lock-in is very obvious. The pink noise will become a very strong ‘ball’ of sound, just floating in between the speakers. Keep moving the speakers until you hear this ball of sound. As you move the speakers either closer together or further apart, and experiment with toe-in, you will hear changes that enable you to know if you are headed in the right direction. It is not really difficult, it’s fun. Of course, experimenting with several types of placement schemes is valuable, for it will teach you how the speakers interact with your particular room. Only by careful experimentation will you find that ‘magic’ spot for your new VR-4 speaker system.
REAR AMBIENCE DRIVER ADJUSTMENT: The VR design has a rear-firing ambience driver which adds depth enhancement and 360 degree timbre fill-in. When breaking in the speakers, leave the Spatial Dimension Control all the way up in order to break-in the driver fully. However, when optimizing the imaging using the pink noise test documented above, turn the ambience driver off by rotating the control fully counter- clockwise. Once the speaker location has been determined, it is time to add some rear ambience. While listening to a variety of naturally recorded music, dial in successively more ambience, listening carefully to the change. If your rear wall behind the speakers is highly reflective, only a little ambience will be necessary if the speakers are fairly close to the wall. (Set control between 6:00 and 9:00 as referenced to a clock face). In some situations, where the rear wall is highly reflective and the driving amp/cables are
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