Speaker Placement

Placement for Critical Listening

If you like to imagine that the band or orchestra is playing in front of you as you listen to music, or you are very conscious of clarity, detail and the textures of the individual instruments, you are a critical listener.

In a home theater, the intelligibility of dia- log and action reproduced by the front speakers is paramount! The position of the speakers plays a very important role in how clear the sound is and how a stereo image is created. Here are some guide- lines to make the process of placement quick and easy.

Make sure the sound will not be blocked or reflected off of furniture or other objects.

You should have a direct line of sight with the front of the speaker. To determine the best position, measure the “listening” dis- tance between the ideal listening position (your favorite chair or couch) and the wall 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 farther 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 placement zone for music. For exam- ple; if you are ten feet back from the wall, the speakers should be between five and ten feet apart (See Figure 2).

	Speaker
	Placement
	Zone
10’	5’	10’
	Speaker
	Placement
	Zone
Figure 2