Behringer TRUTHB2030A Speaker placement suggestions, Adapting the Truth to the room acoustics

TRUTH B2030A/B2031A

+The TRUTH is capable of producing high volume levels. You should mix your recordings at moderate levels, so as to avoid listening fatigue and hearing impairment.

3.3 Speaker placement suggestions

Since the sound of a speaker depends to a great extent on its surroundings, placing your TRUTH correctly is very important. Please try to follow these suggestions through. Your efforts will be rewarded with better sound and higher resolution.

Both speakers are built identically. There is no need to concern yourself with which speaker should be placed left and which speaker should be placed right. Place the TRUTH on a flat and stable surface, if possible use a dedicated speaker stand. In this way, the speaker is acoustically decoupled and won’t induce vibrations in nearby objects, which would affect the bass response. If you cannot use a stand, put the TRUTH on spikes or damping foam material. Another aspect is the distance between speaker and wall: keep the speaker away from the wall, as this would emphasize the bass response, particularly in corners, where two walls form an angle.

The BEHRINGER TRUTH B2030A/B2031A are so-called near- field monitors, which means that the impact of the room acoustics on the sound will be reduced considerably owing to the short distance between speaker and listener.

Fig. 3.1: Incorrect speaker setup

This illustration shows how you shouldn’t do it: you can clearly see that a portion of the sound bounces back from the walls before it reaches the listener’s ears. Thus, direct and reflected sound waves overlap which results in a coloration of the sound.

Fig. 3.2: Correct speaker setup

This effect can be reduced by turning the speakers towards the listener. To make reflections from ceiling or floor less likely, the tweeters should be on the same height as your ears. Please note that the TRUTH should be operated vertically. Where this is impossible, place it horizontally as shown in figure 3.3, to allow for an improved stereo image.

Fig. 3.3: TRUTH setup horizontally

Not only the physical location of speakers but also the acoustic characteristics of the room have a substantial effect on the way your TRUTH sounds. Make sure that the room neither sounds too hall-like nor too dull—basically, neither like a bathroom nor totally without an echo. You can alter the room acoustics easily by installing or removing carpets, curtains or furniture. Fabric covering on the wall opposite the speakers might be a good idea if the room is too reflective. The next chapter describes how to adapt the TRUTH to the room acoustics, once it has been set up properly.

3.4 Adapting the TRUTH to the room acoustics

This chapter describes how you can use the switches on the rear of the B2030A/B2031A to adapt the speaker to the acoustics of your control room. However, you should try to improve a potentially impaired sound by optimizing the loudspeaker placement beforehand.

Fig. 3.4: Rear panel legending

If you are still having problems, you could try the following:

The ROOM COMPENSATION switch allows you to lower the bass range, depending on the speaker position. Ex-factory, the switch is set to a neutral position. If you’ve set up the TRUTH close to the wall or in a corner, try reducing the low-frequency level in steps of 2 dB. Since every room and speaker setup are unique in their acoustic properties, we cannot provide more specific information here. The same applies to the HIGH

FREQUENCY switch , which determines the tweeter level (between +2 dB and -4 dB). Here too, the best setting depends on the room acoustics. If you have an additional subwoofer installed, you can attenuate the TRUTH’s lower cutoff frequency using the LOW FREQUENCY switch . This can be necessary when adapting the TRUTH to your subwoofer. Trust your own aural instinct, but don’t forget: Listening at high volume levels over long periods leads to listening fatigue and thus reduces your ability to judge the sound. Consequently, we recommend regular pauses to keep your hearing “healthy”.

As a general rule, you should set up and adjust the TRUTH with great care. Above all, you should take your time: unlike hi-fi speakers, the B2030A/B2031A is tuned to produce a neutral sound, which can be confusing when you are working for the first time with such a high-quality speaker. Don’t try to adjust the TRUTH with its rear panel switches to produce a “bombastic” sound that impresses you or other listeners. To get a feeling for the TRUTH’s sound, you should listen to as many records as possible that were produced in other studios. We also recommend that you listen to your own recordings over as many other systems as possible, for example, your car system. If you find that your mixes are somewhat “dull” in their overall sound, the reason might be too much treble from your TRUTH. On the other hand, if you set the bass level too high, you will find that your mixes lack bass power. Tuning a speaker can take several days’ time, so once again: take your time!

3. APPLICATIONS 7