MartinLogan E2 manual Initial Speaker Placement, The Wall Behind the Listener, The Side Walls

SPEAKER PLACEMENT

Initial Speaker Placement

For optimal performance of the Statement e2 system we recommend that the ESL/Transition towers be placed approximately five to seven feet from the front wall (the wall in front of the listening position) and at least two feet from the side walls. The subwoofer towers should be placed diagonally (or against a wall) in the front corners of the room with at least one foot of clearance between the woofers and the walls. The listening position should be farther than the distance between the speakers them- selves. What you are trying to attain is the impression of good center imaging and stage width (see figure 1).

There is no exact distance between speakers and listener, but there is a relationship. In long rooms, naturally, that relationship changes. The distance between the speakers will be far less than the distance from you to the speaker system. However, in a wide room, you will still find that if the distance from the listener to the speakers becomes smaller than the distance between the speakers themselves, the image will no longer focus in the center.

The Wall Behind the Listener

Near-field reflections can occur from your back wall, the wall behind the listening position. If your listening position is close to the back wall, these reflections can cause problems and confuse the quality of imaging. Actually it is better for the wall behind you to be soft rather than bright. If you have a hard back wall and your listening position is close to it, experiment with devices that will soften and absorb information (i.e., wall hangings and possibly even sound absorbing panels).

The Wall Behind the Speakers

The front surface, the wall behind your speakers, should not be extremely hard or soft. For instance, a pane of glass will cause reflections, brightness and confused imaging. Curtains, drapery and objects such as bookshelves can be placed along the wall to soften a hard surface. A standard sheet rock or textured wall is generally an adequate surface if the rest of the room is not too bright and hard. Sometimes walls can be too soft. If the entire front wall consists of only heavy drapery, your system can sound too soft or dull. You may hear dull, muted music with little ambience. Harder room surfaces will actually help in this case.

The front surface should, optimally, be one long wall without any doors or openings. If you have openings, the reflection and bass characteristics from one channel to the other can be different.

The Side Walls

The same requirements exist for side walls. Additionally, a good rule of thumb is to have the side walls as far away from the speaker sides as possible, minimizing near-field side wall reflections. Sometimes, if the system is bright or the imaging is not to your liking, and the side walls are very near, try putting curtains or softening material directly to the edge of each speaker. An ideal side wall, however, is no side wall at all.

Figure 1. Initial Speaker Placement.

4 Speaker Placement