Imaging
In their final location, your Prodigys should have a stage width somewhat 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. Make sure that the vertical alignment, distance from the front wall, and
Bass Response
Your bass response should neither be one note nor should it be too heavy. It should extend to even the deepest organ passages, yet it should be tight and well defined.
In order to reduce these effects and allow for more flexibility in positioning, the MartinLogan design team developed the revolutionary ForceForward Bass alignment system. This innovative technology controls the first reflective bass energy from the front
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, read the section on Room Acoustics (pages
Final Placement
After obtaining good wall treatments and attaining proper angle, begin to experiment with the distance from the wall behind the speakers. 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 is tightened, that is a superior position. Move the speakers back six inches from the initial setup position and again listen to the imaging and bass response. There will be a position where you will
have pinpoint imaging and good bass response. That position is the point of the optimal placement from the front 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 pinpoint focusing. Your ideal listening position and speaker position will be determined by:
•Tightness and extension of bass response •Width of the stage
•Pinpoint focusing of imaging
Once you have determined the best of all three of these considerations, you will have your best speaker location.
The Extra “Tweak”
As a final test of exact placement, use these measurements for your speakers placement, and see what can happen to the ultimate enhancement of your system’s performance. These two basic formulas will determine optimum placement of your speakers to minimize standing waves.
1.Distance from the front wall (the wall in front of the listening position) to the center of the curvilinear transducer. To determine distance from the front wall, measure the height of your ceiling (inches) and multiply the figure by 0.618 (i.e. ceiling height in inches x 0.618 = the distance from the front wall to the center of the curvilinear transducer).
2.Distance from the
Enjoy Yourself
The Prodigy is a very refined speaker and benefits from care in setup. With these tips in mind you will find, over your months of listening, that small changes can result in measurable differences. As you live with your speakers, do not be afraid to experiment with their positioning until you find the optimal relationship between your room and speaker system that gives to you the best results. Your efforts will be rewarded.
