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Placement and Operation
Speaker and room interactions have a huge impact on the sound
of the system. Moving the speakers just a little can make a
dramatic difference in what you hear. The compact design of
System Two’s components provides you with maximum
placement flexibility while creating a large, seamless, acoustically
accurate soundfield for your home theater. The best placement of
the speakers will vary from room to room. Start out by using the
following placement guidelines and the diagram above. But also
feel free to experiment. In fact, it may be beneficial to hook up
the speakers with some extra wire and to simply drape the wire
across the floor, experimenting with several placement options
before installing the speakers permanently. This will allow you the
opportunity to move the speakers around easily so you can find
the best sonic and visual locations. Such experimentation can be
especially beneficial for the surround speakers.
Note:
Some surround sound decoders and receivers offer a choice of
“Normal / Small” or “Wide-band / Large” modes for the center channel.
The Compact Two C is designed to be used in the “Normal / Small”
mode. Additionally, most discrete digital home theater systems allow you
to select between “Small” and “Large” speakers throughout the system.
Since the Compact Theater System Two has been designed to work only
with a subwoofer, please set all the speaker positions to “Small.”
Speaker Placement
The primary goal of a home theater is not to transport you into
your local movie theater. It’s to transport you into the movie
itself, into the midst of the action occurring on the screen. For
best results in a home theater system, place your Compact
Theater Two LR speakers to either side of the television
approximately 2 to 4 feet away from the screen, if possible. The
three front channel speakers (Compact Theater Two LRs and C)
are magnetically shielded so they will not interfere with your
television picture. The left front and right front speakers should
be far enough apart that you get a good stereo image, but not so
far apart that the sound seems to come directly from the speakers,
distracting you from the picture. You may chose to “toe” the LR
speakers in, aiming them at the prime listening position. This can
be particularly useful if the front LR speakers are fairly far apart.
The Compact Two C center channel should be placed directly
above or below your television. It is important that the speaker is
centered on, and as close as possible to the screen, not off to the
side. You can tilt the center speaker up or down on its adjustable
base to optimize its response. The Compact Two C includes a
three position High Frequency level control, which should be
adjusted to get the most natural sound after the speaker is placed
in its final location. Also note that most movies are recorded with
the middle and high frequency sounds “turned up” in the center
channel to ensure that everyone in a commercial movie theater
hears the dialogue. When played at home these same soundtracks
can sound excessively “bright” and “forward”. Adjusting the HF
control of the Center Two can help reduce this unwanted effect.
Surround Effects
The Compact Two SR’s size and shape allows greater flexibility in
placement than most conventional surround loudspeakers. Due
to their advanced Dipole design it’s preferable to locate the SR
Surround speakers directly to the sides of the prime listening
position, at least 18 inches above ear level when seated, to 18
inches below the ceiling. These special speakers have a “sound
null” directly in front of their face and they produce a broad
sound field to the left and right of their enclosure. The result is
that they “wash” the side walls of your room with a non-
localizable surround field while you sit right in the sonic null.
Note: The C T SR’s are marked with a “pointing hand” on the back
that indicates which side of the speaker should face the front of the
room. Please be sure to locate the speakers properly and to turn one
over so that they are both facing in the correct direction. If you wish to
wall mount the speakers there are “keyhole” mounting brackets
included in the box that may be mounted to the pre drilled slots on
the speakers back, after you determine which slot will be at the top of
each speaker. See below for further important mounting information.
The grille may be removed and reversed if you desire, by carefully
gripping it along the edge and pulling from the cabinet. Re-insert
by reversing the above. However, it can be somewhat difficult
and time consuming to remove and replace the grille, so unless it
is very important to you we recommend leaving it as is.
Surround speakers
should be directly to the
sides of listening position
Center channel should be
within 2' of front speaker
tweeter height
Left surround
speaker
Right surround
speaker
18" above
ear level
Ear level