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8 Setup and Placement
setup and plaCement
Left/Right Speaker Placement
Place your CLX speakers so the curvilinear electrostatic
transducer is orientated inside, towards the listening posi-
tion (figure 3).
Listening Position
By now your speakers should be placed so the electrostatic
panels are approximately four feet from the front wall (the
wall in front of the listening position) and about two feet
from the side walls. Your sitting distance should be fur-
ther than the distance between the speakers themselves to
achieve good center imaging and stage width.
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. In a wide room, you will still find that if the dis-
tance from the listener to the speakers becomes smaller
than the distance between the speakers themselves, the
image will no longer focus in the center.
Now that you have positioned your speaker system, spend
time listening. Wait to make any major changes in
your
initial setup for the next few days as the speaker
system
itself will change subtly in its sound. Over the first 100
hours of play the actual tonal quality will change slightly
with deeper bass and more spacious highs resulting. After
a few days of listening you can begin to make refinements
and hear the differences.
The Wall Behind the Listener
Near-field reflections can occur from your back wall (the
wall behind the listening position). If your listening posi-
tion is close to the back wall, these reflections can confuse
imaging quality. It is better for the wall behind you to be
absorptive than to be reflective. If you have a hard back
wall and your listening position is close to it, experiment
with devices that will absorb information (i.e. wall hang-
ings and possibly even sound absorbing panels).
The Wall Behind the Speakers
The front surface, the wall behind the speakers, should
not be extremely hard or soft. 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 diffuse an overly reflective surface. A
standard smooth or textured wall is generally an adequate
surface if the rest of the room is not too bright and hard.
Walls can also be too soft. If the entire front wall consists
of heavy drapery, your system may sound dull. You may
hear muted music with little ambience. Harder surfaces
will actually help in this case.
The front surface ideally should be one long wall without
doors or openings. If you have openings, the reflection and
bass characteristics from each channel can be different.
The Side Walls
MartinLogan’s unique controlled dispersion electrostatic
transducer inherently minimizes side wall reflections—a
position as little as two feet from the side walls often
proves adequate. A good practice is to have the side walls
as far away from the speaker sides as possible. 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.
Experimentation
Toe-in—Now you can begin to experiment with the
angle of your speakers. First begin by facing your speakers
straight into the room and then by slightly angling them
Figure 3. Orientation of the left and right speakers.