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Page 18
Quest User's Manual
Listening PositionListening Position
Listening PositionListening Position
Listening Position
By now your speakers should be placed approximately 2
to 3 feet from the front wall (wall in front of the listening
position) and at least 1 to 2 feet from the side walls. Your
sitting distance should be further than the distance
between the speakers themselves. What you are trying to
attain is the impression of 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. 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.
Now that you have positioned your speaker system,
spend some time listening. Wait to make any major
changes in your initial set-up for the next few days as the
speaker system itself will change subtly in its sound. Over
the first 20 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 of those refine-
ments.
The Wall Behind the ListenerThe Wall Behind the Listener
The Wall Behind the ListenerThe Wall Behind the Listener
The Wall Behind the Listener
Near-field reflections can also 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 than
to be 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 SpeakersThe Wall Behind the Speakers
The Wall Behind the SpeakersThe Wall Behind the Speakers
The Wall Behind the Speakers
The front wall (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 bookshelving can
be placed along the wall to tame an extremely hard
surface. A standard sheet rock or textured wall is gener-
ally 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
(the wall in front of the listening position) consists of only
heavy drapery, your system can literally 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 WallsThe Side Walls
The Side WallsThe Side Walls
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.
Placement