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B. LOCATION AWAY FROM REFLECTING SURFACES
Your speakers should be located, whenever practical, away from walls, the floor, furniture, or any other
reflecting surfaces. Do the best you can. Objects close to the speaker will reflect sound, and this
reflected sound arrives at your ear slightly later than the direct sound. This delay is very slight, so instead
of hearing an echo, you hear a "blurred" sound with less clarity that is not as sharp and distinct as it should
be. This time delay also affects frequency response and sonic imaging.
If the speakers are on a television set or shelves, locate them on the front edge, so there is no flat
surface directly in front of them. If the speakers will sit close to walls or other large objects, leave as much
space as possible between the speaker and the object. Ideally, your speakers will be several feet from the
nearest surface, but in most rooms compromise is necessary.
C. SEPARATION BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT SPEAKERS
Here is a formula for achieving the ideal left to right stereo imaging. Think of a triangle formed by the
locations of the Left and Right speakers and your listening position. Ideally, the subtended angle formed
should be between 45 and 50 degrees. Roughly, this means that the Left and Right speakers should be
separated by about the same distance that you are sitting back from the speakers. In other words, if the
distance from your listening position to the point directly between the speakers is 10 feet, place the
speakers so their centers are 10 feet apart. See Figure 2, above.
On Figure 2, the length of line A - B should be about the same as the length of line X - Y. (They may
not seem to be the same in this diagram due to an optical illusion).
SATELLITE SPEAKER
5
X
Y
A
B
Aim the speakers
at the primary listener.
Line X - Y should equal
line A - B.
(Line A - B appears longer
in this diagram due to an
optical illusion).
FIGURE 2
LEFT SPEAKER
RIGHT SPEAKER
CENTER SPEAKER