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clarity, detail and the textures of the individ-
ual instruments, you are a critical listener. In
a home theater, the intelligibility of dialog
and action reproduced by the front speakers
is paramount! The position of the speakers
plays a very important role in how clear the
sound is and how a stereo image is created.
Here are some guidelines to make the
process of placement quick and easy.
Make sure the sound will not be blocked or
reflected off of furniture or other objects.
You should have a direct line of sight with
the front of the speaker. To determine the
best position, measure the “listening” dis-
tance between the ideal listening position
(your favorite chair or couch) and the wall
in which you plan to install the speakers.
Try to place the speakers so that they are
equally distant from your listening spot and
at least one half of the listening distance
apart (this maintains a large pleasant stereo
“image”). In home theater applications
where there is a center channel you may
choose to space the left and right main
speakers farther apart for a “bigger than
life” sound with Dolby
®
encoded movies
and TV shows. However, for combined
music and movie usage stay within the
good placement zone for music. For exam-
ple; if you are ten feet back from the wall,
the speakers should be between five and
ten feet apart (See Figure 2).
The Boundary Effect
Corners can affect the bass response of the
speaker powerfully! This is called the
boundary effect. You will emphasize partic-
ular bass frequencies and cancel out other
bass frequencies when you place speakers
close to the wall/ceiling boundary or a cor-
ner wall boundary. This can make the
speaker sound excessively boomy and inac-
curate to some listeners, while to others it
just seems like more bass sound. A good
rule of thumb is if you always listen to your
current pair of speakers with the bass turned
up, you’ll enjoy corner placement. If you
keep your preamp or receiver’s tone con-
trols at neutral, try to keep the speakers at
least one or two feet from the boundaries of
the room. The baffle-mounted Acoustical
Configuration Controls may be used to help
reduce the affect of corner placement (or the
room’s own acoustics) on the speakers per-
formance. (For more information, see
Setting the Tone Controls on page 20).
Placement for Varying Listening
Positions
If you want the freedom to sit anywhere in a
room facing any direction, and/or find that
you prefer the “all around you” sound of
some car stereos to a conventional “sound
stage” facing you, consider the speaker
placement techniques professional installers
use in restaurants and bars. They place
Speaker Placement
AT8700
AT8700
AT8700
TV
Not Greater
than 24"
Figure 3
For an AT8700 placed above a
TV, install the speaker with the
tweeter up.
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