Tweakers' Asylum Tweaks for systems, rooms and Do It Yourself (DIY) help. FAQ.

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Here is a world class speaker set up procedure.

Posted by tubesforever (M) on July 8, 2005 at 21:59:46

In Reply to: Revelation about speaker/room interaction posted by AstroD on July 7, 2005 at 15:46:20:

Hope you like it, it is copied for a fellow with Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor speakers and stands, but this same procedure was followed for every speaker we sold from Martin Login, to Sonus Faber, to Vienna Accoustics, M&K, Boston, Klipsch, Energy and others.

Here is the set-up protocol. Try this and let me know how it works for you. This is the best way to couple the speakers bass response to your room. When you have the bass coupled right, it pulls the mids and highs right along with the wave front, like a wave pulls water along with it to the shore.

Set up requires music. John Hunter of Sumiko uses a Jennifer Warnes song called "Ballad of the Runaway Horse" from her Duets album. This is the best set up song I have ever found. So get a copy of this. You will always be glad you did.

Step 1 will be to remove whatever removable sound absorbers you have. Take them out of the room. Anything that is permanently fixed is ok to leave alone.

Step 2 is to remove the speaker stand spikes so it is as level as possible.
(It is really optimal to have stands that place the tweeter level with your ears from your listening seat. The stands need to have adjustment spikes or adjustment levelers so you can rake back their angle to optimize the sound later.)

Start with both left and right speakers directly against their wall facing straight out into the room. No inward angle should be attempted yet.

The left speaker is going to become the anchor for the set up.

Optimally you will set up the speakers and your listening seat in the shape of an equilateral triangle. You said your front speakers would be 7 ft apart, so you should be back 7-10 feet. Neither the speaker nor you should be within 2 feet of a wall or other solid room boundary when your set up is complete.

Begin playing the Jennifer Warnes piece. You will notice that it is just her voice and a single stand up bass.

Play this track at volumes where you can easily detect bass quality. I am usually between 80-95 db when I do a set up, sometimes louder if there is a lot of glass. Bass is transparent to glass, where the mids and highs are reflected.

Have your buddy slide your left speaker (the anchor) out into the room until the bass becomes solid and authoritative. Mark this spot with some masking tape.

Now slide the speaker right and left to find the best bass quality. Mark this spot.

Now slide the speaker further out in the room to find other points where the bass couples properly in your room. There are likely to be a dozen spots within a 3 ft diameter of your first spot. Be patient. 1/3 of an inch is all that differentiates a good bass quality from a lifeless bass sound.

Listen to all of these good bass points until you find your favorite bass spot.

All this is done with just the left speaker playing straight out. The right speaker is playing straight into the room from the back wall. Each speaker with the same volume.

Now have your friend begin to angle the left speaker toward your listening seat. You want the widest possible sound stage without the sound being too thin. I usually end up seeing about 2/3 of the inside wall of the speaker when I have this about right.

Your anchor is now set. Mark this spot carefully with masking tape. Then reinsert the spikes leaving the speaker level at this time.

Now slide out the right speaker until the soundstage sounds exactly lined up before you. Remember to keep the speaker oriented directly straight ahead. No angle yet.

Now move the speaker right and left until you hear the soundstage become cohesive.

Then angle the speaker very slightly until you hear Jennifer Warnes voice become centered in the sound field.

Now you have coupled the right and left speakers in your room. Standing directly above either speaker, you should hear the other speaker clearly.

You may need to make very minor angle adjustments of the left and right speaker to get her voice centered. Be patient and you will be rewarded.

Now if the sound stage is not linear, meaning one speaker sounds more forward than the other, then simply slide that right speaker front or back until the sound field is "level." (Moving it right or left adjusts the centering of Jennifer Warnes voice).

Make sure you mark the final location of both speakers with masking tape.

Insert the right speaker spikes.

Now beginning with the left speaker adjust the rake of the speaker until Jennifer Warnes voice is 4-5 ft high in the sound field. This is a personal choice. Many of my friends use 3-4 ft but it always seems I am listening down to the music which I feel is unnatural.

Carefully listen to the tweeter response of the left speaker and make sure the "beam" is at least an inch or two above your ear when you are seated in your listening seat.

Now adjust the spikes on your right speaker to match the "height" of the left speaker.

At this time, you should hear her voice almost as a whisper, when originally it may have sounded shrill and harsh.

Her voice should be centered in the sound field now, with solid and good quality bass. Her voice should sound like a whisper rather than a shout.

When you have this locked in, don't let anybody touch your set up!

Now you can move in the sound absorbers and reflectors and see if you can improve upon the sound. But don't touch the speaker’s location.

What you have done, in short, is to couple the speaker's response to your room based upon your listening seat.

This process will take me 20-30 minutes or longer. I did my speakers again last night moving the inward angle maybe a half degree at a time to get her voice centered perfectly, the resetting the rake to get the sound field height perfect from right to left.

Let me know if you have any questions about this process. I can do this all alone, but it takes longer. Having a buddy slide your speaker is much faster and easier. If you have hard floors instead of carpet, you can set the speaker on a soft towel to assist in the sliding.

Make sure he stands behind the speaker when he moves it, because his body will effect the sound if he stands along side of the speaker.

Hope this helps.

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