Speakers in rooms - considerations for the best sound

Balancing the practically achievable with the theoretical. Are there working rules of thumb concerning speaker placement in the listening room?


* 2:56 - Walls are semi-reflective

[JONACAN]

This for me, is the best explanation on the internet. Finally, something that makes it simple to understand.

[m.]

The very best analysis of this subject I have heard ever!
Well done, thank You!

[willbrink]

Useful discussion here. Some speakers are more "real world room friendly" than others, and people need to take their listening space into account. I recently returned some highly regarded speakers, not because I didn't agree with reviewers who raved about them per se, but because they didn't work well in the listening space I have.

[TheOmmadawn]

Intelligent, educational and well explained. This, for me was priceless. Thank you.

[giovannipepe]

Halleluyah. Best vid ever of explaining how stereo systems work. I've been asking myself for years now as to why whe don't have a central channel speaker in stereo music. It's what's missing IMHO. Now I know why. Thank you SO much. 🙏Amazingly helpful. 👍

[GuSta._.JuArez]

Best video about this subject ever. If it woulded been a 1hr or 2hr video i would watch the entire thing happily. So sad it was only 20mins thou.

[waynemckinnon]

Yes, please make more. Clearly a complicated subject but I have learned a lot. And, it is easier to calculate my listening area /speaker placement relationship when I can unserstand more about how sound waves and the brain react together. Also I very much like your presentation and thoughtful answers. Thank you.

[marceloarenas]

This was highly useful and nice!! Please offer more of these subjects. Tks

[waynetoneseekerandersen]

Very good talk. Very easy to understand the points he is trying to teach

[carlitomelon]

Good to hear a speaker designer's advice.
Diffusion at the first reflection point is now widely recommended, if the difference in distance (direct vs reflected) is less than 6ft/1800mm (3ms).
Fix the room before upgrading equipment!
🎶🤫🎶

[adrianstone]

This is really helpful, thanks for taking the time to record and post

[mrboat]

Excellent video.


Extreme near field is how I grew up. We used to cram all of our friends in there as well. When I was younger living in tiny homes, I would sit between the speakers on the heavily carpeted floor where I could still crawl over to the controls and stand to work the turntable between records.

Now I use a supersized desktop/studio style layout with 12" mains and a pair of subs. It's very head-phonic minus the isolative disruption between the two the skull otherwise inflicts. Add some well practiced, recording dependent, EQ on the fly and I'll never go back to trying to appease an otherwise, non-existent audience. For the uninitiated, the rest of the room still sounds comparatively top notch, to what most people are used to or even care about. In other words, if your audience is tiny, forego trying to design a favorable whole room. Instead, be acoustically selfish.

[noself]

I’ve seen quite a few videos and articles on speaker placement but none better than this one. Clear, straightforward, and easily understood, it’s a great practical guide to speaker and listener positioning in real rooms. And yes, I’d like to see more 😊.

[djscott]

Impressive and well done presentation. Good questions too. Thanks!

[kentwood]

“I find it helpful to think of reflections as mono or stereo, in the manner of Manfred Schroeder when he performed his analysis of concert hall acoustics and confirmed the importance of lateral reflections.

Sidewall reflections are ‘stereo’ because they arrive at the ears from wider angles than the loudspeakers, so they increase interaural disparity (hence spaciousness). All other room first-order reflections (floor, ceiling, back wall, front wall) are ‘mono’ because they arrive at the ears at narrower angles than the loudspeakers and so reduce interaural disparity.

I’m not a fan of quelling side-wall reflections as you are, but if you do it then it’s essential not to mess with the spectrum of the reflection. Simple absorbers are bad news because they are more effective at treble frequencies than lower frequencies, so the spectral disparity between direct and reflected sound is increased, as if the reflected sound came from further off-axis. Why do speakers usually sound better pointed straight down the room? Because this results in smaller disparity than if the speakers are toed-in."

[templesoundspercussion]

Just got my P3's..
This vid confirms what I experienced in a near field listening experience.
Thank you!
Cheers,
TS

[marklydon]

The reason you hear the boom boom of that car audio going by especially if the windows are all raised is that the SPL in the car changes with the speaker movement and so does the cars body panels. What you are actually hearing is these body panels which have effectively become a car shaped speaker drive unit annoy everyone they drive past.

[jfoxlim]

This is a very useful information and it is easy to follow and understand thanks so much.

[billabong]

Thankyou for your insight makes a lot of sense, you have helped me overcome some problems that I had setting up my home theater system keep up the great work :)

[chicowasp]

Have my Harbeth speakers firing square on .No toe in.Sounds amazing.