Stereo Speaker Placement

This video is a comprehensive breakdown of the basics of speaker placement for quality stereo playback.

Free advice form:

"Stereo playback is over a hundred years old, but the principles behind the technology haven’t really changed. Two audio signals are played through two separate speakers that are positioned so that the combination of the two signals creates a coherent sound space.

It’s a simple illusion that makes the reproduced sound that much more vivid by letting the listener localize individual elements. As basic as this technology is, it only works if the speakers are positioned properly.

If you’ve researched room setup before you’re probably already aware of the equilateral triangle setup. Setting your speakers up so that the distance between your listening position and each speaker is the same as the distance between the speakers forms a symmetrical layout that ensures the sound from each speaker reaches the listening position in sync. Push one speaker closer than the other and the sound stage will be distorted as one channel arrives at your ears slightly sooner than the other.

Symmetry isn’t just important for the measurements between the speakers and the listening position, but their placement within the room should also be symmetrical so that the reflected sound from the surrounding surfaces also reaches the listener in sync.

So where you place your speakers is going to be based on your room size and listening position. Ideally your listening position should be placed on one of the room’s thirds and avoid the null in the center of the room.

It’s almost always a better idea to have your listening position face the shorter wall. With the speakers aimed down the length of the room, bass frequencies have moretime to develop and have less energy by the time they strike the rear wall which will make treating your bass issues a lot easier.

Based on these principles, the starting layout is always the same: An equilateral triangle formed between the listening position and the speakers centered along the length of the room.

You’ll also want to make sure that the speakers are seated at ear level with the listening position. Generally, Half way between the woofer and tweeter is the acoustic axis of the speaker. It’s also a better idea to have the speakers on dedicated stands then on your desk. (this could be expanded upon)

From here we can adjust the speakers to finetune our soundstage. Toeing the speakers in can reduce the amount of reflections off the side wall and help make the center channel clearer.

Bringing the speakers closer together will reduce stereo elements for a more homogenous sound while pulling them further apart will make stereo elements more distinct.

Finding the ideal layout for your soundstage requires experimenting
with your speaker placement, but as you move your speakers around, the reflections from the front wall, side wall, and floor can cause acoustic issues known as Speaker boundary interference Response or SBIR. The trick to speaker placement is finding the ideal balance between crafting a great soundstage and minimizing the unwanted effects of SBIR. Treating around your speakers with thick bass traps can help minimize SBIR leaving you more room to focus on your soundstage.

If you’re using a subwoofer and both the sub and speakers have an adjustable crossover frequency, then you can reroute frequencies to your subwoofer that might be causing SBIR issues, or leave out specific frequencies that might be causing issues.

Where you place the subwoofer is obviously going to have a substantial effect on your bass response. Placing the subwoofer in the corner of the room will excite all three of the axial room modes which will result in a very strong but uneven bass response.

Placing the Sub one fourth of the way out from the wall will have the Subwoofer on a null which will keep it from exciting that room mode.

By using two subwoofers we can use phase cancellation to our advantage in order to achieve a flatter response.

Placing the subwoofers in opposite corners will cause the subs to excite the same room mode but one will be 180 degrees out of phase with the other, so the mode gets canceled out. There are a few different placement options that can take advantage of this effect. All of them make use the second subwoofer to cancel out the resonance of one or more room modes.

The same concept can be applied to a room using four or more subwoofers, but you can expect dimensioning returns the more subwoofers you add.

The combination of a fine tuned speaker placement and a comprehensive treatment strategy is the key to having a great sounding room. Good speaker placement can’t eliminate all of the issues in a room, but it can give you a better starting point to focus treatment where you really need it."

[blackmushi]

After watching this video I raised the level of my speakers and it's made an incredible difference. Thank you!

[kaedeschulz]

Never seen a video ao simple yet so good at showing the problems and how to solve them. Great!

[WatchingTrainsGoBy-PassingTime]

It gets way more tricky when you can't center your listening position in the room, or within the speakers placement from the walls. ONE THING that is consistently missing from all of these videos I've seen, is EXAMPLES of the differences in sound. I have yet to find any video that does the things they are explaining in order for viewers to hear it before hand to get a real appreciation and understanding of how theses changes work in the real world. And if it's even worth moving any furniture around or buying treatments to aid in the sound.

[garyalexander]

Listening to Nickelback recordings requires special loudspeaker placement. Wrapping them in blankets and placing them face down on the floor will provide a satisfying experience.

[daijobu_]

Nice animation, great content, short video.
Thank you for the reminder !

[basscleaner]

No doubts, room dimensions are critically important for good sound reproduction, especially for low frequencies. Nevertheless, if we have the limited space of variables, which fully determine the sound result, it means, that among possible room dimensions for known low frequencies source position (height) there are the best, the worst and medium sets of such a room dimensions. The best room dimensions set for low frequencies is understood like for having minimal spread for amplitude-frequency dependence in range 20 - 150 Hz. Corresponding to this thesis, we can have (or not!) so-called Acoustical Dimensions for this room. Do you agree?

[bentleygt]

i'm 100% with the speakers Placement, but not so much with SWEET SPOT rule . which requires too much work, and often tricky, difficult and complicated.. that's most likely the case with Enclosed type speakers. you have to find "the sweet spot", then if you move an inch to the right or the left ? you lose that spot !!. what a PAIN. it takes the joy out of listening t music IMO.. personally i can't sit still (freeze) in one spot . i wanna be free to move around/walk around / relax while playing music. for that reason. i find the OB dipole Speakers more forgiving . more enjoyable . and better sound-stage to my ears. thanks for your video.

[Mickimoss]

I use a pair of horizontal 3 way speakers with the 10" woofer in the middle of the tweeter and mid. Even placing which one whether the middle or the tweeter on the inside has different sound to my ears. The tweeter will be more dominant if they're on the inside, so I prefer them on the outer side. Setting up audio can be tricky and has different case for everyone and experience.

[MrBonger]

This video recommends an equilateral triangle while Jim Smith recommends an isosceles triangle (83% rule) in his book “Get Better Sound”. Try both and see which works better for you. 83% works well in my room

[jdestiniibeats]

What happens if you don't have symmetrical room 😑 I found a good spot still though

[rrchannel]

Human ears are fixed at about a 150 degree configuration. I have found that setting my speakers in this way rather than the equalateral(sp?) triangle is mucho better for stereo imaging.

[NonnyStrikes]

I put a litle more on the R speaker in my room and it worked out fine. I'm limited in where I sit/move speakers.

[bindaredundat-uvwz]

I DID EVERYTHING YOU SAID AND NICKELBACK STILL SUCKS !!!!

[craighoffman]

Due to a mess created by reflected sound, 90% of my listening room's sound is not great to pretty awful, but it is fantastic at the sweet spot where my listening chair is, with great imaging and tonal balance. That is all that matters, and pretty typical for an untreated room I wager.

Speaking of room treatment, what is it with the ridiculous cost of room treatment material? You would think the stuff is made of gold bullion. A buddy got a load of it from a failed church at fire sale prices. He may be going to Hell, but he got a good deal on very nice material ;)

[MrMontyBanks]

Well, it's all about symmetry, Ok. But how about placing near-field studio speakers? Does the distance between them matter as it's difficult to maintain an equilateral triangle quite often?

[MatthewWright]

Best non "sound bro" video on this lol

[rockyboy]

Fantastic video. I am currently to a GIK consultant. However, what is the best treatment for the wall just behind the speaker? Do u have anything to recommend from the Impression series? Do u have a video on it? Not all studio speakers can be calibrated?

[QQ-tdid]

Why to avoid the "null" center 1/3 of the room? If to sit at 1/3 of the room, also consider minimum distances A, B, C about 8 - 10' each, plus the distance behind the speaker and the distance between speaker and the side walls, then how big the room has to be ? At least 40' long? That's unrealistic!

[histubeness]

This is generally good advice, but the listener should be moved much farther back in the room, while the speakers should be pulled farther out into the room, at least a third way out, if not more. You can still maintain the triangle that way, but the listener will experience much better soundstage depth perception.

[ricksalt]

From articles in the past, speakers should be 3 to 1 = distance to width .