Perfect Speaker Placement - Put next to the back wall as much as possible.


Hello,

I happen to find an good article about the ideal speaker placement. 
(Easiest version without numbers & formulas that I can’t honestly understand :D)

I’d like to share. 

Personally I find two things interesting.

1) Only use 40% of the room area (38% rule)

2) Put the speaker as close as possible to the back-wall (next to bass trap)

Of course, minor adjustment would be required depending on speakers.
Still, I think this is helpful to figure out the very first step. 

http://arqen.com/acoustics-101/room-setup-speaker-placement/

https://realtraps.com/art_room-setup.htm

Happy listening.

p.s. what should I do with half of the room left... :?
128x128sangbro

Showing 4 responses by russ69

Yeah, not for home use. The long wall is usually the best wall and your loudspeaker will determine where it NEEDS to be. From Maggies out 6 feet from the front wall to Klipsch Cornwalls that like wall placement, your speaker design overrides all pseudo science formulas. 
"...the long wall is rarely the best wall for speaker placement..."

Let's just say this has not been my experience with the dozens of locations and systems I have owned. And there is no need to try to discount the opinions of others. The suggested set-up does not work with all loudspeakers and is not seen in any true hi-fi system installation that I know about. Perhaps it's geared for working systems (that have different requirements) rather than home systems, I don't know. The best nearfield system I put together had the loudspeakers 5 feet out into the room and the seat 6 feet from that in a tiny room. The soundstage was awesomely wide and deep, way beyond the room boundaries. Perhaps my best system to date. That didn't happen by luck. 
I wish I could push my speakers against the wall and get good sound but that hasn't been possible with the loudspeakers I owned in the last 45 years. YMMV. 
"...May I suggest reading the articles the op has posted then. That will tell you how to do it..."

I did read it, sorry but my Triangles, Martin-Logans, and Maggies don’t work if they are against the front wall.


"...Okay, we are already 11 feet to the seating position from the front wall. We are no longer talking about a tiny room as I certainly hope that seating position was not close to the back wall..."

I had to open the closet door for best sound. Yes it was a very small room. It could saturate if you played too loud, I had some treatments but minimal.


"... If it was close to the back wall, then it was no where near ideal unless there was serious acoustic treatment on the back wall which can be quite difficult to do well..."

Well my audio friends, some audio pros, raved about that system...but what do I know? Ever get an audiophile to rave about anything?
"...Your Maggies and Martin Logan’s may not work as noted, that article was not targeting this type of speaker. However your Triangles, with the proper acoustic treatment would. Just because a speakers name is Triangle does not change the physics of acoustics..."

The answer is; No they wouldn’t. None of my Triangle loudspeakers worked placed near the front wall even with acoustic treatments. It would have been nice if they did because they ended well out into the room. You may not be aware that some Triangle loudspeakers have rear firing drivers so a blanket statement that all Triangle loudspeakers would work on the wall (near the wall) may mislead some people.
Triangle says; " a position far from the back wall reproduces a wide and deep sound image." ...and indeed it does.