How to position speakers

It is assumed an equilateral triangle is required, but Paul helps us understand why that's not always the case.

[@irashapiro9189]

I agree with you, Paul. Don't limit yourself with an equilateral triangle. I used your book and CD. For my room, I ended up with 7 ft from woofer center to woofer center with the listing position being 10ft from the speakers. Speaker positioning was limited (by the room and spouse) to 5 ft from the front of the speaker to the front wall. Best soundstage I've ever had with my system. Thank you so much.

[@Baerchenization]

Would it ruin the soundstage? Why does he not try it out?! What if Paul says yes, but he cannot hear difference either way? I do not understand these questions...

[@googoo-gjoob]

i understandthe questions. i dont understand why people ask questions when experience is free....

[@honeyken316]

Hello Paul, You have just given a wonderfully accurate description of SBIE (Speaker Boundary Interference Effect). I have never heard it described any better. Thanks KEN

[@prabhurc3]

Hi Paul, This video is right on time, I am trying to play around with my speaker positions and was facing the same problem. Thanks for your explanation to the point, I almost had my questions answered, except for one thing. Does the sidewall as well matters? Currently I have them 1.5 feet away from the sidewalls. Can't pull them any further as it would block projector view, yes I am using this for both music and home theater as I can't afford a separate listening room... :) I believe many people face this problem too, should I be ok if I can just pull them from front walls? Or is it really important to leave room for sidewalls as well ?

[@RWong-wn3pv]

I think the issue of “speaker” placement can be both more easily (to more complicatedly) solved with “separated” (designed) speakers. So for example, there’s been way too much unnecessary confusion, angst, $’s spent & for too long on so called “BOOKSHELF” (all speakers in one box) speakers. It’s hard to ignore “bookshelves” speakers have not solved customers’ interior design issues. Sonically, it’s been known for decades to generations that each frequency range, ie.,low bass, bass, midrange, upper mid range, tweeter can have, to need different placement, locations, positions, etc., relative to ideal to personal preferences in ANY listening environment.

[@danielloftus9875]

The fun part of room setup is trying different things. use your ears to decide if it works better or not

[@ThinkingBetter]

Great audio systems are too often not great sounding due to poor room acoustics including where the speakers are placed. It can easily do much more difference than the difference between models of amps, DACs and other electronic gear.

[@graxjpg]

Absolutely. My biggest “aha!” Moments have not been after buying some new gear, but after changing the room around. My system sounds better than some of those luxurious yet poorly set-up systems and knowing that makes me all giddy hehe.

[@ChiefExecutiveOrbiter]

Paul has mentioned as far as bass goes... move yourself not the speakers. If I want to be reminded how deep my speakers actually go, I go to the far corner and it sounds subterranean.

[@graxjpg]

@@ChiefExecutiveOrbiter Paul’s advice was about putting ones subwoofer in your listening position and finding the optimal position for the sub by listening for the standing waves

[@ThinkingBetter]

@@ChiefExecutiveOrbiter In my home office setup I have a single subwoofer and have got the setup done perfectly such that the bass is much more powerful in the place I’m sitting and people always get fooled when I ask them to tell me where the bass comes from.

[@ThinkingBetter]

@James Doolittle Yes, true. I just watched a movie in my home theatre room and I am not going to rip anything apart. It serves as a listening room also but I find it way too boring to just sit and listen doing nothing else. Most of my listening nowadays is at my home office setup because it allows me to do other things while listening.

[@fareedrakeib2546]

Always great videos very informative really enjoy how u do them keep up the great work sir

[@HieuNguyen-dl5nd]

Paul is right. Pull the speakers away from the front wall to improve soundstage depth.

[@Driller1957]

My advice-buy the book and the SACD. For most of us if you follow the speaker setup steps, you’ll find that your speakers are significantly further from the front wall and further apart than they were prior to using Paul’s guide. 4 ft from the front wall is significantly further than it seems when you initially eyeball it, accompanied with the inevitable displeasure from your wife. I recently purchased Focal Spectral 40th anniversary floorstanders and only after I followed the setup guide did I feel I was getting my money’s worth. The book and CD cost less than a mediocre pair of interconnects yet the improvement in sound quality can be more dramatic than spending thousands on new components.

[@laurentzduba1298]

Experimentation is the key and great sound sometimes deviate from the dogmatic precepts of loudspeaker placement. On some recordings, you can achieve the illusion that sound appears to come from behind your listening chair even though there are no surround speakers placed there.

[@graxjpg]

The Gong bands “radio gnome invisible” trilogy of albums does this to fantastically psychedelic effect. The 2nd of which (called Angels Egg) being recorded in and around an old hunting lodge near Paris, with nice tube mics hanging from trees for drum and synth overheads etc.

[@jesmacpumas]

Hello Paul, i recently adquiere a pair of beolab 4000 and beolab 3, and I was triyng to find information like this but for those specific speakers, but looks like nobody talks about Bang & Olufsen. Was wondering why? But more over what will you recommend for this type of speakers? Grate channel and great work keep it up!

[@martyjewell5683]

What about vintage "bookshelf" speakers that were designed to be against the front wall?? EPI and Allison speaker placement was suggested against the wall. I don't have an audio "sweet spot" but prefer a wide soundstage enjoyable wherever I sit or stand while listening.

[@dirtharris]

Wondering how tall you are Paul? I'm guessing quite tall... 6ft 1, 2 or 3? By my estimation, if you lay down on the floor in front of the speakers left to right, head and toes would be about at the tweeter on each speaker.... so is that roughly the distance between your speakers, tweeter to tweeter? just over 6ft?

[@cubinn149]

Thankyou so much paul for all your educational videos and advice 😃 I've gotten better setup now with my audio aswell as better hifi equipment and boy what a difference and enjoy much more listening to music and the movie sound experience

[@osirismarbles5177]

Does wall distance apply to speaker that have no port?

[@RoverWaters]

is there a demo of these speakers?

[@artyfhartie2269]

Due to room constraints, I positioned my floorstanding Klipsch RF 63 on adjacent walls, facing straight ahead, about 11 apart, with the listening position 8 feet away facing the inverted V where the walls meet. I have bi amped them using my Marantz SR top shelf AVR. Forgot the model number. I listen to music in stereo with a Velodyne Ultra 1200 sub blended in, crossover overriden. Audyssey room Equalizer is disabled in this biamp setting which is good.one can also watch movies in a 5 loudspeakers setting or more. The sound is just superb especially listening to records and tapes. Nearly forgot. All crossover at 80hz, including so called LFE and all loudspeakers LARGE. Marantz top shelf AVRs are gems.

[@mrronenza]

Great video. Is it also recommended to move forward the speakers even if my speakers have FRONT Bass ports ?

[@gtric1466]

Personally i had more issues with the side wall. moving them 2/3 of the way from the front wall or visa versa. my understanding the distances should not be equal.

[@graxjpg]

Or skewing the direction the speakers are facing diagonally, I’ve set my speakers up facing away from corners to great effect.

[@ikemi1]

No mention of speaker distance from side walls and if it should be equal.

[@sudd3660]

a room must be pretty symmetrical left to right, otherwise you have to put a lot of work into your rom and eq to get something near usable. that include speaker symmetry in the room.

[@ikemi1]

@@sudd3660 Thank you I need to rearrange my room and reposition my speakers.

[@denniswalker1640]

Wonder. If ps audio, is ever going to venture into car audio,?? By the way love the show guys!!

[@schzztzrz]

Sacramento, hey I'm there!

[@worldsyoursent.1635]

🤙🙌🙌

[@baronsilverbaron757]

Paul is it better to have the speakers facing directly out or pointing towards a central point?

[@paulroscelli2545]

What if you have closed back speakers? Can they be closer?

[@JDG1971]

The carpet is not in place🙈🤛

[@ChiefExecutiveOrbiter]

Just buy the damn book! 😜

[@ptg01]

I did and the SACD too ! And the guide tells me to start by pulling speakers 4 feet away from the 'front wall'. Due to the unfortunate configuration of my room that can't be changed (wife factor), that would make the speakers literally 6 feet in front of me !!! I think I am S.O.L ...

[@graxjpg]

@@ptg01 my apartment is itty bitty, 4 feet from the front wall is nearly 3 feet in front of me! The seat is about six feet from the rear wall to accommodate my home studio. All the gear makes for great reflection and diffusion!

[@ptg01]

@@graxjpg What I neglected to mention is my speakers are about 25" wide x 38" high x 15.5" deep.. Like, they are a bit big as well as heavy (~100 pounds)

[@graxjpg]

@@ptg01 big speakers for sure!! I’ve got amps that weigh nearly that much, but I try to keep just one good set of speakers that I know well in the house.

[@ptg01]

@@graxjpg Indeed... so if I were to pull it out even 3 feet away from the wall, it will just take up way too much floor space. Unfortunately, I can not use the LONGER side of the room as the way everything is situated, I am stuck with the short side of the room.

[@keithbertschin1213]

Let me guess ‘buy my book’

[@ryanschipp8513]

Lol

[@josefbuckland]

You need a slightly smaller rug. That cant be good for the acoustics leaning on the speakers.

[@glenncurry3041]

The Rule of Thumb has always been a 2 to 3 ratio. 2 units apart for every 3 units away. Listening position 9 ft away? the speakers should be 6 ft apart. Because of the laws of physics, any further apart than that and the distance/ delay from each source to alternate ear becomes too large for the brain to properly process. Paul Klipsch solved being forced to have his corner horns so far apart and the center hole by creating a center fill speaker. A heresy in the 2 channel industry. So that is what he called it, the Heresy.

[@johnholmes912]

exactly what law of physics are you referring to?

[@shane6326]

Seems to make sense 👍

[@glenncurry3041]

Left to educate the uneducated. Laws of physics. Speed of sound. Signal path length. Frequency/ wavelength. Take a source and place it a distance but directly in front of your head and the sound waves from it will reach both ears at the same time. Your brain will determine that central location from this information. Place a source in a straight line away from each ear and the sound from the "right" source will reach the right ear before it reaches the left ear. The relative timing difference is frequency dependent and extended do to travel around the head without a direct path to the opposite side. Plus their will be frequency related roll off. The brain uses these cues to determine location. At lower frequencies the distance between the ears is less than one wavelength so no location info exists. But at higher frequencies the timing/ phase difference can be very dramatic. There will be a "center channel" because the same information arrives at each ear at the same time. With the same frequency response. Placing the two sources in the 2/3 ratio provides timing and frequency cues to each ear as direct paths (no rolloff) and with significantly less timing difference from ear to ear. So Laws of Physics. Relative distance, path length, frequency response, head contour, ... determine the brains ability to create a center channel.

[@johnsweda2999]

Let's put this to bed it's the back wall not the front wall..... speakers point out forward behind the speakers is the back wall

[@graxjpg]

The front wall to me is the one I face, and the front of the speakers is also what faces me.

[@Bannockburn111]

The wall is in front of you while you are listening to your system, so it's the front wall. (The relationship is in reference to the observer, not other objects in the field of view.)

[@johnsweda2999]

@@graxjpg yes but the sound is coming towards you not going away from you

[@graxjpg]

@@johnsweda2999 the sound to me would be going towards the back wall, since they are facing away from the front wall, which I am facing. These systems are arbitrary so it’s fun to compare them!

[@ronniecramer1252]

@@graxjpg when you’re sitting in your listening position, the front wall in in ( FRONT) of you. The back wall is in (BACK) of you.

[@LITSClassicGaming]

i got shoes almost like those