Speaker Placement In Small Rooms: Basic Loudspeaker Positioning and Blind Listening Demonstration
Speaker Placement In Small Rooms: Basic Loudspeaker Positioning and Blind Listening Demonstration
So you’ve got a small room and big speakers huh? Wondering where the best place to put your speakers in that small room? No problem! I’ll show you the best speaker placement for small rooms.
Not just for audiophiles! In this DIY speaker building video, I’m covering the topic of basic speaker placement and loudspeaker positioning, because I had to shuffle around some speakers anyway.
I was taking photos of the speakers I built, for my new website https://www.restomodspeakers.com/ and figured I’d show you the best speaker placement in small rooms, because well… I have a small room with big loudspeakers.
Shameless plug here: If you are interested in one of a kind, collectible vintage loudspeakers for sales, or know someone who might want to buy vintage restomod speakers that are already built, tested and film documented for the world to see, I have way too many speakers so I will sell the speakers I build in my videos.
In the video I’ll be covering some basic speaker placement principles that work for both home audio stereo listening and home theater setups.
This is a dry topic, but I wanted to cover it the best I could while keeping your attention. I hope you enjoy the video and learn something, or comment and share something you know about optimum speaker placement.
Now… I’ve got a few asks:
1) Try to stick through to the end so you can experience the blind listening test and comment on your favorite sounding speaker position.
2) This video isn’t for audiophiles, it’s for anyone with a home stereo or home theater. I’m just sharing my techniques and results for those viewers who love good sounding speakers, but have a small room or a less than big dedicated area where they can listen to it and enjoy it.
3) I work really hard on trying to do the best I can with what I’ve got. Whether that’s the DIY speakers I build, to the small room I do it in, to the video editing… I do it because I love it and love sharing it with you and I appreciate your time. Please take a moment to smash the like button, share the video, and if you liked the video and subject matter, consider subscribing and turning on notifications so you see the next videos I make.
Thanks for watching!
00:00 Introduction
00:27 RestoMod Speakers For Sale
00:47 Room Placement for Speakers
02:00 Average Room Size Speaker Placement
03:28 Challenges of Placing Speakers in Small Rooms
03:58 Soundbars Vs Big Speakers
04:45 Why I’m Moving Speakers Around
04:55 Collectible Vintage Speakers For Sale
05:16 Room Placement for Speakers
05:28 Deciding on Speaker Positions
06:05 Breaking Audiophile Rules
07:23 How Far Apart Should Speakers Be?
07:43 Equilateral Positioning and Toe-in
08:39 Practical Places for Speakers and Basic Speaker Placement Principles
09:32 Speaker Position Height and Distance
10:25 Basic Speaker Placement for Optimal Sound
13:30 Moving and Setting Up Speakers
14:25 Measuring Speaker Distance
15:07 Equilateral Triangle Speaker Placement
15:35 Isosceles Triangle Speaker Placement
15:53 Tower and Bookshelf Vs Big Baffle Speakers
17:05 Large Vintage Speaker Positions and Toe-in
17:22 Mini, Bookshelf & Tower Speaker Positioning
18:22 Home Theater Left Right Front Speaker Placement
19:59 Big Speakers in a Small Room
21:38 Walls, Corners and Bass Response
22:06 Best Placement for Bass and Subwoofer Placement Right or Left Side?
23:38 How Far Off The Floor Should Speakers Be?
25:30 Listening to Speakers close together, further apart, toed-in and far apart against the wall
30:48 Blind A/B Listening Test
32:06 Wrap Up
Boring
And it wasn,t boring. i watched the whole thing. π
C is my personal preference with the track you used for the comparo. :]
IV have my speaker in the corners angled to center and off the ground 11/2 foot 2 12 2 15 floor stands 3 ways Technics in one room and 4 cerwin Vages 12 set up in another room I mainly listen to music IV had my first set up this way sense I was in high school I spent a year of moving them around and in the end that what I came up with. I still have all my original set up still run and IV played them almost every day at almost 1/2 volume and haven’t had a problem with any of it I’m using a JVC receiver I have ran a fan every time it runs sense day one. Now that I bought the house from my parents I have a svs system in my living room βοΈπ οΈπͺπ―πΆπ΅ ps I drove my poor parents crazy for a few yearsπ
The overall quality of any stereo audio reproduction or playback system can be dramatically improved without changing any of the existing components through the use of the following procedure that my learned partners and I developed over many years of experimentation with the "loudspeaker room interface":
1. Extend the wires connected to your loudspeakers making them long enough to allow the speakers to be placed anywhere within the listening room. Check for proper "phasing" of the extended cables by visual and aural low frequency testing.
2. Invite two physically able friends into your listening room, and give each of them a tape measure that can be extended out in the air a minimum of six feet. Have each of them hold one of your speakers in their arms. Note: don’t give them any beer yet, this will take awhile and you want them to be alert and not likely to drop your speakers!
3. While sitting in a roll-around office chair placed in approximately the middle of the listening room, have your two friends hold each of their speakers above the floor at your ear height at a four-foot distance from your head, each pointed directly at your ears and spaced six feet apart from each other to start the process.
4. Put on some program material that you are well acquainted with that contains a wide sonic spectrum and adjust the volume to your normal listing level. A remote controllable CD player will be of great benefit for repeated playback of particular program segments.
5. Listen intently to the "virtual" center image as you slide the chair left and right, and at the same time, closer to and farther from the speakers to generate the strongest sense or presence of the center image.
6. Direct your friends to maintain the correct angle to your ears while adjusting the distance between the speakers both wider and narrower and closer and farther from you and listen for the change in the width and character of the "sound field". Through this experimentation using just your ears, decide what speaker spacing and distance that produces the best sense of musical "envelopment": being in the performance!
7. While maintaining the chosen physical juxtaposition of the speakers and your ears, both your chair and your friends will all move together throughout the listening area to determine the best low frequency enhancement, "room-modes", and the best compromise of "first-boundary" reflections from the walls ceiling and floor that affect the overall sound character and stereo envelopment. Now it’s time to give your friends some beer!
8. After this experimentation has been completed to your satisfaction, accurately measure where the speakers where placed and note these dimensions. Speaker stands of the proper height as determined by the position of your ears while sitting in a chosen chair, should be purchased or constructed and positioned permanently or temporarily in the room at the noted dimensions. Now it’s time for you to have a beer and enjoy your much enhanced music listening experience! David Riddle