Getting the Most from Your Loudspeakers

A loudspeaker can only be as good as the room and the position it is given. Before you think about a replacement, try the adjustments below. Most cost nothing.

Begin with the listening triangle. Set the two loudspeakers and your listening position at roughly the corners of an equilateral triangle. Many listeners prefer the seat slightly further back than the triangle suggests, for a more relaxed balance, or slightly closer for more focus and less room sound. Keep the seat away from the wall behind you if you can, because that wall reinforces bass and adds reflections.

Distance from the walls shapes the bass. The closer a loudspeaker is to the wall behind it, and to the side walls, the more bass it produces, but the less even that bass becomes. Avoid placing a loudspeaker at the same distance from the front and side walls, because their effects then pile up at the same frequencies. Move the loudspeakers out in steps of a few centimetres, listen to a familiar recording with a walking bass line, and stop where the notes sound even in level and clearly defined.

Toe-in sets focus and width. Turned towards the listener, loudspeakers give a sharper centre image; pointed straighter, they give a broader but softer stage. Adjust a few degrees at a time, and match both sides precisely. A straight-edge or a laser on top of the cabinet makes this easy.

Height matters too. Most loudspeakers are designed to be heard with the tweeter at about seated ear height. Standmount loudspeakers need rigid, stable stands of the right height. Floorstanders should sit level and firm on spikes or feet suited to the floor, without rocking.

Match the amplifier to the loudspeaker. Check the loudspeaker’s sensitivity and the lowest point of its impedance curve, not only its nominal figure. A sensitive, easy load suits a low-power tube amplifier; an insensitive loudspeaker with deep impedance dips needs an amplifier that can deliver current. With a tube amplifier, use the output tap that matches the loudspeaker’s nominal impedance.

Finally, a few small things. Try the grilles on and off, since some are designed to be used and others colour the sound. Keep the area around the loudspeakers clear. Allow new loudspeakers some hours of play before judging them.

Give your loudspeakers the position they were designed for, and you may find the upgrade you wanted was there already.