Room equipment for listening to music. How to make your own "music room"

Correct placement of speakers in the room

This article opens a series of materials that tells about the most exciting issues which, one way or another, arise during the selection and installation of a home theater. Today we will talk about options arrangement of acoustic systems in the room. Of course, typical situations with domestic small-sized rooms will also be considered.

How everything should ideally be

It's no secret that you can build a serious home theater, following all the rules, only if you have two things: desire and big money :-)

Ideally, a special room is allocated for a home theater. Particularly wealthy connoisseurs of cinema often build a room specifically for a home theater. The geometry of the room in this case is calculated specifically for a specific audio system, which will be installed in the room. Yes, and the acoustic optimization of the room is carried out very seriously. But in this case, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe room often goes off scale for a hundred square meters, and the cost of equipment and work can be estimated at many tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is why there are not as many such projects in our time as you might think. More often, if there is a sufficient amount of money, a separate room (usually 30-80 m²) is allocated for a home theater, and the cost of equipment and work does not exceed several tens of thousands of dollars.

But most people do not have such serious financial opportunities, and it is often unrealistic to allocate a special room for this event, so you have to build a theater in one of living rooms your apartment. Today's article will be interesting just for this category of people.

But first of all, you need to talk about the starting point. That is, about how the home theater speaker systems should be located in the room, if all the rules are followed. I’ll make a reservation right away that this article will not discuss the installation of a subwoofer, since the location of the subwoofer in the room is a personal torment for each cinema hall. The fact is that the sound of a subwoofer strongly depends on the acoustics of the room, on the location of interior items in the room and, in fact, on the location of the subwoofer itself and the listener. And here there is a huge number of possible combinations, to describe even some of which is simply unrealistic. And according to this, I can offer two methods for solving the problem of installing a subwoofer:

1. Turn on some music with a clear and expressive bass (say, one that will sound acoustic double bass) and start experimenting: place the subwoofer anywhere in the room, sit in a predetermined listening position of the home theater system and listen. If the bass is clear, clear and not buzzing, if you hear not “porridge” and “roar”, but precisely a double bass, then you can leave the subwoofer in that place and be glad that the experiment ended so successfully and quickly. If the bass does not suit you - keep trying to put the subwoofer in other parts of the room and listen to the result. It is possible that you will have to make a small rearrangement of furniture in the room ....

2. The second option is called "on the contrary." It is simpler, more efficient and takes less time. But remember that the bass in the test musical composition should be as long as possible in time and monotonous in sound, because you have to ... crawl around the room. So, put the subwoofer in the place where you expect to sit while watching a movie. Turn on the test track and start slowly crawling around the room. Unfortunately, you will have to crawl on all fours so that your head is at a height of about 30-40 cm from the floor. This is not very convenient, but there is nothing to do. The purpose of this event is to find the place in the room where the bass of the working subwoofer will be the most comfortable and correct. Put a subwoofer in there.

If we imagine that all the speakers are exactly the same, the acoustics of the room are also ideal and there is free space, then you should place the speakers, looking at this diagram. In this case, the model of the system arrangement for the operation of the complex according to the 5.1 scheme (five channels, one subwoofer) is described. It is with this arrangement of the speakers that the mixing of multi-channel soundtracks for films in modern studios is carried out:

The center and front pair are located on the line of a virtual circle, the radius of which is the distance from the listener to the center speaker, and the center of the circle is the listener's head. The distance from the listener to each of the front speakers and the center speaker is equal. The distance between the front speakers is equal to the distance from the listener to each of the speakers. The rear channels are located at the same distance from the listener (also on a virtual circle) at an angle of approximately 110° to the "listener - screen" axis.

In this case, all possible inaccuracies associated with an artificial delay introduced to compensate for sound in case of incorrect speaker placement in space are minimized, and the effect of room acoustics on all speakers is equalized. In theory, all channels are absolutely equal both in terms of volume and sound reproduction, which is what we need in a real home theater.

In practice, many inaccuracies in the selection and placement of speakers can be compensated by the electronics of the AV receiver or AV processor.

The following diagram shows the ideal layout of speakers in home theater working with 7.1 sound.

In this case, the rear speakers are not 2, but 4 - two of them are located strictly on the sides of the listener, and the other two are at the back.

So, if the possibilities and the situation allow, when arranging speakers in a home theater, you need to focus on these two layouts (for 5.1 systems and for 7.1 systems), because they are reference ones. Just do not forget about - this is a very important detail when building a home theater. And you need to take this seriously, because poor room acoustics will easily “kill” the sound of even the most expensive and well-chosen complex.

What it looks like in practice

If you try to build a 5.1 home theater according to the reference scheme, then it will look something like this:

If you have a desire to build a cinema not only for two or three people, but arrange viewing with the whole family or with friends, then the most logical solution would be to simply put a few extra seats. However, even here there are pitfalls. For example, it is not worth placing all the people sitting in this way.

The fact is that listeners sitting at the edges (on armchairs) will be outside the zone of a balanced sound field (the green zone in the figure), because they will feel a clear imbalance of the theater channels: the nearest rear speaker will literally “hammer” in the ear (no, no , the name Dolby Digital did not come from this), and the front speaker most distant from the front speaker sitting in the outer seat will hardly be heard. In view of this, the effect of being in the thick of things will completely disappear, and there will be no pleasure from viewing.

You can place everyone correctly by placing the sofa and chairs as follows:

If the room in which the home theater is installed has an area of ​​​​about 25-30 m², then one pair of rear speakers will not be able to cover all those sitting (and more than 5-6 people should not be placed in such a room) - in this case it is highly desirable to install a second pair rear (as in the diagram). That is, it turns out that each pair of rear speakers works for a certain zone (in this case, for one row of seated people) - this is exactly what happens in large cinemas: a lot of rear channel speakers are installed in the hall so that each seated person does not feel an imbalance of channels in system.

Well, if your listening room has an area of ​​​​40 m² or more, then you can create the correct sound field for all those sitting (up to 10 people according to the “3 rows of 3 chairs” scheme) with one pair of fairly powerful speakers, because the speakers will be located at a decent distance from those sitting, which means that their sound will have time to spread more widely.

If you try to build a 7.1 home theater according to the reference scheme, then the system will look something like this:

Again, if you want to set up a theater for 5-6 people, you can use an additional pair of side surround speakers (there will be one pair of rear speakers anyway). If the room is large enough, then you can use the reference layout for 7.1 systems (figure above). And one more thing: in the case of building a 7.1 system according to the scheme with two pairs of side surround speakers (as in the figure below), you need to slightly shift the first pair of side surround speakers back, relative to the first row of those sitting, and orient the speakers of these side speakers to the first row (as in the diagram below), otherwise the second row viewers will hear the sound of the side speakers of the first row, that is, the rear speakers of the first row will be in front for those sitting in the second row, and, therefore, will cease to be rear ones - it will not turn out very well, since many effects will be reproduced not entirely correct.

If the room is not too big

In very small rooms, the most common is the scheme with the location of the TV on one wall, and the sofa on the opposite, strictly opposite. And this is the most logical scheme in terms of reference. However, many people try to squeeze a couple more chairs into the zone of effective scoring, as, for example, in the figure:

No, sir, you don't have to do that. The reason is the same: those sitting in the outer seats will still not be in the “green zone” (therefore, there will be no pleasure from viewing), and even the rear speakers will block themselves. So the most correct is such a layout, if we are talking about a room with an area of ​​10-20 m²

"I so want!" or "it doesn't work any other way"

Very often there is a situation when they try to put a home theater in a diagonal pattern. And I must tell you, dear readers, that this is a very bad idea.

Often, many bring a room plan and say: “ I will have a system like this - it's already been decided».

And then comes the second question: where to hang the rear speakers so that everyone sitting comfortably?". Answer - it's impossible.

With such an arrangement of listeners, it is possible to create a correct sound field for only one person sitting in a corner chair. It’s just that when you try to hang the rear speakers wide in order to cover all the people sitting, you get a situation where for the person sitting in the corner chair, the rear speakers will be in front, and those sitting on the couch will still hear a noticeable channel imbalance. So what remains is "theater for one person"

At the same time, it is highly desirable to spread the front speakers a little to the sides in order to comply with the principle of an equilateral triangle (see reference diagram).

If desired, instead of a chair, you can put a sofa - in this case, two or three will be able to enjoy the film, but then the rear speakers will have to be hung a little wider. The main thing is not to overdo it: remember that it is desirable to observe an angle of 110 ° for rear speakers (see reference diagram).

And here are some examples incorrect placement of the AS complex. I think there is no need to explain the reason - just look at the reference circuit.

pressing issues

How high should rear speakers be hung?

Since speakers often have different directivity characteristics, it is not worth measuring out every degree or centimeter. Construct an angle of 30-40° with the apex at the listening point, where the height of the listener's head is taken as zero height. Try to follow the reference schemes as closely as possible (for 5.1 systems and for 7.1 systems). It turns out that the rear speakers will hang above the listener's head (about 0.6-1.5 meters, depending on the distance of the rear speakers from the listener).

The picture shows recommendations for placing wall-mounted rear speakers in a 5.1 system. In complex 7.1, the height of the speakers is determined in a similar way, and the placement in the horizontal plane is determined according to the diagram.

If the rear speakers in the system will not be located on the wall, but will stand on the floor, then you should not worry too much. Although it is better when the rear speakers are "shelf speakers", because in this case it is possible to use fairly high stands (1-1.5 meters - depending on the distance from the listener to the speaker) or even hang these speakers on the wall (there are many brackets for this).

And how to hang dipole rear speakers?

As for the height, everything remains unchanged here, and as for the location, the manufacturer's recommendation is usually given for each model of such speakers. In general terms, such speakers are usually hung strictly on the sides of the listeners, but taking into account that there is some space and walls behind the backs of the listeners (the sofa is at least 1.5-2 meters away from the back wall and on the same - from each of the side speakers), since for the correct operation of such speakers, it is necessary to ensure correct reflections of the sound waves of these speakers from the walls. In this regard, dipoles are more demanding than conventional unidirectional speakers.

Does it make sense to build a 7.1 system in big room area of ​​10-15 m²?

There is no particular point in this, since the surround speakers will be quite close to the listener's head, which means that they are easily localized by ear, which is not correct. And if the sofa is located close to the wall, theater 7.1 is not possible at all. So it's better to build 5.1, but wisely.

How much can you deviate from the reference scheme?

As for the options for the location of the speakers, this has already been described above. You can only make one addition: if a home theater is being built in a relatively large room with the expectation of accommodating several (more than 3) people, then it is better to place the center and front speakers in one line. If we talk about the distance from the listeners to the rear speakers, then it is highly desirable to observe at least symmetry. That is, the distance to the left and right speakers should ideally be equal. But if this is not the case, or if there are still some small deviations from the reference circuit (especially in terms of distance), then you should not sound the alarm, because in modern AV receivers and processors there are many settings to compensate for incorrect speaker placement in fairly wide range.

“My designer assigned the following places in the room for home theater components and speakers: here, here and here”

Let's start with the main thing: what does an interior designer have to do with home theater installation? That's right - none. Therefore, the worst thing is when a designer, based on his artistic ideas, tries to leave room for the components and speakers of the system not according to the principle “it should be like this”, but according to the principle “it looks so harmonious”. I must warn you that in a still empty room, you need to plan in advance where and how the components and speakers of the home theater will be located, and then, taking this into account, already think out the rest of the situation in the room, otherwise it may not turn out to be a theater, but don’t understand what. So, in this situation, the designer can be tactfully asked not to interfere in their own affairs. If you yourself are not ready to draft a room with a theater plan, then it is better to invite a home theater installer who can discuss with the designer all aspects of the future installation - it will be beautiful in the room, and the system will be installed correctly.

To be continued…

There are hardly many people on Habré who do not like music or cinema. But then you decided that you were tired of headphones, that you want to listen to how your favorite music actually sounds, and, having saved up some money, you heartily went to different stores and bought a good (for your taste) audio system.

More often than not, such purchases do not deliver the expected satisfaction. When the speakers are placed where it is convenient and practical, the cables are connected and the favorite track is played, it turns out that everything does not play as expected. The fact is that the room in which the music plays is an essential part of the audio system, and it is ignoring this fact that is the most common cause of pointless additional expenses for unnecessary components, convulsive rushing around the room in search of the correct location of the speakers and other troubles. About what to do to return the charm to the sound, and get the maximum sound out of the system, I ask under cat.

Below I will talk about music, but everything said applies to cinema and any other art form with an audio component. Let's start with typical good-sounding enemies.

Where l is the wavelength in meters, and with- the speed of sound in air, equal to 331 m / s. In particular, for a room of 2 meters in size, the frequency corresponding to the half-wavelength will be 82.75 Hz, and in a three-meter size we will get a buzz near the beloved 50 Hz.

In reality, there are many standing waves in the room, since they go not only perpendicular to the walls and floor, but also from corner to corner, and in order to roughly calculate at what frequencies resonant modes will appear, it is useful to use this formula:

Where values p, q and r are equal to zero or one for various modes, and L, W and H denote the length, width and height of the room, respectively. We will not be particularly interested in modes higher than thirds, for the reason that the higher the frequency, the closer these modes are to each other, and the less their influence, as a result of which the frequency response of the room is flattened. If you are interested in the tangential mode for the length, then put 1 over L, if the oblique horizontal mode (for example, from corner to corner), then put 1 over L and W, and if you need a skew mode from bottom corner to the top, then all ones are present in the formula. Everything is simple. Kind people they thought for us for a long time, and by googling you can find a ready-made Excel table with formulas (or a site with a script), where you insert the dimensions of your room and immediately see the whole picture.

Here we must take into account one more simple truth: frequencies below 30 Hz are rarely present in music, and the sensitivity of our ear to these frequencies is much lower (we practically do not hear them, but rather feel them with our body). There are more of them in movies, where there are a lot of sound effects, but it is unlikely that you will be very worried about the sound quality of a bomb explosion. I’ll tell you a secret that the subjectively pleasant sensation from the whipping of the “boobums” sound, as well as the beats of the stick on the drum, to a much greater extent depends on higher harmonics, in the range of 150-400 Hz. From this simple theory, we draw an even simpler conclusion: in order for the bass to sound even and without hum, it would be nice to have a larger room and with different linear dimensions. And the worst hell for bass happens in a room measuring 3 by 3 by 3 meters, where listening to music will not work in any case, unless you are a fan of baroque music.

And one more thing: the above formula works in the ideal case of absolutely reflective walls. In a real room, the resonant frequencies will depend not only on this formula, but also on the material of the walls, neighboring rooms and the will of fate. I know from my own experience.

Drywall

This material is attractive in that it allows you to quickly and cheaply build interior walls and bashfully cover up the failures of the domestic construction industry. But, unfortunately, a sheet of drywall (even a double one) attached to metal frame with a standard pitch, is an excellent membrane. It will bury almost all the bass alive, which, while pushing, your speakers will give out. And during the funeral process, he will also re-reflect this sound at his own resonant frequencies, sometimes humming very audibly.

The question is what to do? If you got a finished room, a subwoofer can partly save the situation. If you read this article before the start of construction or repair, you can have time to take preventive measures. For example, you can make the frame step more frequent and add horizontal elements to the vertical posts. To some extent this will improve the situation, but you should not hope for a miracle: the tin frame itself is not rigid enough, and the drywall will still resonate and absorb, but the effect will be weaker and you may be able to get rid of the buzz. And ideally, it is better to lay out the wall with partition slabs or (it will be a fairy tale in general) with a brick.

bare walls

It is easy to guess what bare walls threaten. Reflecting like from a mirror, the sound at any frequency will walk around the room for a long time, turning the music into mush.

Worst of all is bare concrete. Even the wallpaper already saves the situation a little. But if you take sound seriously, then the use of various absorbent materials cannot be avoided. It should be noted that it is not necessary to cover all the walls with an absorber. Most often, this is not possible in a residential area. Therefore, you just need to drag into the room everything that absorbs sound: upholstered furniture, preferably cloth, not leather, Stuffed Toys, carpet on the floor (or on the wall, if your wife tolerates your taste). Very good open bookcases, preferably with books of different sizes. Curtains made of soft dense material work great. Even wooden furniture will help.

A good performance test: sit where you are going to listen to music and clap hard. If after the pop you hear an unpleasant metallic ringing, then something must be done.

If you want to go further and equip the room with special sound-absorbing structures, then it is important to try to place them a little further from the wall, and not directly on the wall. The thing is that the closer the absorber is to the wall, the higher the frequency of sound absorption begins. We want to start at least at 300 Hz, this is the frequency at which the sound wave starts to become directional, the absorber actually starts to absorb, and you can purposefully place the absorber in the path of the reflected sound from the speaker to you. And we also remember that the rumble at these frequencies significantly affects the subjective perception of the bass. The characteristic half-wave size for these frequencies is about half a meter, so it would be good to place the absorber at about the same distance from the wall.

If the habrazhiteli deign to touch on the topic, in the next article I will be happy to share ideas improvised designs for absorbers.

A couple more practical tips on absorber placement. The space between the speakers on the wall behind them, as well as the wall opposite the speakers, works very well for them. Side absorbers, it is better to put in two (or rather - four, taking into account symmetry) places. First place: this is the path of the reflected sound from the speaker to the point where you will sit. To find this place, you need to put a mirror against the wall so that you can see the speakers. But with such absorption it is impossible to overdo it. If you muffle the sound reflected from the side walls too much, then you will hear the stereo effect only in a narrowly defined place. Slightly to the right and to the left - the sound picture will go astray. The second convenient place is on the perpendicular line from your ears to the side walls, if they are not very far from you.

If you are ready to show even greater determination, you can drown out the ceiling. It can be jammed everywhere: from experience, a muffled room is better than an unmuffled one. Is it worth thinking about the power of the amplifier and speakers: muffle it - it will be quiet, and turn up the volume - there will be distortion. Therefore, you need to add absorbing material gradually, checking the result at each step. You can check it with your ears, or you can measure it. Again, if there is interest, in the next article you can delve into available ways measurements and methods for calculating the required amount of absorbent material.

Well, a carpet on the floor between you and the speakers never hurts. Best of natural material: This carpet will have more even absorption.

Mystique with "bass absorbers"

It has been verified in practice that the placement sound-absorbing material in the corners of the room is useful for bass (and not only). I have not been able to find a reliable theory on this topic. Various assumptions are being made, but I do not really agree with the term "bus trap" (bass absorber). In my experience, these constructions do not reduce the bass, but quite the contrary. Another thing happens: the room resonances are significantly weakened. My unconfirmed theory is as follows (criticism is accepted in the comments). The most concentrated in the corners of the room sound pressure, since there is the smallest amplitude of the sound wave (the amplitude and pressure in the sound wave are inversely proportional). This is due to the fact that sound is a transverse wave, and near the wall the amplitude of this wave, of course, is zero. A standing wave needs to be pumped to continue its existence, and it is pumped with frequencies close to the resonant one. This pumping occurs not through the amplitude, but through the sound pressure, that is, it occurs at the nodes of the wave, where more density gas. By analogy: it is easier to swing a stretched rope at the point where it moves the least. If we place an absorber at these points, then the quality factor of the resonance decreases, and the pumping of resonant waves weakens. As a result, subjectively, the bass becomes more, not less, because it does not go into the rumble of a standing wave. Not to mention the quality of that bass. I don’t know how you like my theory, but in practice I took measurements and the result was unambiguous: when an absorber was added at the corners, the resonance peaks dropped significantly and the frequency response dips in the bass region rose, and the reverberation at resonant frequencies significantly decreased without any general drop in the average level on bass. In the end, I will add a few more practical tips, tested on my own experience.

Understanding the purpose of your actions is very important. I often hear the statement that the task of acoustic design of a room for listening to music is to achieve close to ideal frequency response. This is not entirely true and is difficult to achieve. The fact is that our hearing is quite adaptive: fans of the "Time Machine" equally like the concert of this group in completely different rooms and even in the open air. In a room familiar to hearing, we easily mentally compensate for the influence of the room, quickly forget about it and enjoy it, whether it be cinema or music, unless, of course, the acoustic effect of the room goes beyond certain comfortable limits. In particular, the reverberation range for music that is comfortable for us is quite wide, and reaches about 0.8 sec. With a not very significant distance from the speakers, the bulk of the sound comes to us directly from the speakers without any distortion. The main thing is that there are no oddities in the acoustics of the room, such as large peaks or dips or reverb tricks, as well as various secondary overtones. Everything else is a matter of taste.

Regarding speaker placement, the sound you hear is very dependent on how far the speakers are from the wall and from each other. The distance from the wall can control the amount of bass. The closer the speakers are to the wall, the louder they are. But you should not overdo it: the closer they are to the wall, the more eagerly they excite room resonances. By changing the distance between the speakers, you adjust the distribution of the bass: the closer they are, the more the upper bass sticks out, the farther away, the more the lower frequencies stand out. Well, we must not forget that our task is to ensure the symmetry of the sound of the speakers, so they should, if possible, be placed more or less symmetrically in the room. And one more thing: you need to minimize any identical or multiple distances. For example, the distance from two adjoining walls to a column should be significantly different and not a multiple.

The subwoofer should be placed at a point where it excites less resonance, but you still hear it well. Put it in the center of the room, it will most likely not be heard at all. Put it right against the wall - the resonances will stick out. The right way find a starting point for experimentation like this: turn on music with plenty of drums and bass guitar (modern blues recording works well) without a subwoofer, find the point where you think the bass sounds the most solid and try to put a subwoofer there. And then you will have to experiment with the selection of the first place, and then the parameters of the subwoofer, either by ear or with the help of measurements. However, if you have the ability to measure, then it is better to find the starting point by the most even frequency response at low frequencies, and not by ear.

If you sit in the middle of the room, then most likely there will be no bass. Therefore, from the very beginning it is better to plan a place near the wall opposite the speakers. Again, the closer to the wall, the more bass, but the more resonant it is. Here you also need to experiment.

The design of most speakers suggests that they are aimed at the listener, although there are instances with a wide directivity of midrange and high-frequency speakers. In any case, you should not put them parallel to each other. You also need to respect the height of the speaker: it affects the sound, even if you raise the speaker a couple of centimeters.

And finally, be wary of any theoretical calculations regarding the acoustic design of small rooms. All canonical theories are much better suited to large halls. In a small room there is such a concentration of many factors that the formulas become very approximate. Therefore, rely more on step-by-step experiments and simple and logical arguments. By the way, this is very exciting.

If you have reached this line, the topic is of interest to you, you want to know more, and English is not alien to you, I highly recommend the fundamental work F. Alton Everest, Ken C. Pohlmann, Master Handbook of Acoustics.

Typically, we think of the sound of our stereo system or home theater as the final link in the sound chain - but that sound makes a big difference to our ears. You may not even realize it, but your room plays a pretty big role in the sound you hear from your system. And as with any component, there are steps you can take to improve the performance of your particular room.

Why does your room have such an important role to play in?

The sound you hear in a room is a combination of direct sound coming straight from the speakers to your ears and indirectly reflected sound coming from the speakers that bounces off the wall, floor, ceiling, and furniture to reach your ears. Reflected sounds can be good or bad. If you've ever heard how acoustics play outdoors where there are no walls, then you've probably noticed that they don't sound as good as they do in a room - the sound is plain and boring, with very little bass. Reflected sound can give a pleasant treat to your hearing..

The bad part about sound is that these same reflections can also distort the sound in a room, making certain notes of the sound louder than others. The result can be that the mids and highs are too bright and crisp, while the bass notes are boomy and drowningly deep. Moreover, the three-dimensional "sound stage" created by acoustic systems and images of instruments and singers can become fuzzy or blurry.

Top tips for taming the reflection of your listening room

As we discussed above, reflected sound is essential for music and film to sound natural. The two main ways of controlling reflected sound are absorption and diffusion (scattering). We'll go into some more in-depth solutions a bit later in this article, but for now, here are some simple tips for getting the best sound in your room:

One of the most simple ways improve , is to move your chair or sofa away from your wall and into the middle of your room. You can also try moving it closer or further away from the speakers and listen to hear where your sound sounds best in your room.

If you have a lot of glass in your listening room, such as a panoramic window or glass doors, try hanging curtains over them to absorb reflections.

Also if you have wooden or vinyl floor coverings, try putting a rug to somehow help absorb some of those harmful reflections.

Bookshelves can help break down diffuse reflections. Try placing a bookcase or two filled with books on the sides or back of your listening room and you'll hear your sound improve.

Finally, for components such as active subwoofers, a built-in bass "leveller" is good for them with a receiver and automatic sound calibration. They can help with digital right choice optimal location for the subwoofer and your room.

If these simple rules don't get fixed and you still want to improve the sound in your room, then read on. We'll explore all of this through the science of reflection, absorption, and diffusion, and give you some tips on how to find and fix problem areas in your room. Different sounds add different sound effects depending on their volume and how long they linger:

1) Some bring a light blend along with a direct sound.

2) Some add space and increase the size of the sound.

3) Perhaps the most serious audible is the echo.

One of the reasons the impact on rooms is so noticeable is that our ears—in fact, our entire auditory system, which also includes the brain—are remarkably sensitive in locating the source of a sound. Even with your eyes closed, you can usually find the position of someone talking to you in the room.. Your brain uses the timing differences between the original and the reflected sound to locate the source.

Sound-absorbing effectiveness of some common surfaces in your room

Fibrous materials such as carpet and curtains provide significant absorption above 500 Hz but have little effect on lower frequencies. And vice versa, window glass and drywall can absorb low frequencies, but does very poorly at 500 Hz. Here are some tips and ideas to keep in mind when it comes to sound absorption: Before moving on to professional processing absorption rooms, try to get the most out of common room materials. Large panes such as windows or French doors should be covered with curtains. Absorption and soundproofing is an important component of the listening room, and is especially effective with such methods side reflections of the walls. But not the only answer, and in many situations, not the most the best choice. In a small listening room, excessive use of absorbent materials to control reflections can result in a room that is acoustically dead. And while some music lovers dream of professional recording studios - which have been heavily processed with absorbent materials - such as acoustic foam, there is a different purpose. For example, if your audio system is in a room with thick carpet on the floor, acoustic tiles on the ceiling, and heavy curtains covering most of the wall surface, that's fine, but almost all bass sounds will be reflected. Or quite another, a room with painted drywall on the walls, drywall or plaster on the ceiling, linoleum over a concrete floor, and no sound-absorbing curtains, carpets, will sound too bright, thin. There will be too much echo and it can negatively affect the dialogue of the movie, making it harder to understand.

Diffusion

Diffusion is the scattering or propagation of acoustic energy. The advantage of diffusion is that, since the sound energy is diffused rather than absorbed, so no energy is wasted, thus keeping the sound more "live" in your room. It is difficult to describe this type of effect because it is fully described in higher mathematics. Concert halls, recording studios that use diffusion rely on professionalproduct, based on mathematical number theory. Although diffuse materials are more difficult to implement in an indoor listening room than absorbent materials, it is possible.

Diffusion products can be used for many problems. Again, diffusion rid your room of
echo reflections. Here are some situations where diffusion works particularly well: bookcase to fill different sizes books, it makes a very effective sound. If your room already has absorption in the form of carpets, drapes, or acoustic tiles on the ceiling, diffusion can control wall stray reflections in a better way.

How to fix problem areas in your room

Panels of 1" fiberglass or foam (polyurethane or melamine) mounted on the walls make an excellent
absorption work. A wall behind the listening area can also help. This back wall is the surface that will bring the greatest benefit diffusion. On this wall, you can also try using a thicker material (carpet), or make an air space between the material and the wall to get better bass absorption. The floor at the listening position can also be a source of reflected sound. Simple, beautiful way it is a thick natural rug. And if you find any reflective spots on the ceiling, then you need to attach acoustic foam at those hot spots.

Summing up

The next time you sit down to watch a 5.1 movie or listen to music, think about the effect frequencies have on the overall sound of your system. A basic understanding of room acoustics (and speaker placement) can help you maximize the sound performance of any stereoor home theater systems.

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You can buy the world's most expensive system, but if you put it in a small cubic room, the cost won't matter. Definition right place for your speakers, the single most important factor in getting good sound in your room. Very precise speaker placement can open up a new sonic dimension for you. Any AS does not exist on its own. They are an inevitable compromise with the listening room. There are no just good speakers - there are suitable ones. With a lot of desire and a little luck, your room can become your happiest place. We will proceed from the fact that all the furniture and furnishings in the room existed before the acquisition of speakers or equipment that should be integrated into your room without disturbing the dynamics that have developed in it. The goal of a good listening room is to minimize coloration, which is strongest in the bass region between 20 and 200 Hz. In more high frequencies ah the room also has an effect, but the resonances are much less problematic, as it is much easier to achieve the absorption of high frequency resonances. Any room will resonate at many frequencies.

The accuracy and height of the resonant peak depend on the absorbing properties of the room. A room with a lot of upholstered furniture, with carpets on the floor and drapes will be acoustically relatively “dead”. Peaks and dips in the frequency response in such rooms have an unevenness of 5-10 db. A room with bare walls and floors will be very "lively" and peaks and dips vary by 10-20dB or more. General rule is: in acoustically good and right room it is possible to place speakers close enough to reflective surfaces with minimal negative consequences. In acoustically poor rooms, the main strategy is to place the speakers as far away from the boundaries of the room and the listener as possible.

If we feel a series of deep dips or peaks in frequency, then this is the result of reflections. Reducing the level of reflections flattens the actual frequency response curve. The most important thing is to minimize early reflections (less than 20ms) as much as possible. Reducing them improves the sound quality and stereo image. How to improve the acoustics of the room so that this curve is smoothed out? This can be done with absorbent materials covering hard surfaces near the AC. best, most useful environment for listening, - a complete combination of the principles of "live" and "dead" room acoustics. I personally prefer a slightly muffled (dead) room as opposed to a live, ringing (live). How can this be determined without special instruments? Clap your hands. Does it seem to you that the decay of the sound is natural, or it goes out too long (live), or vice versa, it fades too quickly (dead)? The best solution is to provide the room with a reasonable balance of dispersion and absorption. A room with bare walls will have strong echoes that will detract from clarity. Paintings on the walls bookshelves, drapery, floor coverings will provide sound absorption and dissipate harmful reflections. Uncovered windows, bare floors and walls are not desirable.

Speakers should be located in an acoustically dead zone, occupying approximately 1/3 of the space of the room. Then comes a very lively area of ​​the room, which should contain objects that scatter, but not absorb sound. The closer the absorbent surface (carpet) is to the speakers, the better. Different types of carpets and the lining (base) of the carpet itself most affect the upper middle and V/frequencies. The thicker and larger the carpet, or carpeting, the more they will “absorb” these frequencies. Carpets and curtains reduce reverberations in the room and, as a result, the transfer of sound energy to the walls. Carpeted floors have little effect on low frequencies, but mids can drown out. I prefer not a thick wall-to-wall carpet. This is reasonable, if only because the majority of speaker manufacturers perform crucial auditions of their products in rooms with a completely muffled floor.

Many experts believe that the backing of a carpet/covering should be made of natural fibers, and not rubber or foamed rubber, because. they absorb frequencies selectively - some frequencies are significantly attenuated, while others are not attenuated at all. The most important thing is to minimize early reflections. Reducing them improves the sound quality and stereo image. All recording studio designers try to reduce early reflections as much as possible. How to arrange speakers in a room properly? You should have 2 main goals: a flat frequency response and a good 3D image. Even though you have good speakers, room influence is a very important factor. In many cases it is more important to pay attention to the acoustics of the room than to spend twice as much money on new speakers.

Symmetry

The environment behind and on the sides of the speakers must be symmetrical. Less important is the environment in the immediate vicinity of the listener. Regarding the symmetry of the front and rear walls, there are many supporters of various measures. Most (but not all) agree that the wall behind the listener should be highly reflective.

Professionals believe that the entire area around the speaker should be blanked out to reduce reflections as much as possible. Another point: it is desirable to dampen the side walls only directly in front of the loudspeakers in order to minimize close reflections of the side wall. For best 3D sound reproduction, the room must have good symmetry between and around the speakers. This means that if the speakers are not spaced symmetrically, the early back wall reflections at the first speaker will be different from those of the second speaker, and critical parts of the stereo signal will be damaged. It is imperative that the distance from you to both speakers is as identical as possible. In good systems, a deviation of a few cm will be clearly audible. It is generally believed that the speaker and the listener should form an equilateral triangle, but this is not an absolute rule. Some manufacturers give their recommendations on the placement of their speakers. Remember that any recommendation is just a start, the beginning for an experiment, experimenting properly, you will achieve the desired results.

The directional sound from the speaker is primarily responsible for imaging (the imagery of the sound image), while the reflected sound most of all affects the change in the tonal balance of the speaker - in terms of sound density, or its depletion, etc. Any reflective surface - wall, floor, furniture - creates reflections. Proceeding from this, it is necessary to have an AS. The most important thing is to reduce natural reflections as much as possible. Early reflections reach the listener almost simultaneously with the direct sound, degrading the signal. For example, loudspeakers with wide front panels - planars, etc., are less critical to nearby side walls and surfaces, but very critical to proximity to the back wall. In general, the further away from reflective surfaces and the farther away from the back walls, the greater the depth of the soundstage will be and the more “air” there will be.

Listener Location

The listener should sit exactly in the middle between the speakers, the distance to the listener is slightly more than the distance between the speakers. If you do not follow this rule, you will never hear a good sound picture. In a room with proportional dimensions, the best position for the listener is 30-90 cm from the back wall. If you're sitting right up against a wall, you should block out the space on the wall just behind your head a little. Your brain will not be able to process these reflections, but trust me, in this case they can greatly affect the sound.

One thing to remember - having your head close to the back wall has two positive effects. First, near the walls, the highest sound pressure, and the speed of sound waves is the lowest. Location in the zone of maximum pressure gives a better perception of deep bass. Second, the reflected sound waves are shorter than the circumference of the head, so the brain cannot measure the time delay between the ears. When the brain cannot identify reflections, it ignores them.

This is a simple example of how the brain ignores unwanted or irrelevant information and a confirmation of the Haas effect - if the information from the AC comes first, then any distortions and reflections (even unpleasant ones) will come later and at a much lower volume - and our brain will ignore them.

Often the listener sits too far away from the speakers. The farther you sit, the more the free space of the room affects the sound, especially in the middle and high frequencies, but close - also bad - the sound will not have time to take shape in the picture. Great importance has height AC. It is best when the tweeter is located just above the ear (but not always) - experiment, sit higher or lower. Collapse convergence - this method achieves the focusing of the sound image (imaging) and adjusting the tonal balance, as well as optimizing the mid and high frequencies by adjusting their directivity. It's easiest to do this with two people. First, point the speakers so that they are looking at a point slightly behind the listener's head - keeping the same distance from ear to tweeter of each speaker. Put on music with vocals or violin. One person should observe the focus. The other should rotate the AC around the inner front spike. The listener must discover which speaker placement is best. When this is done, set up the second speaker in the same way as the first. Some speakers work better turned inward, some don't, but it's best not to turn inward much or not at all. Follow the manufacturer's recommendations.

The most important thing is to correctly fill in the central images without sacrificing the width of the soundstage. Speaker tilt is also an important factor - forward, backward, inward, etc. also affects the sound. Many manufacturers make their speaker fronts slope downward to achieve proper figurativeness and coherence in the sound of the speakers.

Listening Height

In two-way speakers, your ears should be on the line between the tweeter and the woofer, in 3-way speakers, on the line between the tweeter and midrange speaker. Keep in mind that the best location for creating a spacious soundstage may not be the ideal location for bass. We must find a compromise that maximizes these characteristics in our view. For personal taste, you can sometimes sacrifice one for the other. Decoupling from the floor important point when installing AC. Only after resolving this issue will you be able to hear your speakers as they really are. Speakers are most prone to resonance, so they most need a hard fix. The most important thing that gives a rigid installation of speakers is a clear focus, clarity, detail, unity, well-articulated bass. The sound will become denser and clearer, especially at high volume. The more expensive your system, the greater the requirements for speaker installation. Loudspeakers placed too low narrow the dynamic range. Improving the acoustics of your room can completely change your mind about the quality of your system. What characteristics of the room affect the sound. All sound within the boundaries of your room will depend on a combination of three acoustic characteristics: reflection, dispersion, and absorption. A good listening room will have a proportional amount of these characteristics. The smaller the distance between the walls where the speakers and the listener are located, the more sonorous the sound, the more distance between these walls, the deeper the bass. Reflections: all or most of the sound energy consists of reflections occurring in the room according to the rule: angle of incidence equal to the angle reflections. Hard flat and smooth surfaces - bare walls, glass, bare hard surfaces of furniture - reflect sound energy.

Diffusion

All or most of the sound waves reflected back into the room are already there in a disordered state - a randomly scattered sound mass. Hard, non-flat, rough, ribbed surfaces, cylindrical and rounded objects - scatter sound. Absorption as opposed to reflections, most of the sound energy is absorbed. Soft porous surfaces carpets, floor coverings, cushioned furniture, thick fabric draperies, etc. - absorb.

The quality of the low frequencies in your room depends to a large extent on the room itself. Since the bass wavelength is very long, most furnishings, wall and floor designs do very little to change the bass frequencies in the room/speaker combination. Therefore, low frequency optimization is a matter of choosing a listening room with optimal dimensions (ratios) and placing speakers in this room. Low frequency energy propagates spherically in all directions equally. When a low frequency sound wave hits an obstruction (wall), the bass energy is - for the most part - reflected back into the room, bouncing off every obstruction - floor, walls, ceiling. The woofer should be unequally spaced from the three closest side planes of the room. All this is essential, because the reflective plane closest to the speaker enhances some bass frequencies.

If the reflective planes are the same distance from the speakers, some bass frequencies will be boosted very strongly. Those. if your speaker is the same distance from the back wall, side wall, and cabinet or dresser wall, then you will get a triple amplification of some bass frequency groups, which will lead to a very audible hum at these frequencies. If the doors are in the corners of the room, the bass can simply “leak out” through them. In serious listening, you need to close the doors. This is not the case for mid and high frequencies, where the energy is directed in a more focused and controlled manner, in a cone-like, horn-like manner. Low-frequency reflections, resonances can be quite simply adjusted by manipulating the placement of speakers, varying the distance from the speaker to the nearest wall.

The more all three of these parameters (distances) differ from each other, the smaller the “unison” will be, respectively, the less unwanted resonances will be. Standing waves are low frequency reflections (resonances) between two parallel walls, the main enemies of good sound. They color the sound in your room, emphasizing some musical notes and create a rough and unnatural distribution of acoustic energy within the room. Propagation of standing waves - property physical characteristics room and has nothing to do with the equipment. In rectangular rooms, standing waves occur in all three directions simultaneously, exerting a very intricately distributed pressure within the room. Standing waves are the cause of noticeable coloration above about 300 Hz. However, isolated or random standing waves can be seen below this frequency. Standing waves are essentially shards of some frequency clumped together in some places in the room. Evenly distributed colorings are almost not problematic compared to standing waves. Understanding what standing waves are and how they work will be helpful to better optimize your room and your speakers.

The determination of the axial standing wave between two parallel walls can be easily calculated following equation: (1) Fo = 1130 / 2L or (2) Fo=565/L (where the constant 1130 is the speed of light in feet per second, L – distance between walls in feet example: calculation of fundamental standing waves in three main directions for a room of size 4.8(w)*7.8(d)*2.4(h) between short walls Fo w = 565/16 = 35 Hz between long walls Fo l \u003d 565/26 \u003d 22 Hz between floor and ceiling Fo h = 565/ 8 = 70 Hz .

Please note that in this example the height of the wall is 2 times less than the length of the short wall. Foh = 2Fow = 70 Hz . This room would have significant coloration at 70 Hz, 140 Hz, 210 Hz, and further multiples of 70. The worst possible tonal distribution occurs when room measurements are equal in all three directions, i.e. when the room is a perfect cube. In such a room, the harmonics of all resonant frequencies will be equal to each other, and the low frequency resonances will be extremely rough and colored. The best possible tonal distribution will be in a room whose dimensions are not related by a single integer (multiple) number. L24*W24*H8 -bad example - all cuts are multiples of 8 L26*W15*H8 – good example. The smoothest bass extension will be obtained if the frequencies of the reflected energy are distributed evenly and do not clump together.

Definition of bass in a room. The number 550 is half the speed of sound per second above sea level. Dividing this number by some bass frequency, say 20 Hz, we get the smallest distance between the walls at which this frequency will be supported by the room. If we divide this number by the bass frequency of 20 hertz, we get 27.5 feet, which is the minimum distance between the walls of your room in order to maintain this frequency. If the distance between opposite walls where the listener and speakers are located is 12.8 feet, then 550 / 12.8 = 43 Hz - normal for a medium-sized British speaker, but shameful for an Infinity Bass Tower speaker.

Let's say you want to have bass below 35Hz - 550/35= 15.7 feet - the minimum distance between walls to support 35Hz. But that number - 15.7 - almost double the height of a standard room - is bad news. The room will have the same standing waves in both directions. But don't worry, these dimensions are unlikely to be strictly multiples of two. The sound stage and sound picture depend on the location of the speakers, their orientation and the acoustics of the room. Optimizing speaker placement is a difficult task. Since speaker placement is equally important for both soundstage and good bass reproduction, you must find a compromise between these characteristics - it is much better to sacrifice a little bass reduction in order to get good staging/imaging. Stage depth is best when the speakers are located some distance from the front wall - this will reduce the effect of early reflections of it, improve the focus of images, and allow the speakers to "breathe". In higher resolution systems precisely positioned in the acoustic space, the sound stage can extend far beyond the listening room: the rear of the stage does not rest against the back wall, but naturally extends inward. Stage Width The final width will be affected by the distance between the speakers and the camber of the speakers. But remember that on most recordings this sonic characteristic is poorly recorded.

Determining the distance between speakers

Put on a recording with a good focus of the central image - for example, vocals. Position the speakers about 1.8 - 2 meters apart, and so that they point to a point slightly behind your head. Listen to see if the sound is focused enough. Move the speaker further apart - 30 centimeters and listen again, etc. When the center begins to thin and blur and become scattered, know that you cannot move the speaker further apart. You now know how wide you can place the speakers without losing the soundstage and the density of the central image (focus). The focus is largely, but not entirely, related to the transmission of high frequencies by speakers. Our ear uses them to outline the subject. Experiment with the collapse - convergence.

HF spread very directionally. A happy side effect of narrow directivity is that it reduces stray reflections from nearby surfaces, minimizing the echo of reflected frequencies that affect the sound image.

Balance adjustment

If the system balance is adjusted so that the sound is uneven and poorly focused, then the reason may be that one speaker is closer to you than the other. For example, if the lead vocal that should sound centered comes to you from the right, the right speaker should be pushed back or the left speaker pushed forward. Usually even a 2-3 cm difference in the distance to you is already clearly audible.

AC movements

All lateral speaker movements affect midbass more and front-back movements affect bass depth more.

The density of the sound image is one of the unusual and musically very beautiful characteristics - the ability to concentrate not only the energy of the high frequencies, but also the wealth of musical energy concentrated in the midrange and upper bass. Due to the wide dispersion characteristics of these frequencies, the density of the image in this part does not depend on whether the edges of the speakers are sharp or rounded. The narrow cabinet with heavily rounded edges reduces reflections from the front panel, but there are problems with standing waves inside the box. The narrow body contributes to good reproduction of the midrange, because. the narrower the cabinet, the more omnidirectional the sound becomes. If speakers with a wide polar pattern (narrow cabinet) are placed in a loud room, then the timbre of its sound will be greatly distorted. The narrow body and small speakers lead to a lack of physicality and imagery. Such speakers should be placed away from reflective surfaces. A happy side effect of narrow HF directivity is that spurious reflections from close surfaces are reduced, minimizing primary reflections that affect the sound image.

Wide front panels and shallow cabinets are the key to the most correct directivity and balance of the low-frequency range in the conditions of a real listening room.

By Peter Quartrup

If the speakers have a narrow directivity (wide body), and the acoustics of the room are deaf, you will hear the actual sound of the speakers.

Bryston research on acoustic design and speaker placement

The resonant characteristics of a room depend on its configuration (proportions) and design. A square room with bare walls would have the worst possible acoustics for an audio system. In square rooms, standing waves appear in three directions at once, they attenuate and change some frequencies and strengthen others, amplifying resonant peaks in a very narrow range. These peaks change the sound a lot. Bare walls have problems with early reflections (High Q) - they do not allow the sound to open up, making it ringing, narrowing the dynamic range and greatly affecting the tonal balance. In a concert hall, we have three main effects that affect what information our brain receives about the acoustic qualities of this environment:

1. The first direct sound wave coming to us from instruments.
2. The second sound wave reflected from the nearest walls.
3. Reflected energy, which is random overtones from all objects inside and has no direction.

Direct sound tells the brain where the sound is coming from. Early reflections, if they reach us within 10-20 ml / seconds, will distort the sound image, tonality, etc. Late reflections (ambience), on the contrary, will add a feeling of spaciousness, spatiality, airiness of the environment. In a good concert hall, direct sound reaches the listener at 20-30 ml/sec. earlier than the primary reflections. And secondary reflections come later by as much as 100 ml/sec. Obviously, in our listening room, we should strive to get similar results.

It should be noted that pop and rock music is usually recorded in an acoustically dead studio environment in the "near field", which tends to prevent primary reflections and high Q voicing. (this is probably why studio monitors often sound loud and sharp in rooms, because in studios they are heard in the near field and in a very muffled environment, where this sonority and sharpness do not manifest themselves, but all the details of the recording are heard clearly).

So, if your room acoustics are close to a concert hall, rock music will sound great. How can such results be achieved in an ordinary room 12*18*9 feet (almost a standard Russian room, I must say, V.M.)? You should position your speakers so that the direct sound reaches your ears first, using absorbers where the first reflections from the side walls are. But there should be more space behind you to create a larger sound field. Sit in a chair. Have someone move the mirror along the side wall. When you see the reflection of the AC in the mirror - this is the first point from which the early reflections will follow. Sound is reflected like light - the angle of incidence .... This is where the absorber should be placed. Sit at a distance of 20-30 cm from the back wall. Do not place any absorbent material behind your head. There can only be sound-diffusing materials, distributing random non-directional sound energy that adds to the feeling of spaciousness in the room, because this random energy (late reflections) arrives much later than the direct sound. Place absorbent materials in the corners of the room.

Other measures - soft chairs, flowers, statues, etc. They will also scatter or absorb secondary reflections. Obviously, these items will not be as effective as special items, but this is a step in right direction. The main goal you need to remember is that early reflections and the lack of late random reflections are used by the brain to determine the fact that you are in small room. Therefore, by reducing the effect of early reflections, reducing the effect of standing waves and sonority, it will seem to you more and more that you are in the hall with the performers.

This information is based on scientific research and observation, as well as on the experience of some of the most successful dealers. Solutions presented here. aimed at limiting your room's interference with sound. We will help you place your speakers through the use of psychoacoustics and physics. This method can give excellent results through experimentation, without the use of special room treatments. How do we arrange sound events in space? Our brain determines the time delay between the sound between our two ears. If there is no delay, then the sound is coming from a point directly in front of us. If the sound wave reaches the right ear first, then the sound is on the right, and so on. This spatial information - sound transients - is instantly determined by the brain. Determining the delay between the right and left ear, our brain with extraordinary accuracy determines how much to the right or left, or how much closer or farther, the sound source is from us. It is by the delay of sound between our ears that the brain determines the most important sound characteristic - tonality. This has recently been proven in scientific research. And is considered to be a critical part of our historical survival. In other words, we first identify the source of the sound - for example, a potential danger - and then try to identify what was the source of the sound.

The first step to getting a good stereo soundstage is to eliminate early reflections from the main transients as much as possible. Or, in practice, you must ensure that the sound from the speakers reaches your ears before any reflections from this sound. According to a psychoacoustic phenomenon called the Haas effect. the brain will give priority to the first sound wave not distorted by reflections.

Determining the best speaker placement given the size of the room

Audio Physic called this method room mapping. The principle of this technique is based on the wave phenomenon (phenomenon). Accurately measure the room and draw its floor plan. Divide the room into equal parts. Two ways - even and odd number of zones. When dividing a room plan into an even number of zones. By placing the speaker and/or your chair not even at the point of intersection, but at one of the separated parts, you get a natural bass boost from interacting with the room. Bass frequencies will be boosted at intersection points. The method of tuning bass and midbass assumes a similar principle - reducing rather than boosting low frequencies. This happens when the room is divided into an odd number of zones. To do this, you move the speakers to the odd parts of the room plan. It is important to remember that a room can be divided into many large quantity parts than 3 or 4. In even sections, the bass is strengthened, in odd sections, it is weakened. Another example (by Bryston) is if you place speakers with excellent frequency response in the corners of the room, you get about -6 db bass boost. This rise is clearly an anomaly, but the same happens elsewhere in the room, only to a lesser degree. We have done research and found that the increase or decrease occurs at certain nodes (points) of the room. At odd nodes, the excitation has minimum value and vice versa. For example, your room is 14*18 feet (feet = 0.3 m). Take any size - length or width - and divide by an odd number of parts, say 18 divided by 3,5,7.. you get the values ​​= 6, 3.6, 2.57 - three possible positions (positions) when placing long wall. We divide 14 into three parts - we get the values ​​= 4.67, 2.8, 2. - possible locations near the short wall. Now place the speakers at the fifth point in length and the seventh in width of the room. We have the fifth length value = 3.6 feet, the seventh width value = 2 feet. The speaker should be placed at the intersection point, where the excitation of low frequencies will be minimal. Remember: you need to test all options for optimal results. Important detail– the intersection point should not pass through the front or rear panel of the speakers, but through the woofer magnet. If this rule is followed, you will experience a clear result. Experimentation is the key to success. In the process, you will discover many things that don't work, and you can minimize those shortcomings. Most importantly, standing waves and early reflections should be minimized as much as possible.

Having bought or made speaker systems or, in a simple way, speakers, they usually don’t think much about how and where to put them. However, when choosing a place for acoustic systems, it should be borne in mind that the correctness of the created stereo effect, the elimination of acoustic defects in the room, and a good emphasis on low and high frequencies strongly depend on the correct location of the acoustic systems. In addition, it is also worth considering aesthetic considerations and the opinions of other family members ...

For definiteness, it is worth saying that, according to the terminology ‘columns ’ These are loudspeakers that have severalidentical emitting heads. Speakers are used to obtain high sound power when scoring cinemas, concert halls, stadiums, etc. However, for simplicity, in the article, a column is understood as an acoustic system with several emitters for different frequency ranges.

How to arrange columns correctly

There are no strictly established rules placement of acoustic systems in a room, there are only general recommendations and established facts. Whatever speakers you have, in the end, the sound receiver is always the ear and, first of all, it is necessary to satisfy its needs and preferences.

Understanding how to properly arrange the speakers can only be done by repeatedly placing them. The following instructions serve only as a guide for action and saving time.

Influence of room shape on speaker placement

First of all, you should think about the shape of the room in which the acoustic system will be placed. Well, if the room is square. In this case, there will be no dilemma on which wall it is better to put, on a long one or on a short one. But in our houses a square room is a rarity, so we will suffer a little)

If acoustics is placed near a short wall, then this helps to emphasize low frequencies, i.e. bass. Often even excessive underlining. Unpleasant resonant phenomena similar to a buzzing roar or ringing may also appear. This is especially pronounced with a significant elongation of the room. In this case, it is preferable to arrange against a long wall.

If you place the speakers against a long wall, then this may cause a feeling of attenuation of low frequencies, but will eliminate unpleasant resonant phenomena.

The distance between the speakers, let's denote it as d , usually is 2-3.5 meters. It depends on the distance to the listening position. l . To create the correct stereo effect, it is desirable that the listener is always located at the appropriate point in the stereo zone. However l limited by the size of the room.

Possibilities for changing two values d and l restricted to the shaded area in the diagram. If, for example, the room allows you to choose the distance d equal to 3.5 m, then the listening position can be 2.5-4 meters from the wall.

Vertical position

Speaker systems can be placed both vertically and horizontally.

When speakers are placed vertically, the tweeters should be placed at the top. Low-frequency sound vibrations propagate best along the bottom, and with increasing frequency, the rise of the emitters is desirable. Therefore, if you have a 2.1 system, then the subwoofer should be located on the floor, and it is better to place satellites (MF-HF emitters) no lower than at table level.

When the speakers are placed horizontally, it is better to place the tweeters on the inside, due to the narrow directivity of the tweeters in order to place them closer to the center line of the room. However, the reverse arrangement is also acceptable, which will lead to an expansion of the sound stage, which is important for modern digital music.

And even that's not all))

If the speakers are tightly pressed to the corners of the room, then the low frequencies are emphasized as much as possible.

If the number of low frequencies is greatly overestimated and buzz is observed, then the speakers should be moved away from the corners.

Even stronger low-frequency attenuation can be obtained by raising the systems to a certain height from the floor.

Extremely loud bass sound is obtained by removing the rear wall speaker system from the wall. Such amplification is unnatural and should not be allowed.

And finally, during all the experiments with the arrangement of acoustics, it is recommended to turn your back to it. It has long been established in psychoacoustics that appearance has a strong impact, and if you don't like this arrangement on the outside, you're more likely to dislike the sound.