In this post, we’re going to talk about one of the most important aspects of setting up a stereo sound system – the distance between the speakers.
When setting up a pair of speakers, it’s important to start with a nice equilateral triangle. You should try and put your seat a third of the way into the room from the wall behind you, with the speakers a third of the way into the room from the front wall. This will help you to draw a triangle from your seating position to the speakers, which will determine where the speakers are going to be in terms of distance from left to right.
Once you’ve set up the speakers, it’s time to start tuning them. If you move the speakers closer together, you’ll have better mid-bass coupling. If you move them farther apart, you’ll have worse mid-bass coupling. Mid-bass coupling refers to the lower part of the chest, the part of the voice or a cello, and the bottom end of the mid-bass frequency range. It’s the area and frequency range between 500-600 Hz down to maybe 200 Hz.
By adjusting the distance between the speakers, you can accentuate or reduce the mid-bass hump that you hear. If it’s sounding kind of tubby, you can pull them apart a little bit more to reduce that mid-bass hump.
In terms of imaging, you want to make sure that the sound is divorced from the speakers and comes from behind the loudspeakers. This is a function of pulling the speakers away from the rear wall and having some kind of appropriate diffusion if you can behind the speakers on the rear wall. It could be a bookcase or any number of ways of doing that.
To get the best imaging, you should start with the speakers flat and face on, and then start towing them in to get the center image correct. But not so pinpoint focus that you lose the outer edges of the soundstage. Proper height and depth are also important factors in imaging.
As for the question about mono versus stereo, it’s really a matter of preference. However, it’s important to note that mono produces a single channel of sound, while stereo uses two speakers to create a more immersive listening experience.
In conclusion, the distance between speakers is a crucial aspect of setting up a stereo sound system. By following the tips outlined in this post, you can ensure that your speakers are properly set up for the best listening experience possible.