Position Sound with Purpose

Decide where the ears will be. For reading, that is a chair; for work, a desk; for relaxation, perhaps a sofa or a cushion on the floor. Speakers are then arranged around that point rather than the other way round.

Avoid placing the seat exactly halfway along the room's length, or pressed against the back wall, where the low-frequency peaks and dips caused by room modes tend to be strongest. A widely repeated starting point puts the seat roughly 38 percent of the way into the room's length. Treat it as a heuristic to test by ear, not a law.

For stereo listening, the established reference is an equilateral triangle: the two speakers and the listener equally spaced, so each speaker sits about 30 degrees either side of straight ahead. This is the front-channel geometry described in ITU-R BS.775, the international recommendation for multichannel sound, which places surround speakers roughly 100 to 120 degrees off centre.

In a real living room you rarely achieve this perfectly. Aim for symmetry first — equal distances from each speaker to your head — and exact spacing second.

Near a boundary, a speaker's low frequencies are reinforced; in a corner, three boundaries combine and bass can become heavy and boomy. Reflections from the wall behind a speaker can also cancel particular frequencies, an effect acousticians call speaker boundary interference.

Start with speakers at least 30 to 50 centimetres from the wall behind them and clear of corners, then adjust in small steps while playing a familiar recording with a steady bass line. Rear-ported designs are especially sensitive to wall distance.

Tweeters — the small drivers that carry high frequencies — are directional. Raise speakers so they sit near seated ear height, on stands or a sturdy shelf, rather than on the floor or behind a sofa. Angle them slightly towards the listening position ("toe-in") and listen for a stable central image.

Keep the space between speaker and listener clear. A lamp, a stack of books or the edge of a television in that path will dull detail.

Not all listening is focused. For ambient sound while reading or working, a single small speaker placed low, off to one side and away from the ears often feels less intrusive than a stereo pair aimed at you. Multiroom systems can play the same stream across zones; keep levels lower in quiet zones, and resist placing a speaker in every room simply because it is possible.

Whether you prefer sound that seems to come from everywhere or from one clear point is a matter of preference.