S P E A K E R P L A C E M E N T V E R S U S L I S T E N I N G P O S I T I O - WILSON AUDIO SabrinaX Installation And Care Manual

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10
S a b r i n a X I n s t a l l a t i o n a n d C a r e
reflect (echo) in front of you. This is caused by the return of the
room's boundar y contribution; your voice is now interacting
with the opposite wall. At the point where you begin to hear
the reflected sound of your voice, you have reached the outer
edge of the Zone of Neutrality. Place a piece of tape on the
floor and mark this location. The distance between the "inner "
and "outer " edge tape marks is usually between eight inches
(for small, interactive rooms) and three feet (for large, more
neutral rooms).
5.
Now position yourself against the side wall perpendicular to
the intended speaker location. Stand between the two tape
marks. Using the same procedure as above, begin moving into
the room toward the opposite sidewall, progressing between
the two pieces of tape. As above, listen for the point in the
room where your voice transitions from bass-heavy and diffuse
to neutral. Mark this point with tape. Continue your progres-
sion until there is an obvious interaction with the opposite
wall in front of you and mark this point with tape. The four
pieces of tape now form a rectangle that establishes the Zone
of Neutrality for the loudspeaker to be installed on that side of
the room. Using the four marks as your guide, tape an outline
to define the boundaries of the rectangle.
A u t h e n t i c
G u i d e
E x c e l l e n c e ™
S e c t i o n 1 . 1 — W A S P
6.
Repeat this process for each speaker location individually.
These are your Zones of Neutrality, one for each channel.
Theoretically, the Zone of Neutrality for any room runs like a path, paral-
lel to the walls all around the room. Adjacent to ver y large windows and open
doors, the outer edge of the Zone of Neutrality moves closer to the wall and be -
comes wider. If you were to extend the inner and outer boundaries of the Zone
for the sidewalls and the front wall (behind the speakers), they would intersect.
Speaker Placement Versus Listening Position
The location of your listening position is as impor tant as the careful setup
of your Wilson Audio loudspeakers. The listening position should ideally be no
more than 1.1 to 1.25 times the distance between the tweeters on each speaker.
Therefore, in a long, rectangular room of 12' x 18', if the speaker tweeters are
going to be 9' apar t, you should be sitting 9'11'' to 11'3'' from the speaker. This
would be more than halfway down the long axis of the room.
Many people place the speakers on one end and sit at the other end of
the room. This approach will not yield the finest sound. Carefully consider your
listening position. Our experience has shown that any listening position that
places your head closer than 14" from a wall will diminish the sonic results of
your listening due to the deleterious effects of boundar y interaction.
W i l s o n
A u d i o
S p e c i a l t i e s
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