Speaker Placement - Niles DS8300AT Installation & Operating Manual

Speaker Placement

Introduction
Although the DS8300AT and DS8500AT
have extensive ability to compensate for
unusual placements with their unique piv-
oting woofers, tweeters and acoustic fine-
tuning switches, placement is still the pri-
mary tool for satisfying your particular lis-
tening needs. In this section, we discuss
how speakers should be placed and how
woofers and tweeters should be directed
and how the acoustic fine-tuning switches
should be set for different purposes.
Placement for Critical Listening
If you like to imagine that the band or
orchestra is playing in front of you as you
listen to music, or you are very conscious
of clarity, detail and the textures of the
individual instruments, or you listen criti-
cally to movie soundtracks or music
videos in your home theater, you will
need your speakers placed so that they are
optimized for critical listening. Here are
some guidelines to make the process of
placement quick and easy.
Critical
Listening
Position
Make sure the sound will not be blocked
or reflected off of furniture or other
objects. You should have a direct line of
sight with the front of the speaker. To
determine the best position, measure the
"listening" distance between the ideal lis-
tening position (your favorite chair or
couch) and the location in which you plan
to install the speakers. Try to place the
speakers so that they are equally distant
from your listening spot and at least one
half of the listening distance apart (this
maintains a large pleasant stereo "image").
In home theater applications where there
is a center channel you may choose to
space the left and right main speakers far-
ther apart for a "bigger than life" sound
with Dolby ® encoded movies and TV
shows. However, for combined music and
movie usage stay within the good place-
ment zone for music. For example; if you
are ten feet back from the speakers, the
speakers should be between five and ten
feet apart (See Figure 4).
Woofers and tweeters should be directed
at the listening position.
Placement for Varying
Direct woofer and
tweeter towards
listener
10'
5'
Direct woofer and
tweeter towards
listener
Figure 4
In this example,
the speakers
could be placed
from five to 10
feet apart, since
the listener is 10
feet back from
the speakers
10'
6