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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!whuxl!wjm
From: wjm@whuxl.UUCP (MITCHELL)
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Speaker Placement
Message-ID: <195@whuxl.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 24-Aug-84 10:48:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: whuxl.195
Posted: Fri Aug 24 10:48:43 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 25-Aug-84 07:20:10 EDT
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc.
Lines: 23

<gulp>
The first rule in speaker placement is to READ THE INSTRUCTIONS.
Most speaker manufacturers design their speakers for a specific place in the
room (regarding distance from walls, floor, etc), and these instructions must
be followed if the speakers are to perform up to specifications.
You should check on placement restrictions before buying speakers to make sure
that they can be used properly in your room.
For example, Klipshorns must be placed in corners, while Bose 901's must be
located several feet from the rear wall to obtain the effects the designers
calculated the design for.
The second rule is to make sure that the speakers are far enough apart that
they can provide a proper stereo image (generally at least 6' - preferably 8').
The third rule is to watch out for standing waves in your room.
If a dimension of your room is an integral number of half-wavelengths at some
audible frequency (generally we are interested in a low number - so the bass
frequencies are the ones to be concerned with) you have a standing wave pattern.
The formula for calculating this is  L = v / f
where L is the wavelength of the frequency in question, v is the velocity of
sound (about 1100 feet/sec) and f is the frequency (in Hertz).
This problem is exacerbated if two or all three of the room's dimensions'
cause standing waves at the same frequencies.
Good luck and happy listening,
Bill Mitchell (whuxl!wjm)