Top Tips : Positioning Your Speakers Correctly

Whether you have a £100 speaker or £1000, where you position them in a room is so important to make sure you are getting the maximum impact from the speaker.

So here are some tips on How To Position Speakers Correctly:

Room length

If your room is a rectangle, the speakers will ideally face the length of the room, so place your desk by the shortest wall.

Think in thirds

Imagine dividing the length of your room by three. Your speakers will sit within the first third of the room and more than 1m from the side walls. We did say you needed some room…

Speaker angles

Music is generally released in stereo, which means the sound is spread between the left and right speakers. Positioning the speakers at a 60-degree angle gives you the best ‘stereo image’ of these sounds. Dust off your old protractor and position the speakers 60 degrees apart. It can help to place a small marker at your listening position and work it out from there.

Space from wall

If you really do have a huge room to work with, pull the speakers away from the wall. There’s a zone between 1m and 2.2m that ideally you want to avoid. If you have a smaller room, try to leave as much space as you can between the wall and the speaker — up to 1m — and do not place them too close to the wall either as the bass doesn’t play well.

Subwoofers

Got a sub? Put it at least 30cm from a corner; don’t place it in the dead centre of a wall.

Speaker height

If you have speaker stands, adjust the height so the speaker is level with your head and above 1.2m. Notice the smaller speaker cone, called a tweeter — this is where the shiny bright parts of the music come out. The highest sounds emanate from the tweeter in a really straight line, so point this at your ears if you want your music to shimmer.

Desktop speakers

If your speakers are on a desk, rest them on some foam, if you have any. This stops your desk becoming a huge bass speaker itself, which seems like a grand idea but really isn’t.

Surround sound

If you have surround sound speakers, place the centre channel exactly in front of you and place the side speakers at a 110-degree angle to the sides, following the same rules as described above. Each speaker should be the same distance from your listening position, forming a circle, as shown in the diagram (right). If you get that right, those overhead helicopters in films will finally sound like they’re flying in a straight line.

Conclusion

It’s not always easy to implement every step, but the basic rules — like keeping speakers away from corners — will go a long way to making your music and movies sound better.