Positioning speakers

Good stereo sound depends a lot on the position of the speakers in your listening room. Not only the stereo image effected, but the complete tonal balance can be tuned by moving your speakers around.

Moving them back to the wall or towards the corner will increase the bass, moving them forward brings out the mid frequencies. You can consider this like a smooth equaliser function. This ability to balance sound by positioning them eliminates the need for an equaliser for me. And that is a good thing, because anything that is not absolutely necessary in the chain might deteriorate the sound. Good equalisers also cost a lot of money, which I would rather spend on amps or speakers to improve the system.

Below you will find some general rules of thumb:

1. Avoid corners.
   Most of the readers will already know that you are not supposed to place your speakers in a corner of the room. Try to keep away from them for at least a meter. If you have the luxury of a complete free wall, the best spot is usually about at W/6 where width is the distance between the corners of the wall behind your speakers.
2. Use only one wall.
   Do not place speakers against different walls of the room unless absolutely necessary.
   
3. Keep the distance relatively small.
   In small rooms 1 to 2 m. will be enough to give a nice homogeneous stereo image a few meters wide. Even in large rooms 3 m. is often plenty. When you sit in the middle in front of the speakers you should not hear the speakers individually. All instruments should be distributed evenly in the stereo image. They should also seem to stand to the left of the left channel and to the right of the right channel.
   
4. Respect your speaker type.
   If you have bookshelf speakers. Do not place them on the floor. Place them so that your ear is about the same height as the tweeters when in your listening seat. If you can, use speaker stands for the best result. Choosing the right stand is a complicated subject, so I will elaborate on that in an other post. Most of the time the solution proposed by the manufacturer of the speakers will give the best result.
   
5. Search for symmetry.
   If possible, locate your speakers symmetrical so that the distance to the rear wall, and the corners is the same for both channels.
6. In a rectangular room, use the shortest wall when possible. You will get a better bass response if the speakers project the sound in the length of the room.
7. Experiment with position to obtain the best result.

One of the best ways to find a good position is the tune method. Start by positioning them at a distance of 2 m. facing straight forward and at a symmetrical distance to the rear wall and the side walls. Listen to the position, then start tuning the distance between the speakers by moving them closer 10 cm at a time (or wider). Stop when you have a continuous stereo image from left to right. We will fine tune this later.

Then start moving the speakers back or forward towards the wall. Choose steps of 10 or 15 cm. to begin with. Listen with the tune method and determine the best. Keep moving in the same direction, until you feel that the sound gets worse. Then go back in smaller steps.
Good, now you should already have a nice sound.

You can now fine tune the result by moving the speakers inwards or outwards in steps of 5cm. each. Do not start toeing in the speakers yet!
After this the sound will be close to optimal.

Now you can start toeing in the speakers. In most cases this is not necessary, because modern tweeters spread sound very good. I leave good speakers often aligned with the wall for the best result. For the best result, I even measure the distance now and make it exactly the same.
May be it is a good idea to mark this position now, so that you can find it easily after cleaning the room.

That is it. Try it at home and let me know what your results were...

Enjoy!

Not all power current is the same!

Every house has wall sockets with current. But not all sockets are the same! Choosing how you connect the different power cords of your Hi Fi chain, can really make an audible difference.

1)Choose a socket as close to your fuse board as possible. If you are building a new house or want to take the trouble, draw a dedicated line directly from the board to the socket. Do not use the line for anything else if possible.

2) Avoid other power consumers on the same line. Be careful with light dimmers, refrigerators, computers, washing machines... even if they are not on the same socket, shutting them down can make a difference. (in the case of light dimmers, they have the smallest influence when totally off or totally on. Between 10% - 90% you will have the same bad effect)

3) If you use a distribution cable, put the source(s) closest to the line that enters the distribution block, then the pre- amp , then the power amp.

4) If you have bipolar connectors, experiment with turning it around one component at a time.
(use the tune method to hear the difference). Start with the source, then pre-, then power amp.
If you have 3 poles on the connector. Try to find a socket that allows you to turn it. Once you have found the best combination, turn the plug of the distribution unit. Even that can make a small difference.

5) Most of the time the grounds in the components give more trouble than gain. Try eliminating them in all components but the preamp.

This is as far as you can go for free. The next steps may cost a bit of effort and money, but may well be worth it:

6) Change the multi stranded power cables by single cores of at least 1,5mm or 2,5mm for a poweramp.

7) Experiment with net filters or power supplies. They have most effect on the weak current consumers. My experiences were best when the poweramp was on direct current while the others were separated by filters.

And now for the freaky ones:

8) Change the power supply by a special silent battery power supply. Do not charge while listening....

9) Putting a rheotor on the line to regulate the voltage to the exact expected voltage is also in this category. (sounds great)


I o not require the steps above to be happy, but I definitely need step 4. If I am listening to a system that is not "balanced" in the socket arrangement, I get tired and irritated easily by the sound. It happened frequently that I noticed something strange in the sound. Then, after checking the markings on the plugs I found out that for example the cleaning woman had used one of the sockets for vacuum cleaning and put it back in, the wrong way!


Step 4 really only has one 'perfect' solution. For a source, amp system there are 4 combinations. Two are bad , two are good, one of which is the best.
This gives us a 50% chance that you are hearing the best your system can do, if you did not take care of it yet.

For a pre- power amp system, there are 8 combinations, and you only have two good ones !
There is only 25% chance that you connected it right 'by accident' , so test it, if you did not do it yet.

As always use the tune method described in my post on comparing sound to do a reliable audio test.

Tweaking : Making the most of it.

Over the years I read a lot about tips and tricks to bring out the best of your system. Tweaking your system can be good fun.

On the web and in magazines you can pick up a lot of tips about improving the sound dramatically with simple tricks. When I tried these, a lot of them indeed made a sound difference. But was it really better? I don't mind spending a few bucks for experimenting with even the wildest idea's, so if some fly would have been able to report what it had seen in my listening rooms over the years, I think a lot of people would laugh.

Now , in all this I tried to listen as objectively as possible, and organise the experiments as a scientific experiment. Now do not get me wrong. I do not try to measure everything with some expensive electronic equipment. No, my two most important measuring instruments are sitting on the side of my head.

Anything I hear is there, anything i do not hear is not worth bothering about. A little bit strange for an engineer to think this way, but not less scientific. In my opinion, the audio domain is so difficult to measure that a lot can not be measured by an electronic instrument yet. So do not be surprised if you can not really explain some of it by normal physical or electronic laws. Welcome to the twilight zone !

Having said that, it has always been my goal to make sense of these experiments and device new theories that make them predictable. In some ways I am proud to say that in hindsight I was 10 years ahead of the industry. And maybe I even have some cards up my sleeve ;-)

In my tweaks category, you will find some "comon" high end knowledge that really works.
They might sound like hocus pocus, but for most there is a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Some can even be measured! ;-)

Enjoy

Comparing sound: Tune Method

As always, be sure to listen to the whole chain. I can not stress it enough.
"If you are not buying everything you hear,
you will not hear everything when you try it at home."

But what if you only need a speaker, or an amp...?
A good Hi-Fi shop will allow you to bring your own material to test with, and maybe even come at your home to demonstrate the new stuff. (so the first quest you have is : 'find a good shop')

Comparing sound is difficult for most people, because they forget easily. 15 minutes can be enough for an untrained ear to loose most of the detail in a comparison. With the method I am going to describe below you will be able to remember much longer, several weeks at least.
This ability will enable you to compare systems demostrated in different shops.

First you have to setup the speakers so that you to hear them individually. What do I mean by this? It is a known fact that even speakers that are not connected, influence the sound in a room. If there are more than one speakerpair in the room, remove them, or place them as far from the test pair as possible, with the front facing the wall. This way you avoid the influence of the passive speakers on the sound.

If you think you can not hear this effect, try it at home. Listen to a system, then bring an unconnected speaker in and place it between the speaker pair... Et voila !

What I am to say now will probably be a source of depair for many housewives :-)
"This principle also counts for all speakers in the room, even small ones. I once removed the speakers from my television to avoid interference. This is a bit drastic, but you can also cover them up with a thick cloth to get most of the effect. An other alternative is to turn them on, with the volume to zero. Think also about the computer speakers or surround sound rear speakers, if not included in the system... The closer they are, the more harm they do."

Once you cleaned the room, you are ready to start testing.

Below, you will find a method that helps discerning the level of musicality of a Hifi chain.
If you have this right, you will certainly have an enjoyable system. Now how do you do this?
The method I am going to describe is quite controversial. It might sound so simple that some people will not believe it works. But believe me, there is something in it.
I was doing some kind of this test myself for years, until I found out that Ivor Tiefenbrun the founder of the famous Scottish brand Linn perfectioned the method even before I had a decent protable radio. They almost entirely build a brand that is now selling all over the world based on this method.

Tune method:

Choose a tune you really like, with a quite vivid tempo. So classic lovers need something like vivace, allegro,...

1. Adjust the first system to a volume that suits you, and do not touch it for the rest of the test.
2. Start the song for about a minute. Forget all technical considerations, just enjoy. Try to tap your feet, sing along, hum along, or for musicians even try to play along! It is very important that you actively try to be involved in the music.
3. Switch to the second system.
4. Find approximately the same volume if needed.
5. Repeat step 2... Notice a difference? Maybe you are not even able to tap, or perhaps you can not sit still?
6. Switch back to the first system.
7. Repeat step 2

Sometimes it will be much easier to tap along with one system than the other. Always go back to the first system, so always listen at least three times to the same tune, to capture all differences. The beauty of this is that this method encourages you to listen to the things that really matter, if you want to enjoy the system after you bought it.

You will notice that you can remember the character of this sound quite easily, and you can take the same tune ( or tunes ) to other shops as well.

That is why it is important to use music that you like most, and will be playing most often. This seems obvious, isn't it?
Well, I encountered several good believing music lovers that bought special test-cds with music they did not even like to select their system. I know there are good and bad recordings. There is nothing against selecting the best recording you can find, but do it for the music you really like.
A rock enthousiast who buys a cd with the Toccata and Fugue from Bach will probably end up with an ill suited system for him. ( and this is not because the music would be bad for testing) He will simply not hear much difference, or will be misleaded by his ears.

If you try this method, and it works for you, i would welcome some comments about it!

Enjoy!

Defining my standard for a perfect system.

Before you start reading my statements about stereo systems, I feel that defining what I am looking for will help you understand. If you are looking for completely different things, it is likely that my advice on this blog will not help you at all. If you are looking for the same, chances are that you will find them useful.

Is it possible to make a system that sounds good for all people, for all kinds of music? Books have been written over the subject, and here is my cent's ...

Yes, I think it is possible to imagine a perfect system for all people provided that these people want to hear what the original sound recording sounded like. This is not always the case because in some dance music for example the sound is manipulated to obtain the maximal bass effect.
When I speak of the perfect system, it should only try to reproduce what was there when recording it, nothing less, nothing more... A system that does that would in theory suit everybody and all kinds of music.

This means that the only reference we really have is non-amplfied music. Every music lover will agree that that is something that is increasingly difficult to find. Almost all public performances are amplified these days, and therefore already coloured by the system that amplifies it before it reaches our ears. So the first obstacle in designing the perfect system is the absence of a universal reference. For dance lovers, this may be the sound of a high end PA system, for classic lovers it may be the unamplified sound of instruments in the acoustics of a concert hall.

Defining the goal to aim at is already difficult enough, but all people see it differently. Studying the way my customers listened to music made me see that every human being seems to experience sound in a slightly different way. If sound was light we would all see an extraordinary range of colors, but we would all be partly colorblind. This explains why there are so many tastes in music systems. In my opinion, it has nothing to do with the kind of music one listens to. But maybe the way your ears and brains work will determine the way one appreciates music and not the other way around. So the physical ability of your hearing system kind of determines your musical taste! Maybe I was lucky to see a subset of colours that most people see, so that I can judge systems based on a wide variety of criteria.

An other great influence on how people listen, is of course their listening experience and experience with music in general. Musicians listen to hifi in a different way than passive music fans. Dancers listen in a very different way too.
I once encountered a musician that told me that his 'top' musical experience was reading the music on paper! Other musicians had enough with a very basic system and imagined the rest...

Now my goal in Hi Fi is to experience the same pleasure listening to a system as when you listen in a concert hall, with your eyes closed. Some of the readers might say that this is evident but when you think about it, most of the industry is not really concentrating on that. Here is my list of key features starting from less important to most important:

1. Surround sound
   Ever heard sound coming from the side or the back in a concert hall? This is an other point low on my list of priorities. Making a perfect sounding stereo system is allready so difficult and expensive that i think I will never be able to afford the effort times 2,5...
2. Soundstage
   When you are in a concert hall, just try to close your eyes and locate every instrument exactly in the soundstage... Well? You might notice that a lot of High End systems are a lot better than this... To my taste a lot of systems exaggerate this pinpointing of the sound sources. Ever tried to pinpoint a bass in a concert hall? You are lucky if you can do that with an accuracy of ea few meters. So for me stereo image is not that high on the list.
   
3. Fidelity.
   I mean by this the ability to reproduce the sound of an instrument with all frequencies as they are live. This is important to a certain extent. Music must feel right. It does not make sense to listen to a grand piano if it sounds like a honky tonk. It is not the most important to me though. I am not really interested in hearing the difference between a Steinway and a Bosendorfer, if i am not able to here the difference between Azkenazy or Horowitz playing the piano or some beginner. Strangely some systems I heard did just that. Everything was there, but no feelings...
   
4. Transparancy.
   Now this is something I would like to have perfect. Did you notice how easy it is to follow every instruments sound amid of all the others. For example listen to a hobo even when it is not playing a solo. That is something most systems have difficulty to mimic. On a lot of systems background instruments disappear or reappear depending on the amount of foreground action going on. I call this the stage light effect. You can always only concentrate on the solo and the light focuses all instruments in turn.
   This quality is high on my list, because it allows me to discover new things every time I listen to a piece of music.
   
5. Musicality.
   What strikes me in a live performance is that I am moved by the music. I feel the emotion flowing... Sometimes I can not stand still.
   Copying this to perfection is maybe the most difficult of all. I heard a lot of very expensive systems that missed this completely, even though you could hear every note.
   This is my main focus because it gives me, and most of my customers the most pleasure.

This is it. You can now see what I mean when I say that even a mono system with a perfect musicality and transparancy would please me more than one with only a perfect surround sound stage.

In the next posts I will try to elaborate on how to find and select the best systems.
You can expect about one post a week, so just add an RSS link to this blog and watch out for changes.

Where to start ?

People often ask me what is the best way to achieve the best sound for the money.
Yes, even high end nuts do have a budget!
In the twenty years I am professionally involved with Hifi, I never encountered a customer with endless resources...

So the best advice I could give is:
"Balance the budget, and only believe your ears."

One of the most common mistakes is to spend almost the entire budget on the speakers. Yes, it appears like they are making a lot of difference. But even the best speaker can not make up for the losses in the signal before its input. Because speakers are the most visible part of a system, they often take more credit (or blame ) than they should.

The Hifi system is often talked of as a chain, and as anyone knows, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.... ? Not completely !
The Hifi system is not a chain, its strength is not measured by the weakest link, but it is more like this game you play at the scouts, where you pass on a messages from one person to another. Any information lost in a previous component will never be recovered!
It looks like an audio chain is only as good or bad as the sum of its losses.

Back to speakers... See the point? What good is it to try to recover a signal that is mutulated before it enters the speaker?

So what are the components that can influence the sound? Below, we list the basic components of any system. In the next posts we will explore each of them, and possibly split them up in subparts.

1. Recording : there is a whole book to write about how to make the perfect recording, but for a hifi chain the only thing that matters is the audio carrier (CD,LP,MP3) he holds in his hand.
2. Source : the CD player, turntable, mp3 player
3. Interconnect : the cable from source to amp
4. Amplifier : the integrated or pre-amp that drives the speakers
5. Speaker cable: cable from amp output to speaker
   
6. Speaker

As you can see you have control over 5 of these components when you buy a system, so try out each of them.

Next time you are visiting a shop to choose a new system, ask the sales guy what he is driving the speakers with. If you want to get the same result at home, you best bet is to take the whole setup home with you.

One last advice: avoid shops where they demonstrate 1.000€ speakers with 10.000€ on electronics. I have seen that happen! And it is a guarantee for disappointment after the sale.
If the sales person does not bring up the electronics as the main reason for the sound of such a system, he is trying to cheat.

So that is it folks. Next time I will discuss in more detail how to find your ideal system.
If you have any questions, or remarks, just let me know.