How To Fine Tune Your
Floorstanding Speaker

To fine tune the placement of your home theater floorstanding speaker or tower speakers, and this applies to stereo speakers too, you need to place the main left and right speakers a minimum of 5 feet apart. Preferably more, because 6 to 12 feet is a good general rule depending on how far away your seating area is.

Ideally your couch should be at the apex of an elongated triangle. For example; if your right and left floorstanding speakers are 8 feet apart, then you can sit 8 to 15 feet away and still get good separation and directional effects.

Don't push your tower speakers up against the wall behind them. The bass Vortex Ports, the big hole (or holes) on the rear panel need a few inches of superstition to vent low bass frequencies into the room.

Listening in stereo or surround sound, your floor standing speakers should have a smooth seamless soundstage spread across the front from left to right. If you get a "hole in the middle" effect, with sound concentrated at each speaker, angle the speakers in toward you slightly, or move them a bit closer (or both).

Should I place my floorstanding speaker in a corner?

Corners boost low bass output, but often in a very uneven or unnatural way. Some notes may boom and others may disappear. So unless you absolutely need more bass, avoid corner locations. A subwoofer, however, can sometimes benefit from a corner location, but if it booms too much, gradually move it out from the corner along one wall.

What is the hole on the back (or front) of my floorstanding speaker for?

A tower speaker might have a hole in the front or back known as a bass reflex port, or vent, to channel and redirect low bass frequencies from inside the speaker cabinet to the surrounding air. These reinforce and smooth out the low bass sound waves from the woofer (the bass driver). The bass reflex port's irregular surface increases the surface area of the port, making the port more effective and suppressing so-called "chuffing" noises from expelled air pressure.

How close to my TV can I place my floorstanding speaker?

You should probably keep your floorstanding speaker at least 8 inches or more away from the side of the TV cabinet. Generally speaking, the larger the picture tube of a conventional CRT (cathode ray tube) set, the more sensitive it will be to stray magnetic fields. So be extra cautious with large CRT TV's. Large screen rear projection TV sets are not affected by a speaker's magnetic fields.

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by Alan Lofft