Speakers How To
   
 













How to Buy a Speaker
Regardless of speaker price, design, or number of drivers, speaker manufacturers make products for two types of listeners: those who want accurate reproduction and those who want "colored" reproduction.
 
Steps:
1. Read reviews in audio magazines and on the Internet to help you decide which speakers you want to listen to. (See Related Sites.)
 
2.  Budget for speaker cables. Cables can run from a few dollars to thousands of dollars.
 
3.  Look for acoustic suspension (sealed box) speakers if you want clean, tight, accurate bass.
 
4.  Look for bass reflex (ported) speakers if you want lots of bass and the widest selection of models.
 
5.  Look for flat panel speakers if you want the biggest, widest soundstage.
 
6.  Let speaker size or appearance be less important than quality.
 
7.  Ask questions of the seller as to position the speakers optimally.
 
8.  Make sure the salesperson demonstrates each pair of speakers at equal volumes.
 
Tips:
 
Check to be sure your amplifier or receiver can handle the impedance of the speakers, and that they fall within the recommended power range specified by the speaker manufacturer. If you have low power, look for speakers with high sensitivity (spl greater than 90 db).
 
How to Buy Speaker Cables
The cables you choose to connect your speakers to your receiver make more of a difference than you might think. Cheap cables impair the sound, but good cables can be expensive. Consider your budget and try to audition some cables to see the differences.
 
Selecting a Cable Type
1.  Set your budget.
2.  Buy 16-gauge lamp cord if on a limited budget.
3.  Twist the leads of a double run of 16-gauge lamp cord together and solder them for an inexpensive upgrade.
4.  Determine the lengths you need. Buy the shortest possible length of cable for each speaker, but buy the same length for each.
5.  Check your speaker manual to see if the manufacturer recommends specific brands or models of cable. Product literature and reviews sometimes tell what the manufacturer used for internal wiring, and matching that usually works very well.
Tips:
Speaker cables range in price from a few dollars to thousands of dollars.
Monster cable, sold by most consumer electronics stores, rarely provides better sound quality than comparably priced cables made by other manufacturers.
Some cables terminate, usually with spade lugs or banana plugs, while others come without termination.
Most experts agree that spade lugs are the best form of termination.
If you use bare wire, you will get a better connection by soldering the exposed ends of the wires. Silver solder is best and helps prevent oxidation.
How and why cables work the way they do is a science in its infancy. While all cables have resistance, inductance and capacitance, each metal has a different degree of conductivity. Be wary of other claims made by cable manufacturers.
 
 
How to Set Up Stereo Speakers
 
Got new speakers, or just moved into a new place? Remember, the most important component in a stereo system is the room where you set up the system. The positioning of your speakers affects sound quality more than the speakers will.
 
Steps:
1.  Consult your speaker manual for suggestions.
2.  Place the two speakers at the corners of an equilateral triangle, with your listening position as the third corner.
3.  Start with the speakers about 6 to 8 feet apart.
4.  Position speakers away from side and back walls as much as possible, and so that the distances to the back and side walls are not the same. However, position left and right speakers exactly the same distances from the walls on each side of your room.
5.  Use stands or other nonresonant materials to adjust speaker height.
6.  Position speakers high enough off the ground so that they are level with your ears when you are in the listening position. (The tweeter should be just over your head.)
7.  Experiment with "toe-in": make the speakers face each other rather than face the same direction. Try about 10 degrees to start.
8.  Find the ideal positioning for the speakers and your space through continued experimentation.
Tips:
Toe-in improves the "center image" but narrows the "soundstage." Move speakers into the room from the back wall to increase soundstage depth.
If your room is rectangular and lacks limitations created by windows, doors, fireplaces, and furniture, try setting up speakers with formulas shown on the Cardas Web site. (See Related Sites.)
Keep speakers away from furniture and other audio equipment, as well as from back walls and corners, in order to preserve bass accuracy. Move them closer to back walls to increase quantity, but reduce quality, of bass.
Expect the speakers to "disappear" aurally when your setup is perfect.
 
 

How to Get Better Speaker Sound
No matter how much money you pour into your stereo or home-entertainment center, it's never going to sound any better than the speakers you have connected to it. If your speakers don't sound great, it doesn't necessarily mean you need more expensive ones. You may be able to coax better sound just by moving them around.
 
Steps:
1.  Decide where in the room you will do most of your listening. For a home-entertainment center, this would probably be your favorite recliner. This position should be about halfway between the speakers and the back wall.
2.  If you have only two speakers or a pair of tweeters (the smaller, high-frequency speakers), position each one at ear level and as close to the same distance from your main listening position as possible. Aim them at the recliner.
3.  Position the speakers so that the distance between them isn't any greater than the distance between the speakers and your main listening position. Also, place them symmetrically so that they each have the same relationship to surrounding walls.
4.  Place your subwoofer (usually a big heavy box) on the floor in a spot where it won't be the same distance from different walls. Because walls tend to emphasize certain bass frequencies, you want to avoid having multiple walls emphasizing the same frequency. Because we can't determine from which direction low-frequency sounds come, it is not necessary to center the subwoofer to the main listening position.
5.  Use your ears, the most sophisticated audio-evaluation equipment available, to make your final judgment. Select a piece of music that you're familiar with to evaluate the effectiveness of your speakers' positioning. A recording of solo piano music works well simply because most people have heard what a real piano sounds like.
6.  While listening to your test music, experiment with slight changes in speaker positioning until you're satisfied that you're hearing the most natural sound.
7.  Don't forget your speaker wires. Although you don't necessarily have to buy audiophile cables for your speakers, a heavier-gauge wire is a good investment because it has less resistance and thus a purer signal. And if the ends of your speaker wire are oxidized (corroded), trim them off and strip them to expose enough fresh wire to reconnect them at least once a year.
Overall Tips:
You can buy various kits to improve speaker sound, but make sure you don't do anything to your speakers that you can't undo if you find no improvement--or if the kit makes things worse.