You should always pay attention to which room your speakers will be playing in. Here, the size and characteristics of the room have a greater impact on the sound than most people might think. As a general rule, it is said that large floor speakers are intended for use in larger rooms, and smaller speakers usually sound best in smaller rooms. However, there are exceptions to this rule, as Audiovector, for example, uses a downward-firing bass reflex port, which makes them easier to integrate into the room. This means that you can get exceptionally good sound from their floor speakers even in smaller rooms, where they can be placed much closer to the wall than more traditional floor speakers. You should therefore always work with your dealer to find exactly the right size speaker for your room.

There are also other parameters in the room that affect your overall listening experience. The room’s acoustic properties are a factor that should be taken into account when buying new speakers. This refers to acoustics/reverberation, where a large and empty room with bare walls and floors will often be a major challenge for the acoustics. Here, it can be beneficial to place furniture and rugs strategically in the room to achieve a significant difference in the sound. In addition, it is very important not to play sound directly against large bare wall surfaces. The room should be “damped” without being “dead”. That kills the dynamics, and therefore the sound.

To get a better sense of the acoustics in your room, you can try clapping your hands. The sound of the clap should die away quickly, and not linger and vibrate in the room with a lot of reverberation. The emptier the room and the walls are, the longer it will take before the sound of the clap dies away.

When using traditional stereo speakers, it is important that your speakers are placed symmetrically. This means that they should be positioned at the same listening distance from your preferred listening position, with the fronts of the speakers facing toward the listener. To do this correctly, you should measure the distance from the fronts of the speakers to the listener. The more precise you are with the measurements, the more accurate a soundstage you will achieve.

The speakers should also have a certain distance between them to achieve a “stereo perspective.” Depending on the size of the room, of course. We recommend that you place the speakers at least 2 meters apart and no more than 5 meters. If the distance is less than 2 meters, it becomes difficult to create a correct stereo image, and if they are placed too far apart, the soundstage becomes incoherent. A rule of thumb says that the speakers should have the same distance between them as the distance from the speakers to your preferred listening position. This creates an isosceles triangle, with the speaker drivers angled toward the listener.

As far as possible, you should avoid placing your speakers too close to corners. We recommend starting by placing your speakers 30 cm from the rear wall, and then slowly moving them forward until you reach a point where the sound gets worse. Then move the speakers slightly back. From there, the speakers should be moved gradually farther apart (out to the sides) to achieve a wider stereo image. When the soundstage begins to deteriorate, move the speakers a little closer together again. This deterioration will most often be experienced as a gap in the soundstage.

The final step is to angle the speakers a few degrees at a time toward your preferred listening position, so that the soundstage becomes more precise. When the stereo image starts to become smaller and less clear, angle the speakers slightly back again. Then you have the optimal sound image. To confirm that you have achieved the correct sound image, it can be helpful to lean slightly forward and backward in your listening position. If the sound gets worse when you lean forward and backward, the speakers are angled correctly. If, on the other hand, the sound gets better when you lean forward, you have not angled the speakers enough. If the sound is better when you lean back, the speakers are angled too much.

It is also very important for the sound that your speakers are positioned as similarly as possible in relation to their surroundings. The acoustic conditions affect the sound of each individual speaker, and by making the conditions around the speakers as similar as possible, you will find that the sound reproduction becomes more consistent. In other words, it is not a good idea to place one speaker in a corner or hidden behind furniture or the like, and the other speaker out in the open. The more similar surroundings you give your speakers, the better and more harmonious sound you will achieve. 

No matter which speakers you buy, they can always be damaged by incorrect use. Therefore, play with care, and do not play louder than the point where the music still sounds good and clean. In general, it should never be necessary to play louder than a maximum of half volume on your amplifier if it matches your speakers.