best position of components in relation to spkers?


According to Jim Smith's book, "Get Better Sound," one of mantras he repeats over and over is the negative sonic effects of having your electronics positioned in between your speakers. At present my Fisher 500c and CDP are on a rack positioned between and somewhat behind (perhaps a foot or two) my actual speakers (Vandersteen 2ce's). I tweaked my system ad nauseum and the position of the speakers in relation to the room, etc. has resulted in what I consider quite satisfying sound. However, according to Jim, even with much cheaper speaker cable at longer runs, if I were to place my component rack on a side wall my overall system sound would improve significantly. Anyone tried this? Thanks for any insights!
lincnabby

Showing 1 response by lewhite

RL&C as well as dielectric absorbance constants are what govern our selection of connection wire (wifi is a whole new paradigm). These parameters are listed and measured per distance. The lowest total numbers are what we seek which demands the shortest lengths. The shortest distance is a straight line between two speakers with electronics' connectors on that line. Good for the electronics, bad for the illution of imaging and sound staging in the accoustic domain. Imaging and soundstaging are a byproduct of low level resolution BOTH electrical and accoustic. Having electronic componants between speaker drivers is destructive because they upset the propagated sound and thus upset and contaminate low level accoustic display. It is simply a case of componants' accoustic reflections. It becomes obvious that componants with big and flat faceplates perpendicular to the listening position are to be avoided. My solution to this dilema is a simple one indeed. All that is needed is a way to minimise or eliminate reflections from componant front panels. Accoustic foam or just a terrycloth bath towel over face plates is all that is needed to reduce this accoustic harmonic distortion. I use black to remove VISUAL contamination, but that's another topic.

May powdered sugar fall gently upon your ears this evening.

Lester