Suggestions for Speaker Setup


I have Vandersteen 5A speakers. These need a battery replacement every few years which has to be done by the factory or the dealer. I sent my crossover and filters to the factory for new batteries, however, I spoke to Richard who gave me some tips for setup which John at Audioconnection not only confirmed but gave me additional tips. I found that both John and Richard have treated me like family, not just customers...anyway.... These suggestions are for Vandersteen speakers, however, I am posting this so that you may try it on your speakers to see if it may help you get the best from them. Not only do you need to find the best place in the room for your speakers..and the best distance from the side and rear walls walls (which I initially did), but tilt is VERY important..at least on the 5A's. You need to find a flat horizontal surface, and level them left to right with a carpenter's level. This may require you to shim the left or right side, but I encourage you to take these pains. Next get a laser pointer, and put it on this horizontal plain to shine on your back wall. The laser will not be aiming at the listener, only at the center, between the 2 speakers at the back wall. Put a post-it on the back wall where the laser is shining, and mark the dot. Do the same with the other speaker. You now want to make sure that both dots superimpose on each other. This may require shimming at the rear or front of the speakers so they absolutely converge. When I finished this with my speakers, the difference was extraordinary. Lows are now so absolutely clean, although when on the recording, they shake the house with power. Words are much clearer..little things that were missed before like triangle "tings" and such are completely exposed and separated from the other instruments. Depth, width,...all of it is there complete with an ease that I never heard before. I know this procedure is a pain, but do it once and be done. Again...I don't know if this will work with your speakers, but the change with mine is very, very dramatic
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I've tried this method and it works pretty well.
Better yet is to follow Vandersteens formula for front-to-back placement on room nodes for best bass response. Basically, the formula is to measure your room length in inches and divide by prime numbers; each resulting number in inches is a room node.
THEN, use the XLO Reference Disk for side to side placement - tracks 2, 3 and 4 are self explanatory and in the final analysis allows you to use your ears, rather than your eyes, to fine tune side-to-side placement and toe-in. This is absolutely the most refined method of speaker placement I've found and it works on any speaker set.
Rlwainwright....You may be right about YOUR speakers, but as far as mine...you can hear the difference in another room of the house. As I said in my post these suggestions work for MY speakers. Some speakers can't be fine tuned to this degree. I find that every aspect of this "hobby" is critical. I started to get this anal when I got into vinyl with cartridge/turntable setup, but now I'm nuts about everthing...ask my wife.
This, of course, assumes that you keep you head in a vice when listening. Moving your head 2-3 mm would ruin the effect. I chose speakers (Gallo Reference 3.1) that are not so fussy about placement and exhibit a very wide sweet-spot. So much more listener friendly...

-RW-