Perfect speaker placement for your perfect fit furniture

AV Soul’s mission is to ensure we create custom-made AV furniture that is a perfect fit for our customers and their homes. Part of the considerations when we work with customers on their design is to ensure what we build is a perfect fit for their audio and visual kit – and a perfect fit for their AV passions and needs. We understand our customers buy from us because they desire furniture that meets their requirements in terms of housing their AV kit – but also that it promotes peak performance and delivers the very best audio and visual experience so they can enjoy their passions whether it be music, TV and films or gaming. With this in mind – our commitment to serving our customers goes beyond the creation of their perfect fitted furniture. We do what we can to guide our customers on how, alongside their custom-made furniture, they can get the very best from the AV kit they have invested in. When we hand deliver our AV furniture to new customers, we have a number of hints and tips we work through with the customer to ensure they get the best AV experience in their home. One such set of tips is on speaker placement – which we’ve decided to cover in this blog.

How sound is effected in your home

It is useful to use the way a room is lit as an analogy to how sound disperses from speakers. Imagine the speakers as lights within a room. A room isn’t simply lit by the lights – the overall lighting is a result of how the light reflects off the ceiling, walls and other objects. There will be times when a light source may interfere with say our ability to watch a TV screen effectively, light reflections causing the screen to be obstructed by glare. If not placed optimally, the sound waves emitting from your speakers can be effected in the same way – reflecting and bouncing off your rooms surfaces in ways that effect the purity of sound that can be achieved through proper placement of your speakers.

Follow our guidance below to ensure you get the very best sound quality through the best placement of your speakers:

Stay away from corners and walls

Ideally speakers should be kept away from corners and walls. Corners especially can distort sound waves coming from your speakers as the sound waves reflected from each wall of the corner can cause the reflected sound waves to interfere with each other. Bass can end up sounding boomy and dirty.

Similarly placing speakers too close to walls can also affect the sound. Large surfaces reflect the audio waves, causing a delay in the sound reaching the listener, reducing the clarity and quality of the sound as well as the stereo effect.

Perfecting your bass

In what might seem a contradiction to the previous tip – some speakers are designed specifically to be mounted on walls, in which case the close proximity of the hard, flat surface may actually benefit the sound – it’s worth checking your speaker’s instructions/credentials to see what’s best for the speakers you own. Placing larger speakers against the wall can often help improve the overall quality of the bass of your system, however sometimes this will cause a thick bass sound to occur with certain speaker types. If this happens, try moving the speakers further away from the wall to promote a smoother sounding bass. You can experiment by playing high bass sounds such as films or music with a loud soundtrack as you move your speakers around to check on getting the best possible output.

Perfecting the treble

Although the tweeters are the smallest speakers, they have a very big impact on the overall audio performance and quality. Tweeters should be placed where they are ear’s height when you are sat down in your normal viewing/listening position. The right and left speakers should be of equal distance from your seating position. The speakers should also be at least a foot and half away from the corner of the room or any big pieces of furniture that the sound could bounce off.

Perfecting your AV experience

We hope these tips help you achieve a better quality sound for your AV setup. If you’ve compromised on the AV Furniture in your home – do get in touch to see how we can help create you a perfect piece of furniture for your AV kit and AV passions.