Audiophile Mistakes: Mini Series for Better Sound Mistake №8: Ignoring Speaker Placement SPEAKER PLACEMENTDon’t just set it and forget it. Speaker placement is crucial and can make a significant difference in your listening experience. Even minor adjustments—just a few inches to the left, right, forward, or backward—can improve bass response, imaging, soundstage, and overall sound quality. Experimenting with toe-in angles can also help with certain speakers. Avoid defaulting to the obvious setup of placing speakers symmetrically along the short wall. Sometimes, positioning them on the long wall or angling them diagonally in a corner can yield much better results. The same …Read More

Audiophile Mistakes: Mini Series for Better Sound, Episode 7 Mistake №7: Ignoring Your Listening Space ROOM ACOUSTICSLike it or not, your room has the most significant influence on how your audio system sounds. You might love how a speaker or component sounds in one room, but take it home, and it could sound completely different. If you can’t move the walls of your room and have limited speaker placement options, room treatment may be necessary. Using elements such as sound absorption or diffusion panels and bass traps on the walls and ceiling can make a significant difference. Even everyday items like …Read More

Audiophile Mistakes: Mini Series for Better Sound, Episode 6 Mistake №6: Subwoofer Placement  DUAL SUBWOOFER BOOKENDSPositioning stereo subwoofers as bookends for your main speakers creates a visually impressive setup. Many people place them just inside or outside the left and right speakers or in the corners behind them. While this setup creates a pleasing, symmetrical look, it may not deliver optimal bass performance. This is because most listening positions aren’t naturally where bass frequencies are best energized in the room—similar to the limitations of full-range floor-standing speakers. Placing your subwoofers elsewhere in the room, rather than beside your main speakers …Read More

Audiophile Mistakes: Mini Series for Better Sound Mistake №5: Choosing the Right Speakers: Why Bigger Isn’t Always Better USING FULL-RANGE FLOOR-STANDING SPEAKERSIf you buy floor-standing speakers for big sound and great bass, think again. The reality is that a big floor-standing speaker with “great” bass may not actually produce great bass in your room. Why? Because the bass coming from the speaker and its position in the room relative to your listening position may not be energizing the listening position, leading to wasted sound. This is why some manufacturers of larger floor-standing speakers use subwoofers during demos—to ensure the bass …Read More

Mistake №4: EQ or Not EQ? When to Adjust and When to Avoid It Using EQWhy you shouldn’t use EQ: Equalizers (EQs) have recently regained some attention, particularly parametric EQs in digital sources. However, they are often misused as a shortcut to “fix” something undesirable in a sound system rather than addressing the root cause of the issue. If you have components and speakers you genuinely love, they shouldn’t need “fixing.” That said, your room may be the real culprit. The problem is that EQs are frequently overused, which can lead to unbalanced sound, distortion, or further audio issues. This temptation to tweak often …Read More