Main Speakers in room corners ?

[timetohunt]

Lets say all other audio factors are equal. How would you grade the placement of main speakers in a corner (positioned equally from each wall of the corner pointing toward center of room) vs. placement from a straight wall side?

I guess what I am asking is, if given the opportunity, provided the situation allowed for it, is the corner a good spot for mains?

[Hamblis]

I believe that corners are a bad place for main speakers as the sound becomes muddy and congested. I think it was Roy Cardas who published this as a guideline for ideal speaker placement: Height of room in inches X 0.618 = distance from front wall to speaker; width of room in inches X 0.276 = distance from side walls to speakers. In my room, that's extreme (as my wife said...) but it's a good starting point. A second one is the equilateral triangle where your seating position is roughly the same as the distance between the speakers.

Of course, for every "rule" there are exceptions. Audio Note recommend corner positioning their speakers to load the room - you can find a review of this at Stereophile and I think the reviewer was Art Dudley. He loved the speakers and had them as a reference but John Atkinson was unconvinced...

Steve

[PewterTA]

Placing speakers in a corner like that will cause a huge boost in the bass produced by the speaker creating the boominess or muddy. It will also wreak havoc on your imaging when listening to 2 channel music.

I'd say only do it if you have no other choice.

[Karma]

HI,
It depends on the speaker and the room. Generally, full range speakers are voiced for non-corner placement. Usually suitable corners are so far apart that the center image falls apart.

As noted above, corners enhance the bass coupling into the room. This can disturb the careful balance the designer intended between the drivers. But this can be an advantage in certain situations. For example, many horn type systems are designed for corner placement (Klipchorn's) and REL subwoofers are intended for corner placement.

So, the answer is generally no but sometimes yes. Like most things in HI FI definitive answers are rare. In and of itself, corners are good for bass. But it is a special case that most speakers don't like.

Sparky

[gd]

provided the situation allowed for it

Hmmm... I detect a WAF problem.

It is dependent on the room as suggested above, but only by sheer luck and coincidence would cornered speakers sound right.

The two serious considerations of sonic presentation and home decor are always at odds... tough to achieve one without compromising the other.

[twitch54]

Unless the speaker was designed for corner placement (Klipsch Horns, Bose 901's come to mind), it would be a no-no. For those of us utizing Electrostatic di-poles it would be even worse.

[dknightd]

I think it depends on what you consider to be "in" the corner. A couple of feet away can make all the difference in the world. Very few speakers work well actually in the corner - but many work well placed a few feet away. To find out what works best for you, you really need to try both setups - for me I've always had better luck placing the speakers near the short wall - I think this is because then I can listen in a seat that is not crammed up against the "rear" wall (and the speakers do not have to be crammed againts the front wall). Try both setups - choose the one you like - there is not right answer. Speaker and listener position in a room can make a huge difference, don't be afraid to experiment and pick what works best for you.

[frasse74]

Hi

In Sweden we have Carlsson/Sonab speaker and they are made to stand in corners
hp://www.carlssonplanet.com/index.php?lang=en&
and there is a another page here hp://www.larsenhifi.com/larsen4.htm
but it are only in swedish, Audio pro has also a cornerspeaker here
hp://www.audiopro.com/templates/audio_pro_products/?id_products=169

frasse74