From left to right: Late Afternoon Near Lower Cathedral Lake and Lopsided Oak, Ohlone Wilderness. © 1995 and 1993 Ben Hubbell.
In order to enjoy the highest quality sound from your stereo you must position your speakers with great care. Even if your stereo equipment is inexpensive, correct positioning of your speakers can provide you with a satisfying listening experience.
One of the most important rules of speaker positioning is that the front speakers and subwoofers should be placed about three feet away from the nearest walls. If you have a two channel system the left and right speakers should still be about three feet away from the nearest walls. If you have surround sound, you have more latitude with how you position your surround speakers than you do with how you position your front speakers.
The bass will be louder, but less clear, if the speakers are near walls because of radiation impedance. Radiation impedance means that if the speakers are near a wall they radiate into a hemisphere and if placed far away from walls, floor, and ceiling they radiate into a sphere. If the speakers radiate into a hemisphere, they draw more power from the amplifier at any given volume setting than they would draw if radiating into a sphere.
You should make sure the distance between the subwoofer and your listening position is the same as the distance between the front channels and your listening position, so the sounds these different speakers share arrive at your ears at the same time. The center channel should be carefully positioned so that it is the same distance from your listening position as the left and right channels. I have found that moving a single speaker a mere two millimeters can make a noticeable difference in sound quality.
Let’s assume your listening position is directly in front of the center channel and your distance from the center channel is the same as the distance between left and right speakers. This would mean that the angle between your listening position and the left and right channels is a little more than 30 degrees, while the angle of the center channel is 0 degrees. This means that in order for the center channel to be the same distance from your listening position as the left and right channels it must placed a little further back than the left and right channels.
The French and German broadcasting industries have standards for how many centimeters apart a stereo pair of microphones should be placed. The French standard is called ORTF stereo, and the German standard is called DIN stereo. Just as stereo microphone positions can be standardized, so can stereo speaker positions. When I mix my music, the front left and right speakers are four feet apart center to center.
Attention to these details will improve your sound quality more than you are likely to expect. If you try these procedures you are sure to feel rewarded by the results.