Setting Up Your Listening Space

A good listening space is not a second mortgage. It is five specific decisions about where you place gear, how you arrange speakers, and how you treat the worst acoustic problems in any normal room. A $600 system in a well set up room sounds better than a $6,000 system in a bad room. Episode 9 covers how to set up a listening space in a normal apartment or house without spending on room treatment you do not need.

This follows Episode 8 on vinyl vs streaming. Episode 10 closes the series on Thursday May 21 with storage and warp prevention.

Speaker Placement

The single highest impact decision in any listening space is where the speakers sit. Simple rules:

• Form an equilateral triangle with the listening position. Distance from speaker to speaker equals distance from each speaker to the listener. 6 feet on each side is a reasonable starting point.
• Get speakers away from walls. Minimum 18 inches from the rear wall, 24 inches is better. Corner placement boosts bass but muddies the imaging.
• Speakers at ear height when seated. Tweeters should fire at your ear level, not above or below.
• Toe in the speakers slightly toward the listening position. The angle depends on the speaker, but usually 15 to 30 degrees inward from straight forward gives sharper central imaging.
• Symmetry matters. Each speaker's position relative to its side wall should mirror the other. If one speaker is 3 feet from a side wall, the other should be too.

Turntable Placement

Turntables are sensitive to vibration. Speakers produce vibration. Speakers and turntables should not share a surface.

• Never place the turntable on top of a speaker. The speaker vibrates the stylus, which creates feedback and muddled sound. This is the single most common beginner mistake.
• Never place the turntable on the same shelf as a powered speaker. Same problem, slightly less severe.
• Place the turntable on a rigid, level surface well isolated from the speaker's vibration. A sturdy wall mount (Pro-Ject Wallmount, IsoAcoustics wall bracket) is the best option in small rooms.
• Level the turntable precisely. Use a spirit level on the platter. Even a slight tilt affects tracking.

The Three Room Problems

Most rooms have three acoustic problems. Fix them in this order.

Problem 1: First reflection points

Sound from your speakers bounces off the side walls, floor, and ceiling before reaching your ears. Those reflections smear the sound. Fix:

• Absorb the side wall reflection points. Sit in the listening spot, have someone slide a mirror along the side wall. The spot where you can see the speaker in the mirror is the first reflection point. Treat those points with absorption panels. GIK Acoustics, Acoustimac, and Vicoustic all make affordable panels.
• Area rug on the floor between speakers and listener. Absorbs floor reflections. Works fine.
• Ceiling cloud is ideal but rarely practical. Not essential.

Problem 2: Bass buildup in corners

Bass frequencies accumulate in room corners. You hear this as muddy, boomy bass that lacks definition. Fix:

• Corner bass traps in at least two corners. GIK Tri-Traps or Soffit Bass Traps work. Budget $200 to $400 per trap.
• Move speakers away from corners as discussed above.

Problem 3: Back wall slap echo

Sound from your speakers bounces off the wall behind you back toward the speakers. Creates echo and smearing. Fix:

• Diffusion behind the listening position. Bookshelves full of books act as excellent free diffusion. Dedicated diffusion panels (RPG Skyline, GIK Gridfuser) work too.
• Furniture in the room also helps. An empty room sounds worse than a furnished room.

Small Apartment Setups

You do not need a dedicated listening room. Five rules that make a normal apartment sound good:

1. Pull the speakers off the wall even if just 18 inches. Makes a bigger difference than any other single change.
2. Area rug on the floor in front of speakers.
3. Bookshelves against the back wall behind the listening position. Books diffuse sound naturally.
4. Move the turntable off the speaker shelf. Wall mount or dedicated rack elsewhere in the room.
5. Corner bass trap in the corner behind your listening position if the room is boomy.

Total cost for these five fixes if you need to buy everything: around $400 to $800. The sound improvement over an untreated room is larger than the improvement from a $1,500 amplifier upgrade.

When Headphones Beat Speakers

In small apartments, at night, or in rooms with bad acoustics, headphones often beat speakers for detailed listening. A $300 to $500 pair of headphones (Sennheiser HD 660S, Beyerdynamic DT1770 Pro) paired with a decent headphone amp ($200 to $500, Schiit Valhalla 2, iFi Zen Can) produces detail and imaging that compete with $5,000 speaker systems.

The ritual of vinyl is different with headphones (no shared listening), but the sound can be outstanding. A headphone system is a legitimate alternative to a speaker system for apartments and shared living situations.

Where to Buy Gear

When you are ready to buy, these indie retailers specialize in turntable setups and ship with care:

• Turntable Lab. Curated turntable bundles, speakers, and accessories. Their starter bundles pair compatible components.
• Acoustic Sounds. The audiophile source for phono preamps, cartridges, and high-end turntables.
• Sleeve City. Inner sleeves, outer sleeves, cleaning supplies, turntable mats, and accessories.
• Schiit Audio. Direct from the manufacturer for phono preamps and headphone amps. No middleman markup.

A great room with modest gear beats a bad room with great gear. Every time.