How to Get Better Speaker Sound

No matter how much money you pour into your stereo or home-entertainment center, it's never going to sound any better than the speakers you have connected to it. If your speakers don't sound great, it doesn't necessarily mean you need more expensive ones. You may be able to coax better sound just by moving them around.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Decide where in the room you will do most of your listening. For a home-entertainment center, this would probably be your favorite recliner. This position should be about halfway between the speakers and the back wall.

2. If you have only two speakers or a pair of tweeters (the smaller, high-frequency speakers), position each one at ear level and as close to the same distance from your main listening position as possible. Aim them at the recliner.

3. Position the speakers so that the distance between them isn't any greater than the distance between the speakers and your main listening position. Also, place them symmetrically so that they each have the same relationship to surrounding walls.

4. Place your subwoofer (usually a big heavy box) on the floor in a spot where it won't be the same distance from different walls. Because walls tend to emphasize certain bass frequencies, you want to avoid having multiple walls emphasizing the same frequency. Because we can't determine from which direction low-frequency sounds come, it is not necessary to center the subwoofer to the main listening position.

5. Use your ears, the most sophisticated audio-evaluation equipment available, to make your final judgment. Select a piece of music that you're familiar with to evaluate the effectiveness of your speakers' positioning. A recording of solo piano music works well simply because most people have heard what a real piano sounds like.

6. While listening to your test music, experiment with slight changes in speaker positioning until you're satisfied that you're hearing the most natural sound.

7. Don't forget your speaker wires. Although you don't necessarily have to buy audiophile cables for your speakers, a heavier-gauge wire is a good investment because it has less resistance and thus a purer signal. And if the ends of your speaker wire are oxidized (corroded), trim them off and strip them to expose enough fresh wire to reconnect them at least once a year.

Tips & Warnings

• You can buy various kits to improve speaker sound, but make sure you don't do anything to your speakers that you can't undo if you find no improvement--or if the kit makes things worse.