How to Get the Best Sound From Your Stereo

There has a lot of discussion on stereo quality infor your room. Your sub woofer will work best in a
relation to the different aspects of your equipment.corner, believe it or not. But you can experiment with
Starting out with a good quality stereo sound is thethe location of your speakers in relation to the position
first element in the quest for the best listening result.you will be listening from to get the best result.
But the listening environment is the next issue toThe next two things to look at are the floor and wall
consider and can defeat even the best equipment.coverings (including drapes and windows). If the room
Most experts agree on three distinct factors on theis carpeted and you have large windows with floor to
impact of the achieving high quality stereo results. Theceiling drapes of some kind, this by itself will create a
size of the room, type of materials in the room, andnon bouncing or dead scenario. If you have a drop
the placement of the speakers have the greatestceiling with typical ceiling material it will dampen the
impact. Hard surfaces with mass will bounce the soundsounds further. Add in a sofa and easy chair, a few
waves, soft irregular materials like curtains andpillows strewn about and you will stop the sound dead.
carpeting absorb the sound and stop it from bouncing.If your room has a hard surface flooring like wood or
The trick is matching or at least finding that magicaltile, no windows with drapes, and few wall coverings
mix that allows the best reproduction of the sound orthe room will bounce that sound everywhere (if you
music.here any echo is a good example of live). The sounds
So many people describe these two factors as deadwill bounce multiple times creating quite a mix and
and live, dead being when the sound doesn't bounceecho. This is most likely too much of a bounce
and live being when the sound bounces all around.environment even for appropriate music.
Some different types of music or sound work betterThere are easy ways to change up each type of
with live or dead listening environments. Rock and roll,room that leans too far to one extreme or the other. In
Hip Hop, Country Western reproduce will in live roomthe first example you can open the drapes, add some
due to the nature of the music and instruments. Jazz,mirrors or hard surface wall hangings, or add furniture
Classical, and Blues seem to sound a little better inor decorative items with hard surfaces. In the second
dead rooms. Of course this is very general and anyexample you could add a room carpet, put up some
individual music can be an exception.softer wall coverings, and add some furniture to
Unless you have an unlimited budget and lots of timeabsorb some of the sound.
to experiment, the ideal situation would be to find theHow far you go is up to you but small changes can
best midpoint that allows a good blend of both factors.have a measurable impact. You can experiment with
The average living room or recreational room wheredifferent items and arrangements. Even changing the
many people listen to music is around 10 ft by 15 ft. Asposition you listen from and the location of your
long as you get good separation on your stereospeakers. If you listen to very specific music, you can
speakers (placing them at least 5-6 ft apart) and withalmost tune in your room to match the sound you like
in 10 feet of the listener, you have a good starting pointwith a little effort.