
6. LOUDSPEAKER PLACEMENT AND SET-UP
Listening Room Layout
The following points will help you optimise your listening room layout.
1. The left and right sides of the room should be symmetrical. If the room is asymmetrical, this will
degrade the quality of the stereo image. This is because most of the sound energy that you hear is
reflected before it reaches your ears.
2. Place the loudspeakers symmetrically in the room, i.e. the same distance from the centre line of the
room and the same distance from the front wall.
3. Avoid placing the loudspeakers similar distances from the side and front walls, as this may lead to an
uneven bass response
4. Avoid having any hard surfaces between your listening position and the loudspeakers. This will
generate additional reflections that may degrade the stereo image. For this reason, wherever possible
the electronics should be located at the side of the room. If you have a hard floor (tile or wood), it may
be advantageous to place a carpet on the floor covering the area between the loudspeakers and the
listening position, as this will reduce unwanted early reflections.
5. Avoid having the listening position closer than 1.2m from the rear wall, as early reflections from this
wall will degrade the stereo image. If you must have the listening position close to the rear wall, it may
be helpful to have some sound absorption on the wall behind the seat to reduce reflections.
6. If your has room acoustic treatments installed, we suggest that this be removed for the time being.
Room treatment arrangements that work well with a conventional loudspeaker can be excessive with an
omnidirectional design, as this type of loudspeaker relies on reflections to generate its stereo image.
Once the optimum position in the room has been established, the treatments can be re-introduced piece
by piece, to see what arrangement produces the best result.
Loudspeaker Placement
Figure 7 gives a general guide to loudspeaker positioning and the location of the listening position. Note
how the recommended listening position varies with the separation between the loudspeakers. Because
the HRS-130 is an omnidirectional design, there is no need to adjust the toe-in angle. They should
always be set with the German Physiks logo on top of the loudspeaker facing forward.
In most cases the initial position will produce a good sound to start with. Experimenting with the distances
between the loudspeakers and the side and front walls should provide improvements. If the
loudspeakers are new and have not been run very much, we recommend that they be run for at least 24
hours to loosen up the bass units before you attempt to do any serious position adjustment. See section
7 for more information on the break in process.
Omnidirectional loudspeakers interact with the room very differently to conventional loudspeakers, so be
prepared to try them closer together than you would with a conventional design. Let your ears be your
guide and don’t be afraid to try out what, based on your experience with conventional loudspeakers, you
may think are unusual positions.
Distance from the Front Wall
We recommend that you start with the loudspeakers positioned 1.5m from the front wall. As you move
the loudspeakers closer to the wall, the level of the bass response will be increased. The converse will
be true as you move the loudspeakers away from the front wall. In most cases, the HRS-130 should not
be placed closer than 1m from the front wall. If the loudspeakers are too close to the front wall, not only
will the bass response be excessive, but the stereo image will be degraded due to an increase