windhoek
The Phoolosopher
Having watched a fair amount of YouTube tutorial videos on speaker placement, one of the things that came up in a few of them was the importance and benefits of coupling your speakers together so that they're truly working together as one. Well, I've finally done it. I was experimenting with positioning last week and I totally fluked the magic position of coupling together. I literally pushed each speaker back from where they were by about 5cm, simply aiming for an area to carry on with the experimentation process, and I absolutely got them bang on coupled together. As soon as I played some music I knew straight away I had achieved coupling. It was unmistakable.
All of which is to say correct speaker placement and truly coupling speakers together has got to be one of the most important aspects of setting up a hifi system. Get it wrong and the results can be devastatingly bad. But get it right and you’ll hear a presentation that defies belief. Regardless of whether there are a number of correct positioning options in your room, and regardless of whatever else you do with your system, if your speakers aren’t truly coupled together they’re not truly working together. If you don’t know what I mean then your speakers probably aren’t truly coupled together.
One way to check whether your speakers are coupled together is to sit in the sweet spot (or thereabouts) and move your head to the left and right. If the centre image stays put then your speakers are probably coupled together. But if you move your head to the left and the centre image jumps to the left speaker, or vice versa, then they’re not coupled together. Indeed, in the same way that our brain only sees one image through a pair of eyes, when speakers are truly coupled together, our brain only hears one soundstage through a pair of ears; like a well-focussed pair of binoculars, you only see one image, not two connected images at the same time.
Other signs of coupling include an almost unbelievable fluidity across the soundstage and a sense of realism which, although not necessarily accurate, is thoroughly convincing all the same - even to the extent that studio productions sound as vivid and authentic as a live performance. Also, anything that’s panned from one side to the other will do so seamlessly. Like I say, if you don’t know what I mean then your speakers probably aren’t truly coupled together.
I've always been able to balance speaker positioning to make sure that the centre image is centred and whatnot. But this is the very first time I've achieved coupling. Suffice to say, I ain't touching my speakers ever again in case I accidentally de-couple them. I mean it could take me years if not decades - if at all - to couple them again, such is precision and luck required to get them to couple them together in the first place!
What about your speakers... are they truly coupled together and truly working as one?
All of which is to say correct speaker placement and truly coupling speakers together has got to be one of the most important aspects of setting up a hifi system. Get it wrong and the results can be devastatingly bad. But get it right and you’ll hear a presentation that defies belief. Regardless of whether there are a number of correct positioning options in your room, and regardless of whatever else you do with your system, if your speakers aren’t truly coupled together they’re not truly working together. If you don’t know what I mean then your speakers probably aren’t truly coupled together.
One way to check whether your speakers are coupled together is to sit in the sweet spot (or thereabouts) and move your head to the left and right. If the centre image stays put then your speakers are probably coupled together. But if you move your head to the left and the centre image jumps to the left speaker, or vice versa, then they’re not coupled together. Indeed, in the same way that our brain only sees one image through a pair of eyes, when speakers are truly coupled together, our brain only hears one soundstage through a pair of ears; like a well-focussed pair of binoculars, you only see one image, not two connected images at the same time.
Other signs of coupling include an almost unbelievable fluidity across the soundstage and a sense of realism which, although not necessarily accurate, is thoroughly convincing all the same - even to the extent that studio productions sound as vivid and authentic as a live performance. Also, anything that’s panned from one side to the other will do so seamlessly. Like I say, if you don’t know what I mean then your speakers probably aren’t truly coupled together.
I've always been able to balance speaker positioning to make sure that the centre image is centred and whatnot. But this is the very first time I've achieved coupling. Suffice to say, I ain't touching my speakers ever again in case I accidentally de-couple them. I mean it could take me years if not decades - if at all - to couple them again, such is precision and luck required to get them to couple them together in the first place!
What about your speakers... are they truly coupled together and truly working as one?
