Harman Kardon AVP-1A Owners Manual - Page 15

• Try to avoid placing the L / R front speakers too close to side walls or room corners, They should usually be place no closer than 18" to 24" from corners and side walls. Conventional speakers should be-toed in slightly towards the seating areas. THX certified speakers will usually require no toe in, however some toe-in will assure even lateral coverage of the seating area and reduced sidewall reflections. SPEAKER PLACEMENT: Front Speaker* r SCREEN Lass than 2 foot • THX LCR speakers are designed to be used vertically only. If they must be either above or below the screen they must be properly aimed towards the listener. Proper aiming is critical because THX speakers are intentionally quite directional in the vertical plane to focus sound energy. • The Center speaker should be directly above or below the screen. When possible, try to keep the center speaker tweeters as close to the level of the tweeters in the L/R speakers, (no more than a two foot difference) so that lateral audio pans do not create noticeable changes in vertical localization. • Placing the LCR speakers below the screen is preferable since aiming them upward maximizes the useable listening area. Placing the Center speaker directly in front of a television is fine as long as it does not obscure any portion of the screen, provided it is magnetically shielded. All THX LCR speakers are magnetically shielded. SUBWOOFER PLACEMENT • Subwoofers do not have to be placed extremely close to the front channel speakers but placement will affect the low bass. • Leave yourself some leeway during final installation for minor movements to minimize room modes. Corner placement will yield the most deep bass, but this excites the maximum number of standing waves resulting in uneven frequency response. Use of multiple subwoofers will increase bass output and allows one subwoofer to smooth irregularities created by room modes. Placement near a video projector is acceptable since all THX subwoofers are magnetically shielded. SURROUND SPEAKER PLACEMENT • THX - certified surround speakers should be located to the sides of the listeners instead of behind them. If the viewing area is more than one row deep, place the surround halfway back within the area. If architectural constraints prevent ideal placement of the surrounds it is generally best to err on the side of being further to the rear of the room. • The surround speakers should be located at least two feet above the listener for the best results. And they should be located at equal heights for uniform frequency response. Placement close to the ceiling will result in slightly more mid-bass performance. Try to place them so the null is aimed towards the seating area. • THX dipolar surround speakers should be placed so the positive polarity side of the speaker faces towards the front of the room. • Conventional surround speakers should be placed behind the listening area and should also be placed mid wall level or higher. A more focused surround sound effect will result by aiming the speakers towards your listening area. If you prefer a more diffuse surround sound effect, then aim the speakers across the back of the listening area. The THX de-correlation circuitry within the AVP1A will help to create the proper effect for motion picture listening but will be automatically defeated in other surround modes designed for listening to non-encoded music sources. 12