I have copied and pasted an article to help you. Soundings demonstrated this in their listening room and it is amazing. After the master set you can sit in any part of your room and not detect left and right front speaker.
This is a very tedious process and it can take hours. Little movements 1/8" movements takes a long time.
I literally took a tape measure and measure the distances to my ears and then set that distance in my ARCAM AVR 550 receiver. I then calibrated my pair REL S2 SHO subwoofers until they were seemless. You will be amazed by the difference in sound staging. This helps to balance the bass so it is not boomy.
The Needed Tools:
The only items needed to perform Master Set
are your ears, a setup recording, a tape .measure, and a small level. Master
Set can be performed by one or two persons.
The Set Up Recording:
Ballad of a Runaway Horse by Jennifer Warnes:
You can find this song on Jennifer Warnes –
Famous Blue Raincoat, 20th Anniversary Edition, or Rob Wasserman – Duets, or
Trios
This song works because of its simplicity and
the steadiness of the voice line and the bass line, especially the bass line.
Other recordings could be used provided that
they have a simple steady bass line that is easy to hear. I’ve found the above
song to work best.
Initial Set Up
Remove any bass traps and other room
treatments that you may have in the room and turn off the subwoofer, if you
have one.
Set the speakers against the rear wall, and
perpendicular to it. Speakers should be as far apart as reasonable. Important
considerations are to keep speakers 2 to 3 feet away from side walls, and for
the listener to be at the point of an equilateral triangle with the speakers.
You can measure the dimensions with a tape measure or just make them
approximate.
NOTE: Master Set works best if done along the
long wall of the listening room, as that best mitigates room reflections,
however it can be done along the short wall if necessary. For the first DIY
attempt, try and use the long wall.
Because the speakers will be physically moved,
it is best to remove any speaker spikes at this time so as to facilitate moving
the speaker or stand.
I have found it helpful to use a tape measure
laid out perpendicular from the wall when making the speaker movements. The
movements need to be kept small and the best way to do this is with the tape
measure as a reference otherwise the movements tend to be too large.
Be Patient. Master Set will likely take you
from 1 to 3 hours. The movements are small, and at first go it may be a bit
hard to hear the differences that I have described. But just keep at it. You
can email me if you have questions or difficulty in the procedures.
Step 1: Setting the “anchor” speaker
This step sets one of the speakers as an
“anchor” in the room. Either speaker will do. This step also has the goal of
finding the smoothest bass response in the room.
First, just listen to the song, and notice the
strong steady bass line in the first 2 verses. There are 19 notes in each
verse, though the 2nd verse does have some extra 8th notes added. Listen
carefully and notice that some of the bass notes have a “plonky” and/or
exaggerated sound character. In this step you will be searching for the spot
that will smooth out this “plonky” character of the note as it resonates in the
room.
With both speakers playing, move the speaker
out from wall about 6 inches and toe in the speaker directly to the listening
position. Notice as the sound moves from being centered to this side. Continue
to move the speaker out in small increments, ½” or so, until the sound is
totally from this one speaker. Mark, or make note, of this spot.
Now, continue to move this speaker out from
the wall in very small increments, 1/8th” or 2-3mm., and listen to the first 2
verses of the song. You are listening for any difference in the bass response
of the 19 notes. Continue these small movements until you find a slight
lessening in the bass resonance character. There may be more than one spot
where this can occur. However, for keeping this simple, just find the first
spot that smoothes out the bass. You may wish to make another very very small
movement or two from this spot to find the very best spot.
Note: if you are having trouble discerning any
difference in the bass with both speakers playing, you may wish to disconnect
the speaker set against the wall temporarily, in order to better hear any bass
differences. However it’s best to keep both speakers playing.
If you move the one speaker out too far into
the room the sound will reconnect with the speaker against the wall, and move
back to the center. You do not want this to occur.
It is important to find the best bass in the
zone where all sound comes from just the one speaker. That will keep this
setting independent from the other speaker when you move the other speaker out
into the matching position!
Once the smoothest bass response has been
found you can set this speaker into a “final” position and level it. This
speaker is now “anchored”, and will not be moved again during the procedure.
Step 2: Setting the other speaker.
This step will move the other speaker into
place and be adjusted to match the sound pressure of the “anchor” speaker. Move
the speaker out from the wall about 6 inches, toeing the speaker directly in to
the listening position. Now begin moving the speaker out at very small
increments, no more than 1/8th in. or 2-3 mm. at a time, and only listen to the
bass line. Continue to move the speaker out at these small increments until you
hear a lessening of the bass resonances. Once you find a lessening in the bass
make a small movement or two of 1/16th in, or 1-2 mm. and listen for the best response.
You will also tend to notice that all of the music tends to smooth out and
become much more clean and clear sounding as the two speakers equalize.
NOTE: You may be able to feel the bass
resonance in your feet. This makes finding the best bass spot quite easy as the
resonance will disappear in your feet.
You have now found the placement spot where
the speakers are equally pressurizing the room. This is what you are looking
for, and essentially you are done with Master Set.
Step 3: You can tweak the midrange setting at
this point by varying the toe in of the speaker by toeing out in 1/16th
increments. My own experience is that I have never found any real difference in
midrange sound from this procedure.
Also, you can raise the front of the speaker a
couple of degrees. This is known as adjusting the rake angle, and I have found
this to be a good effect. Set the speaker permanently and level it.
Finalizing:
Now, move to several positions in the room and
listen. Notice if the sound stays the same in any location. If there is some
movement of the sound as you move around the room, you will have to reposition
the second speaker slightly.
If you’ve done Master Set correctly, the sound
will be the same from any listening position in the room as long as you are out
a couple feet from a wall. The music will only change in perspective, such as
if you move around in a concert venue.
In my current listening room my favored seat
is on a perpendicular axis with the right speaker, yet the music is perfectly
centered between the two speakers.
Final Comments
The sound you obtain with Master Set should
have a perfect left-right stereo image with very clean clear instrumental and
vocal sounds.
Listen first to your most favorite songs and
recordings and notice how they now sound.
If you have any room treatments or bass traps,
you may return them to the room at this time, and note any if there is any
change.
Turn the subwoofer back on. You may have to
turn it down slightly or reposition it as you will likely hear some bass resonance
from the sub. I just turned mine down a bit.
If you are pleased with the sound, then you
have found something new.
If not, you can always return to your previous
setup, having only spent some time and nothing else.