So you’ve decided to add speakers to your space and even feel ready to install them. Where should they go? Well, that depends on your priorities. Do you want the best sound reproduction or do you care more about aesthetics? Lucky for you, we can do both and we’re here to help. You can read all the reviews in the world, but unless you know how to properly place the speakers, you won’t maximise their effectiveness.

We realise that this is a common problem. You want to install a sweet sound system, but you don’t have the space for large speakers. Or maybe you want to install a stylish sound system, but don’t want to sink a lot of money into it. Hidden or slim speakers seem like the perfect solution, but where should you put them? There are a lot of factors to consider when deciding where to place your speakers. It’s not something you can decide without careful consideration and a little trial and error. The good news is that there are a few things you can do to maximise their effectiveness. Let’s walk through our 5 tips for speaker placement so you can get the most out of them.

Noise is the bane of all audiophiles. Fortunately, you can reduce it with some basic acoustic modifications. Noise reduction is essential for a good-sounding system, but it’s often overlooked by interior designers and architects. While the term “acoustics” may conjure up images of concert halls and symphony orchestras, it’s also applicable to your living room, office, and even retail space. In fact, room acoustics can have a profound effect on your listening experience. The next thing to look out for is the noise level in the room. If you’re playing music or other audio in a place that doesn’t have good acoustics, you’ll probably hear a lot of noise from outside venues and from nearby rooms. The more background noise you have, the harder it will be for you, your patrons, or your audience to hear what you’re playing in your space.

Take the time to figure out the source of the surrounding noise and remedy it accordingly before thinking about your speaker placement(s). A highly reflective or absorptive room can drastically affect the quality of the music being played. If you cannot hire a professional to help you, there are easy DIY solutions that you can try to reduce the room acoustics. For example, if you have hardwood floors, consider placing rubber pads under the feet of the speaker stands to deaden their impact. If you have cushioned carpeting, consider covering both floors and walls with sound-absorbing materials, such as curtains, foam tiles or carpet squares. Wall-to-wall carpeting is great for reducing road noise, but it can be expensive and might not effectively deaden sound over an entire room. So, do what you can within your budget and design, but be sure to assess your room acoustic and noise level before deciding on the speakers. Even a cushioned sofa can make a great impact. If your space isn’t well-insulated or has poor acoustic quality, it makes it difficult for sound waves to travel through the space without coming back at you as echoes. If this happens, your speakers won’t sound as full as they could be.

The next thing you need to do is to take detailed measurements of the room where you want to install your speakers. Matching speakers to your room dimensions can maximise bass response and avoid muddy-sounding music or hollow-sounding movies. The size of your room also dictates the number of speakers you will need to install. This is important because not all speakers are created equal – some are designed for larger rooms while some are designed for smaller rooms. The dimensions of your room will determine the placement of your speakers. For example, if you have a large room with high ceilings, you can place speakers at opposite ends for better sound distribution.

Next, lock down the listening area. You need to know exactly where you will sit or standing when you listen to your system, so you can better evaluate the sound quality. Don’t move around too much while evaluating location options, because that can skew your results. Start with a basic position and expand from there. Pay attention to how much space you want to cover and what kinds of sounds need to be reproduced. You may need speakers that can reproduce both high and low frequencies, or just cover one end of the spectrum well.

If you have a small space, you might consider getting at least two smaller speakers instead of one large one so that it fills up the space better. If you have little space available, then it is wise to choose simple stands or wall-mount them so that they don’t take up too much room. It also depends on how heavy your speakers are and how large they are, which will help you decide if you need additional support for them or not. Since your room dimensions will affect the selection of your speaker system, it is important to have a good idea of the size of your listening environment.

When you’re planning for speakers, the third thing to consider is determining what the primary function of the speakers for your space will be. Start by thinking about what you are trying to achieve with your system. Are you looking for something that will fill out the sound in your living room or provide quality audio while chilling with friends? Are you trying to get the best surround sound to improve upon your movie watching experience? For most people, choosing the right speaker system is a matter of figuring out what kind of sound they like, which speakers fit their budget and how they’re going to use the speakers. Nevertheless, good sound quality and good coverage is expected by every listener. Once you have an idea of what kind of setup you are working with, take your time planning the function of your speakers and/or room.

One of the most common questions we get from our clients is: “Where should I place my speakers in my room?” A lot of times, the question is asked in a way that presumes we have a specific placement we want to sell you on. If you ask us, we’ll give you the honest answer — there’s no “right” or “wrong” placement for your speakers. There are, however, better and worse placements for different applications. If you’ve gone through the last 3 steps in your planning stage, you’ve already won half the battle. Just like when you hang a painting on a wall, you want your listeners to focus on the sound, not the source of the sound.

When deciding where to position your speakers, normally the main speakers should be ear-level with the listener’s ears, facing them. If thinking about specific speaker placements got too complicated, just remember that a speaker isn’t considered being ear-level if it’s placed above or below the listener’s height. Will the listeners be standing most of the time? Are there seating areas for the listeners? Remember that the function of the room is just as important. So start by measuring the height of the speaker on the wall when you are in the same position as the listeners. This will help save time when install the speakers in your space.

• If it’s small, you don’t want them too close together, perhaps six feet apart between the speakers and the listening position.
• If it’s large, you can spread them out a little more — maybe eight to 10 feet apart.
• If you have a room with no obstacles and walls that are all equal distances from your listening area; then you can place your speakers 8-feet apart and at ear level.
• If you have an open floor plan, then it would be best to place them 20–24 feet apart and higher than ear level (10–12 feet).

Once you know how much space you have, you can search for speakers that will fit in it. It’s also good to consider if you can get a speaker that can throw a little more distance so it has more space to go around. Which is why we talked about your room dimension at the beginning of this blog post!

As for the subwoofers, a well-placed subwoofer can be the difference between a clean, tight and powerful bass or muddy and weak bass. The key is to maximise its output by positioning it in a location where it can easily “drive” bass frequencies and provides greater depth to the overall sound field.

The art of speaker placement is easy, but it is somewhat subjective. There are different methods for different rooms. The main thing to remember is that the speakers need to be equal distance from the nearest walls. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your speaker placement.

Whatever your design needs are, think of our speakers as part of your design element complementing the overall aesthetic. Size, shape, and colour all important elements to keep in mind when you’re looking for speakers for your space.