How to set up your speakers

We've already covered speaker research and now we're on the home stretch. It's time to talk set-up.

So here you are, home again, in the doghouse for spending twice your original budget and facing six months of beans on toast in order to be able to pay for it – but with an exquisite new pair of speakers you already feel more strongly about than you do most of your extended family.

Unfortunately, just like your extended family, they aren’t going to do anything for you unless you do something for them first.

Let your speakers run in

We mentioned earlier how important it is for speakers to be run in, so don’t judge them as soon as you’ve lifted them from their box and linked them up to the rest of your system.

Some speakers can take almost 100 hours to come on song, though for most around 24 hours should suffice.

All this really means is you leave them playing, allowing the components to warm up, stretch out and get into their stride.

It’s unlikely you’d want to do this at any extreme volume anyway, but be careful not to push them too hard straight away. Let them walk before you ask them to run.

Get the positioning right

If we accept that you’re not really doing anything but plugging them in and waiting during task one, the most time you’ll spend getting your system to sound right will be with positioning.

Really do take your time here, as small differences in position can make big differences to the sonic balance.

Placing your speakers closer to the back wall will give you more bass, while further away will decrease the low end you hear but should offer more convincing stereo imaging.

This should be a balance, rather than a compromise, though rear-ported speakers – that is to say those that have a reflex port firing backwards – tend to be more sensitive to proximity to a rear wall.

Do try and avoid placing your speakers in a corner. Despite how convenient it may be spatially, you’ll get fat, lumpy bass that’ll skew the whole balance.

Imaging is also largely affected by the angle of the speakers. Most speakers sound best toed in towards your most regular listening position, which ought also be equidistant to each speaker for peak sound dispersion, though some manufacturers (such as DALI) design their products to fire straight ahead.

Check the manual to see what’s suggested for your speakers, including how far apart to space them and the recommended distance from each surrounding wall. Ultimately it’s up to you to adjust and tweak to get the best out of your room. 

Invest in stands, spikes and speaker cable

Now, are you sitting comfortably? Well your speakers would like to as well.

You might have bought something advertised as ‘bookshelf’ but, as with their surrounding environment, the support upon which your speakers sit is of vital importance.

Buy some quality stands. The performance of a standmount speaker depends hugely on the quality of their supports, so this is another area where you shouldn’t compromise.

Likewise, if you’ve opted for floorstanding speakers, make sure you fit the spikes; if you have wooden floors you’ll likely have been supplied with coin-shaped pieces to avoid scratching the boards, but, if not, use actual coins. Probably pennies now you’ve spent all your money.

Perhaps an obvious point, but it’s as important that your speakers are level and don’t rock – a sturdy speaker is a happy speaker.

Even if that seems painfully apparent to you, there’s a chance you’ve not considered speaker cables.

Some people ignore the significance of good quality wiring altogether, or try to skimp on the last few quid. Trust us when we say a good speaker cable can be the best value way to upgrade your audio experience.

Sit back and relax

Lastly, and most importantly, enjoy your new speakers. That was the point of all this effort after all.

Treat them with a little respect, and in turn they will look after you for a long, long time.

As for what music to play, well, that really is up to you