Placement Suggestions for Cube Speakers

[Audioholics]

<A href="http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/cubedspeakersplacement.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 107px; HEIGHT: 100px" alt=[cubespeakers] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/cubespeakers_th.gif" align=left border=0></A>Since consumers continue to desire cube speakers, because of their "amazing sound" and "small footprint",&nbsp;Audioholics has&nbsp;devised an optimal placement scheme to help maximize performance and minimize space consumption. An oldie, but goodie, this article gives Audioholics' take on just what to do with those small, cube speakers in your home theater. Placement is key, lest you waste all of the opportunities for ergonomic optimization and maximizing the characteristics of these supposed full range micro-drivers. Read on...

[Read the Article]

 

[sdy284]

excellent article
I wish i could show this to every Best Buy/Circuit City employee that "cube" setups....are f'ing horrible

 

[patnshan]

This is hillarious!!!!!! The people in the office are wondering why I am laughing so loud!

They probably have bose speakers at home

Thanks,

Pat

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

OK, I understand the article was tongue-in-cheek, but the quote "limited imaging and stereo separation" of the small cubes being the reason why they are all placed close together doesn't wash. Or maybe I just don't understand what people mean by those things.

I've heard those little cubes at the Bose store and I could hear the seperation. I was listening to Shrek 2 and it was the scene where they are in the Potion Shop trying to escape and I distinctly heard the siren's wail coming from the right rear speaker.

If, as you suggest, these little speakers aren't capable of this sort of imaging and separation, was this some sort of clever marketing ploy to make me THINK they were providing this quality?

 

[tbewick]

People buy cube speakers because they are convenient. As for bashing the Bose name, I don't see what they do wrong. If someone likes the sound from their Bose system, as I'm sure many people do, then what's the problem? Most ordinary people aren't interested in flat frequency responses or in playing their music and DVD's very loud.

You could highlight any number of hi-fi manufacturers for having silly adverts. The truth is hi-fi is rather dull - you really can't get excited by an ugly black box that is an amplifier, or an obtrusive of pair loudspeakers. The only thing you can get truly excited about is the sound, though you need people to come into the shop to have a listen in the first place. That's why the amplifiers have all those shiny dials and lights and why speakers are constantly being redesigned. Sure, some of this is because of better design, but a lot of it is to do with making the product look nicer.

I think my only criticism of Bose is that they are overpriced. Again though, you could point the finger at any number of hi-fi products for offering poor value for money. Indeed, is a Bose system any worse value for money than some of the reviewed speaker wire on this website?

 

[RJB]

Ah..em...I'm somewhat disappointed...the title suggested an article with a REAL placement suggestion ...all I see is something polite to laugh about...

Now back to the Yellow Pages....hmmm...how do you spell that again..P..R..O..C..T....

 

[Audioholics]

I've heard those little cubes at the Bose store and I could hear the seperation. I was listening to Shrek 2 and it was the scene where they are in the Potion Shop trying to escape and I distinctly heard the siren's wail coming from the right rear speaker.

Well, imaging is actually the ability to place the size and location of instruments/objects at specific points between the speakers. It's easy to say that a speaker can produce pinpoint sound - any $0.50 driver can do that provided it's 'on'. But take two drivers and see if you can specifically place (and describe the size and characteristics of) items in the space between and then you'll see if a system has good imaging.

 

[Sheep]

That was great, needed a good laugh. Those recoil springs are a great idea, you can even use the tv as a car now!


The problem with bose and their speakers, is unless you are directly comparing them, its hard (unless trained) to hear the difference. I was once fooled, but then I turned on some RTi's and never looked back.



The Sheep

 

[outsider]

The truth is hi-fi is rather dull - you really can't get excited by an ugly black box that is an amplifier, or an obtrusive of pair loudspeakers.

I think whether or not something is dull depends on the person. Some people think golf is dull while others enjoy it. Some people enjoy driving through mud in their jacked-up 4x4. Some people like sad movies.

Ugly black box? That depends on what you think looks nice. Personally, I have seen a few amplifiers that I would consider beautiful. Such as the amps offered by Krell or Parasound.

Obtrusive speakers? Is there really such thing? The only obtrusive speakers I have found are ones that have horrible sound quality--those silly little cube speakers come to mind.

 

[mulester7]

Well, imaging is actually the ability to place the size and location of instruments/objects at specific points between the speakers. It's easy to say that a speaker can produce pinpoint sound - any $0.50 driver can do that provided it's 'on'. But take two drivers and see if you can specifically place (and describe the size and characteristics of) items in the space between and then you'll see if a system has good imaging.

.....for twice reading.....

 

[mulester7]

.....another angle.....

Imaging

Term used to describe the quality of a sound field put out by an audio system giving a subjective measure as to how well a system can recreate depth, width and height from the recording. A system with good imaging is able to recreate the acoustic feel of a space, its ambience, with a high degree of clarity. A poorly imaging system, by contrast, does a poor job of recreating the sonic environment where the original event was recorded.

Imaging is dependent on all aspects of an audio system from the speakers (the most important part with the greatest over all impact) to the source device. Proper imaging can bring the listener into the environment and make him feel like he is there. Excellent imaging accurately places sounds in a three-dimensional sound field allowing listeners to pick out individual instruments, voices, etc. and their location in the space through sound only.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Well, imaging is actually the ability to place the size and location of instruments/objects at specific points between the speakers. It's easy to say that a speaker can produce pinpoint sound - any $0.50 driver can do that provided it's 'on'. But take two drivers and see if you can specifically place (and describe the size and characteristics of) items in the space between and then you'll see if a system has good imaging.

Ok, don't mean to drag this off-topic, but that's something I have trouble grasping. When you say that are you saying that I should be able to "generalize" where an instrument is? Such as, the guitarist seems to be from my right. The keyboardist seems to be from the left. The drummer and lead singer are more centered.

OR...

am I supposed to actually be able to say, "OK, the lead violinist is sitting at about the 2-o'clock position, 10 feet in front of me, the pianist is at a 1-o'clock position about 12 feet in front of me. Behind the piano is the percussionist and his kettledrums are to his right while his timpani is to his left." and so on?

Because I have heard the former on nearly any kind of speaker, I've never been able to hear the latter. So when people talk about "imaging" I just look at them and nod as I would when someone describes how they were abducted by aliens.

 

[Audioholics]

am I supposed to actually be able to say, "OK, the lead violinist is sitting at about the 2-o'clock position, 10 feet in front of me, the pianist is at a 1-o'clock position about 12 feet in front of me. Behind the piano is the percussionist and his kettledrums are to his right while his timpani is to his left." and so on?

Bingo. Insofar as that is practical (i.e. you can't pick out the third chair in an orchestra because it isn't miked that way and the room acoustics make it impossible (on purpose)). When I speak of imaging I am usually picturing a band or smaller group of instruments, rather than a full orchestra.

When you hear a system that images well a bright light goes on and you slap your forehead.

Contrast that with most people who are simply dazzled by having sound come out from a speaker that is behind them (nothing wrong with that - just not hard to accomplish with any HTiB system.)

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Really? I either don't have the ears or training to do that or I've not had the good fortune to run across a set of speakers that is that "detailed" or I'm simply not paying attention.

 

[Audioholics]

Could be the room, the gear, or training. I have a lot of studio time so who knows how much I take for granted...

 

[jman103099]

excellent article
I wish i could show this to every Best Buy/Circuit City employee that "cube" setups....are f'ing horrible

HAHAHA - as a best buy employee I would have to agree!

 

[Seth=L]

Ha ha, bringing back the dead thread I had never read.

Good funny read.

 

[3db]

I have to disgree with your placement strategy..

<A href="http://www.audioholics.com/techtips/setup/loudspeakers/cubedspeakersplacement.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 107px; HEIGHT: 100px" alt=[cubespeakers] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/cubespeakers_th.gif" align=left border=0></A>Since consumers continue to desire cube speakers, because of their "amazing sound" and "small footprint",&nbsp;Audioholics has&nbsp;devised an optimal placement scheme to help maximize performance and minimize space consumption. An oldie, but goodie, this article gives Audioholics' take on just what to do with those small, cube speakers in your home theater. Placement is key, lest you waste all of the opportunities for ergonomic optimization and maximizing the characteristics of these supposed full range micro-drivers. Read on...

[Read the Article]

Not only are they annoyingly visible in your suggested layout but they are even worse, sonically impossible to withstand. All that energy both visually and acoutically coming straight at me *shudders*

Now what has worked for me is having them all attached to an 18 guage strand of acoustically decoupled wire , 20 gauge works better..uses less copper and therefore lowers the inductance. I carefully laying them down in a circle such that each speaker is at an optimum angle of ummmm 360/5 umm you do the math. I then place a steal lid over them and wait for the deep bass rumble that they are so capable of producing once a week. I let them breakin this way for the entire day. Once I get home, I take off the steel lid and they have miracoulsy disappeared into thin air. Thats when I've acheived nirvanna with my cube speakers.

 

[jimfitz]

I love my Bose speakers. I am running an Acoustimass 7 and two Acoustimass 5's with a Klipsch sub-woofer. This is in a family room where my wife would never stand for the large, ugly speakers that most of you seem to like.

 

[3db]

I may be off with my assumption

I love my Bose speakers. I am running an Acoustimass 7 and two Acoustimass 5's with a Klipsch sub-woofer. This is in a family room where my wife would never stand for the large, ugly speakers that most of you seem to like.

but I think the reason why Bose is so hated on this forum is for the money that it costs you to buy them, you can pick up a much better set of speakers that will sound much better. I think too that the perception of Bose is that there marketing budget is much bigger than their research department. If they were 50% cheaper, then they wouldn't get the bashing that comes up around here.