Hi-Fi Corner Home Loudspeaker FAQ

The questions below are often asked in Hifi Corner's stores.

Hi-Fi Corner are the oldest established audio specialist in Scotland, with stores in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Falkirk.

FAQ'S on loudspeakers. All Hifi Corner FAQ's are non technical and represent questions often asked by our customers. There are more technical sites elsewhere which cater for those requiring in-depth knowledge.

Should I have a bookshelf or floorstanding speaker?

You should buy what suits you sound wise, is always the correct answer when talking about loudspeakers. Technically larger units can give a deeper bass due to the cabinet dimensions, but size isn't everything. It is better to have a good small speaker than a big bad one! Whilst you may get more bass from a larger speaker, if its not well designed, the larger cabinet can cause colourations (unwanted colouring of the sound).

Why should I have my speaker off the floor?

Most speakers are designed to have their working parts (the drive units) at a certain height. Normally in bookshelf speakers the height of the tweeter (High Frequency or HF unit) should be at head height. Having small speakers on the floor means the height is therefore wrong. The floor also introduces colourations and the bass (low frequency) notes will resonate with it giving a poor diffused boomy sound. Ask a friend to lift one speaker off the floor whilst you listen to it and hear the difference.

Vibrations through the floor also feedback into your hifi equipment, be it a turntable, cd or even amplifier. These vibrations interfere with the music.

The ideal solution is a purpose made speaker stand at the correct height for your speaker. Hifi Corner stores can advise in this matter.

What advice have you regarding speaker stands?

A loudspeaker stand is designed to get your speakers at the correct height. In many speakers (although there are exceptions) this is head height when sitting. The stand should be of stable construction. Its purpose is also to isolate the speaker from its surrounding.

Spikes are generally used on the base of the stand to minimise the vibrations going through the floor. There is a train of thought that the stand itself should be solidly mounted to the spaeker, whilst some people prefer another set of spikes between the speaker stand and the speaker itself for further isolation. Try blu-tack between the speaker and the stand and then the spikes and see which sounds better to you.

If stand can be filled with sand or lead shot, or a mixture, this will give extra density. It is demonstrably better to have filled stands.

Hifi Corner stock and recommend specialised equipment and speaker stands from Atacama, Stands Unique and Soundstyle. The Atacama Nexus stand offering fabulous sound and value for money at present.

How should I position my speakers?

In an ideal world once the carpet is down in your room you should position your speakers, then the rest of the furniture around your hifi.

For a variety of reasons (or people) this isn't practical. You may have no choice in the matter but ideally try and position the speakers in a triangle. Preferable an equilateral triangle (helps if you did geometry) where you are at the apex of this triangle. If the speakers are too far apart you will get a left and right sound with no centre stage. If you are too far away you will also not have a wide sound. The distance apart depends on the dispersion characteristics of the speaker. Your ideal listening position is also determined this way as well. Better quality loudspeakers have greater flexibility in listening position. This is quite often forgotten in the decision making process of buying.

Remember that the room and furnishings will have an effect on the sound, so be brave and experiment.

Why do my speakers keep blowing when the power output is above the amp?

Speakers have drive units in them. These are the electro-mechanical parts which produce the sound. Each drive unit is designed for specific frequencies and has a different power rating. If your amplifier is say 10watts and the speaker is rated at 20 watts, the high frequency unit may only be rated at 5W. So it is still possible to overdrive it. More likely the reason the speakers have been damaged is that the amplifier has reached its peak output power and instead of sending out a nice sine wave music signal, for which speakers are designed, it has sent out a square wave spike. Speakers don't like this and basically it burns the fragile wires at the back of the drive unit. It is Hifi Corner's experience that more speakers are damaged by amplifiers having too low a power output rather than the reverse. Melted or fused wires at the back of the speakers are not under guarantee, so take great care. Overdriving of amplifiers often happens under the following conditions:- when the tone controls are turned up (this demands more power even at same volume levels); wild parties (the more you have to drink the harder of hearing you become); and when no-one was in the house (except the children/cleaner who deny ever touching the hifi).

How many drive units should I have?

The working parts of a loudspeaker, the drive units, come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Like the size of the speaker itself, a good speaker with two drive units will sound better than a bad speaker with five. The more drive units the harder it will be for the designer to make it sound good. So be wary of inexpensive designs with multiple drivers. Speakers sold on specifications tend to be aimed at the less experienced buyers. Hifi Corner have superb demonstration facilities and there is no substitute for listening yourself.

What is "in phase"?

Terminals at the back of the speaker are marked 'plus' or 'positive' and 'minus' or 'negative' . Amplifiers also have at the back 'positive' and 'negative' terminals. They may be colour coded. If one of the terminals is misconnected then the speaker is said to be out of phase.

Basically when one of the drive units is moving out on one speaker, it will move in on another. The net effect is that bass is lost as the speakers are working against each other.

Stereo becomes diffuse and it is difficult if not impossible to localize sounds in the middle of the speakers. Correcting this balance means the speakers are 'in-phase'. This is a common problem which if careful connections are made should be avoided.

If you are not sure if your speakers are 'in-phase', reverse the polarity of one of your speaker terminals, and listen to which setting gives you the most bass. Be careful to switch the amplifier off before changing and do not let the terminals cross (or short circuit) each other.

Should I bi-wire?

Simply, yes if you have bi-wire terminals on your speakers. Bi-wiring terminals at the back of your loudspeakers allows you to disconnect the join between the electronics in the speaker (crossover) and then connect a cable from your HF unit (tweeter) and bass/mid range driver to your amplifier. You will get better sound quality. For further advice on this visit any Hifi Corner branch.

Should home cinema speakers be all the same brand?

Convension wisdom is that for the best cohesive sound then all the speakers in a home cinema system should be of the same brand, ideally of the same quality. It is then less likely you will hear tonal differences between the actors as their voice moves across the sound stage. Practically it may not be possible, and the choice to keep the speakers throughout will depend on the overall quality of the hifi/home cinema system. The higher the quality the more it is recommended to have the same or very similar speakers. The only exception may be the sub-woofer or low bass frequency unit. Ideally one should not 'hear' this but 'feel' it working. As a good many sub-woofers don't work as they should; you may be better off buying one from a specialist sub woofer manufacturer.

What brands of loudspeakers does Hifi Corner stock?

Hi-Fi Corner stocks Art, Bose, REL, B&W, KEF, Quad,Spendor, Tannoy, Mission (NXT), Yamaha (sub woofers), and many more. You are advised to phone before travelling.

Why you should pay a visit to Hi-Fi Corner.

Hi-Fi Corner use only the very highest quality comparators from NEXUS to demonstrate the differences between loudspeakers. We recommend you always listen to speakers before purchase.

Hi-Fi Corner have customers not only throughout Scotland but in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our reputation extends throughout the UK.

FAQs