A.
This is probably the hardest question of all to answer. There are as many different speaker technologies, types and sizes as you could possibly imagine. The best sound quality is considered to be the one where you can listen to any kind of music with utmost clarity and it makes you feel as if the singer & musicians are right there in front of you; singing & playing the instruments live and you can listen to the music for hours & hours without getting bored.

However, not everyone has similar tastes. If you like to party a lot or listen mostly to loud music, then you should select speakers which can produce high outputs with little effort. If your taste is a little more relaxed and you enjoy critical listening, then some audiophile hi-fi range speaker will be more suitable.

What type & size of a speaker would sound best to you, will depend on your room-size & acoustics of your room too. A medium-size floorstander might sound better than a big-size floorstander in room ‘x’, but you may find it vice-versa in room ‘y’.

Positioning is also a factor. If the speaker needs to be placed close to a wall, then a front ported model will be preferable.

Big speakers as a rule have a deeper bass response, but are sometimes not practical, especially in a home cinema system due to space constraints. Hence, sometimes a compromise has to be made and the question is essentially one of practicality.

A.

Well, to answer this, just take the example of our body and its nervous system. How important are the nerves to our system? Even if one nerve is damaged or malfunctions, entire system of our body goes haywire. Such is the importance of Cables to any audio system. Good quality cables enable a system to perform at its truest potential; whereas ordinary cables can never deliver the desired sound from a system... your system can never perform at its true potential with ordinary cables.
Moreover, in today’s world where all cables are almost concealed, if any unreliable ordinary cable fails anytime, then it is a big problem to install and conceal any new cable.

Generally, one should spend around 7% to 10% of the audio system cost on the Cables cost.

A.
Usually somewhere that’s convenient to rest your drink on. Floor standing models should usually be positioned at least 200mm from the rear walls and 700mm from the side walls, facing slightly inwards. Smaller models should ideally be stand or wall mounted though they may be placed on a rigid shelf. The bass extension will improve if these speakers are operated closer to the rear walls. A useful rule of thumb is that the listener should be as far from the loudspeakers as they are from each other. If the loudspeakers are placed too close to the walls the bass will increase but may be boomy and indistinct. If the loudspeakers are placed further away from the walls, the inward angle may be increased by up to 40%, although this may restrict the width of the optimum listening position. The speakers should ideally be positioned so that the treble units are roughly at ear level to a seated listener. As personal taste plays a large role, experiment with different configurations and play a wide range of programmes before finalizing the position of your speakers.

If you wish to place the speakers next to a conventional CRT television, please ensure your speakers use screened drive units and may be placed close to a TV screen without ill-effects. Conventional loudspeakers should not be operated within 50cm of a TV screen as the drive unit magnets may interfere with the picture and cause colour distortion.

A.

Home cinema systems present a number of issues in terms of placement. Firstly the ideal configuration should be considered, and then the practicality of the situation needs to be addressed. It should be stated though that only the most basic guidance can be given here. This is a complex subject and there is much debate as to the ideal configuration for optimum performance. Front left and right loudspeakers floor standing models should usually be positioned at least 200mm from the rear walls and 700mm from the side walls, facing slightly inwards. Smaller models should ideally be stand or wall mounted though they may be placed on a rigid shelf. The bass extension will improve if these speakers are operated closer to the rear walls. A useful rule of thumb is that the listener should be as far from the loudspeakers as they are from each other. If the loudspeakers are placed too close to the walls the bass will increase but may be boomy and indistinct. If the loudspeakers are placed further away from the walls, the inward angle may be increased by up to 40%, although this may restrict the width of the optimum listening position. The speakers should ideally be positioned so that the treble units are roughly at ear level to a seated listener. As personal taste plays a large role, experiment with different configurations and play a wide range of programmes before finalizing the position of your speakers.

Many speakers are magnetically shielded, so they can be used in close proximity to a television. Other conventional loudspeakers should not be operated within 50cm of a TV screen as the drive unit magnets may interfere with the picture and cause colour distortion. Please check individual product specifications before using.

A.
A good pair of loudspeaker stands will improve the bass performance of all bookshelf and stand mount speakers. They should elevate the speaker to the approximate height of the listener’s ears, and will provide better mechanical isolation if they are spiked at both ends; alternatively, blu-tack can be used on the top of the stands if you don’t wish to mark your loudspeakers.

A good stand is one which provides good isolation from vibration. It should be heavy and robust, with the strongest possible joints between the strut and the top and bottom plates. If it is mass-fillable, then filling the stand with either sand or lead shot will significantly improve its performance.

A.

Most loudspeakers will sound fairly dreadful out of the box. The sound quality will continue to improve for the first 50 hours of use. The reason for this is that the moving-coil loudspeaker is a mechanical device. As manufactured, many of the parts have a certain rigidity or tension, which only begins to relax after the loudspeaker has been played for some time. Their optimum performance is their relaxed state - but in order to achieve this, they will necessarily sound fairly bad to begin with.

So, to run in your new speakers we suggest playing music at a moderate (not loud) level continuously for 50 hours.

If you are in a noise sensitive environment, the way to achieve this with minimum disruption, is to stand the loudspeakers on the floor, directly facing each other. Then wire one of the speakers out of phase (i.e. red to black and black to red). Their bass drivers will cancel each other out and the sound will be much quieter. After 50 hours, return them to the ideal listening position, REMEMBER to correct the wiring phase on the speakers, and enjoy the music.

A.
Bi-amping is the technique whereby two power amplifiers are used to improve the sound quality of a loudspeaker that can be bi-amped.

Monoblocs bi-amping:
The simplest form of bi-amping is to use two monobloc amplifiers, one for the left channel and one for the right channel. Most mono amplifiers will have higher power outputs per channel than their stereo equivalent. This has the benefit of having more power on tap than by using one stereo amplifier, as well as reducing the “crosstalk”; that occurs when both left and right channels are housed in the same box.

Vertical stereo bi-amping:
Our preferred method of bi-amping is vertical stereo bi-amping. This is when two identical stereo power amplifiers are used, one for the left speaker and one for the right speaker.

If we consider just the left speaker and amplifier, one channel is used to drive the high frequencies and one is used to drive the bass frequencies. The same, of course, applies to the right speaker and amplifier.

To analyse why this works so effectively, we need to appreciate that the load characteristics of the tweeter and woofer are very different. The woofer requires a large current and if driven with a single channel of power amplifier, a heavy bass transient can absorb all of the available current, causing the amplifier to clip and distort. By separating the current to the tweeter and woofer, we are apportioning the power with a more equitable split; thereby allowing the amplifier much more headroom.

Horizontal stereo bi-amping:
This is when two stereo amplifiers are uses with one amplifier driving both left and right tweeters, the other driving both left and right woofers. Whilst this configuration will offer a performance advantage over using just one stereo power amplifier, because of the increased total current available, the amplifier driving both woofer channels will be working much harder than the one driving both tweeter channels. This will mean the bass will bottom out faster under heavy transients than it would if a vertical orientation were used - also crosstalk between amplifier channels is the same or worse than it would be with a single stereo amplifier.

A.
Bi-wiring is a technique using two lengths of 2-core loudspeaker cable to each speaker, which is said to improve the sound quality of loudspeakers.

It doesn’t matter if the positive (red) and earth (black) cables are connected at the amplifier end (indeed, even if your amplifier has outputs for two sets of speakers, A and B, they are usually connected together inside the amplifier).

There are a number of possible reasons for the audible improvement, which cover a spectrum of subjects, such as separate earth paths, the possible intermodulation of drive units, and cable frequency response. Although it is a fascinating subject, it is not our task to give a definitive answer on how it works, merely to state that there is an audible improvement and that most of the loudspeakers are capable of being bi-wired.

As for whether it is a good idea - this will depend on the practicality of doing so. In a stereo system, we would recommend it whole-heartedly, but in a home cinema system the inconvenience of the length of cable required, and the cost would probably offset any benefit.

Notably, there are now a number of specialist, inexpensive bi-wire cables on the market, which can make this a far easier proposition.

A.

Yes, is the short answer. Extended abuse of loudspeakers that are not designed for the high currents output by some powerful amplifiers can cause the thin wire in the voice-coil to melt, and the speaker to fail.

High performance voice coils (some of ultra-high performance models use an aluminium voice coil) are capable of sustaining much higher temperatures before failing, but they can still be damaged - although it is extremely unlikely that they would ever be damaged by reasonable use.

It is important when choosing a loudspeaker to match the power output of the amplifier to the recommended power handling of the loudspeakers. RMS (root mean squared) figures are usually published for power handling - which is a kind of average figure. Please be aware that some amplifier manufacturers exaggerate their power figures by quoting PMPO (peak music power output) or some similarly vague measure. RMS is the industry standard for measuring power and this should be the specification that is followed.

Some speaker ranges are specifically designed to produce higher outputs and some have “polyswitch” protection, which is a simple device that cuts out the tweeter before any lasting damage is done if the speaker is overloaded.

The best way to preserve your investment is to treat them with respect. That doesn’t mean don’t play them loud - your loudspeakers are capable of playing loud. It just means that turning your amp to its maximum power to see how loud your system will go is not a good idea.

A.
Quite simply - it shouldn’t. Most of the loudspeakers are compatible with 8 ohm amplifier outputs - which is the industry standard. Although the nominal impedance figures may sometimes read 6ohm, this is an average figure and these loudspeakers are no more difficult to drive than the vast majority of modern loudspeakers.

The only time this advice would differ would be if you wanted a pair of loudspeakers to partner with a vintage amplifier, or you were trying to fit a replacement loudspeaker directly to a television or a mini or micro system. In this case, you should check that the amplifier or television in question is capable of handling loudspeakers with an impedance of 8ohms.

A.
Firstly, nowadays all Centre channel speakers are magnetically shielded, so are absolutely fine next to all kinds of display device, including conventional CRT televisions.

Please check with your model to see if it is shielded or not. A shielded speaker will be fine, but an unshielded speaker needs to be around 50cm from the side of a conventional CRT television - all speakers are fine next to other displays, such as projectors, LCD and plasma televisions. These other sets are unaffected by magnetic fields.

Where you have placed an unshielded speaker next to a television, do not worry. This is not permanent and can be rectified easily by “de-gaussing” the television set. Most modern sets de-gauss automatically when switch on, however older sets may require de-gaussing by a service engineer.