Focal 1000 Series - Manual (Page 5)

05
installation
English
Positioning
The loudspeakers have been en-
gineered to deliver the most faithful
sound reproduction, whether they are
used for music or home cinema. In
order to enhance their performance,
to guarantee a high quality of
listening, sound image and tone
balance, it is important to note the
following basic rules.
The listening area must be located
at the summit of an equilateral
triangle whose two other points
of insertion are determined by the
position of each speaker. Nevertheless
it is possible to modify these distances
to find an ideal compromise according
to the particular disposition of the
room (fig. A).
Each loudspeaker must be placed
at the same height and on the
same floor plan. The tweeter should
be at the same height as the listener’s
ear, when the listener is in their usual
listening area (fig. B).
Avoid placing the loudspeakers
too close to the room’s corners or
walls. This will induce some unwanted
room resonance and artificially
increase bass response. On the
contrary, if the bass level proves to be
insufficient, it is possible to move the
speakers closer to the walls to adjust
the bass level (fig. C).
Optimization
To please the perfectionists, we shall
give an optimum positioning formula :
if
A is the distance from the boomer
centre to the closest wall (floor or
wall),
B the intermediate distance and
C the longest distance (A<B<C), the
relation
B 2 =AC determines the ideal
position of the speakers (fig. D).
• Example 1:
The boomer centre is 60cm (24”) from
the floor (
B=60cm) (mini speaker on
a foot), standing 50cm (20”) from
the back wall (
A=50cm), the
side wall will be ideally 72cm (28”)
(C=B
2 ⁄ A=72cm).
• Example 2:
the boomer centre is 30cm (12”) from
the floor (column speaker) (
A=30cm),
1m (39”) from the back wall ( C=1m),
the clearance with respect to the side
walls will be
B=√AC=54.7cm (22”).
Important
Stylish driver protective caps conjoined
to the loudspeaker. Do not remove for
optimized performances.
Connections
The Electra Be input sockets ensure
reliable multipurpose connections for
stripped cables as well as for plugs.
It is imperative to respect the connector
polarity of both the loudspeaker
and amplifier. The positive terminal
“+” must be connected to the
corresponding (matching) amplifier’s
terminal and the negative terminal
“-“ to the negative terminal (fig. E).
Stereo image, soundstaging and
bass perception would be seriously
compromised if these conditions were
not respected.
User instructions
The sound rendition of the loudspeaker
depends strongly upon the listening
room’s acoustics, the place of the
loudspeakers and the listening area.
These factors can be modified in
order to correct or enhance a desired
effect.
Should the soundstage be im-
precise or not centred, try to move
the loudspeakers closer to each other.
Harsh or aggressive sound means
that your listening room is probably
too reflective. Try to use any absorbing
materials (such as tapestries, sofa,
wall coverings, curtains…) combined
with reflective materials to absorb or
diffuse resonances.
Should the sound be “flat”
or muffled, there are too many
absorbing materials in the listening
room. The sound appears to be
closed-in, with a narrow stereophonic
image. Try to find a better compromise
between absorbing and reflective
materials within your listening room.
Generally the wall to the rear of
the speakers should be made up of
reflective materials so that the sound
image exhibits satisfying volume and
width. On the contrary the wall on
the rear of the listener should be
absorbing in order to avoid reflections
damaging the perception of the
stereo soundstage. These reflections
may limit the impression of depth of
the sound image. Furniture, such as
bookshelves should be ideally placed
along the side walls in order to diffuse
sound waves and to prevent some
frequencies from being amplified,
especially in vocal range (it removes
“flutter echo”).
notice electra 1000 be gb 4 5/10/05, 14:58:53