Wilson Audio WATT Series 7 - Manual (Page 50)

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Speaker placement and orientation are two of the most important considerations in
obtaining superior sound. The first thing you need to do is minimize the influence of the side
walls on the sound of your system. Speakers placed too close to the side walls will suffer
from a strong primary reflection. This can cause out-of-phase cancellations, or comb filter-
ing, which will cancel some frequencies and change the tonal balance of the music. A good
place to start is with the speakers about 18” from each wall and, if you need to move them
relative to the side wall, move them away from the wall, not closer.
A very important aspect of speaker placement is how far to place the speakers from
the wall behind them. The closer to the back wall the more pronounced the low bass energy
and centering of the image will be. However, this comes at a definite reduction in stage size
and bloom, as well as a deterioration of upper bass quality. You must find the proper balance
of these two factors, but remember, if you are partial to bass response or air and bloom, do
not overcompensate your adjustments to maximize their effects. Overbalanced systems are
sometimes pleasing in the short term, but long term satisfaction is always achieved through
proper balance.
The WATT/Puppy System 7 is designed for maximum phase coherence and pulse
replication accuracy when they are aimed directly at the listener or microphone. Thus, your
WATT/Puppys
should be “toed in.” In other words, the listener, when seated in the listening
position, should just barely see the surface of the inner side of the WATT/Puppy. Toeing in
the speakers provides dramatic improvements in resolution of low level detail in the mid-
range, as well as dramatic improvements in sound staging performance.
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uMMAry
In summary, it is clear that, for optimal tonal balance accuracy, resolution of low lev-
el detail and sound staging performance, the WATT should be positioned at or slightly below
ear level of the listener. The Puppy is the ideal compliment to the WATT, in that it estab-
lishes a correct height, is non-resonant, its high-pass crossover protects the WATT woofer,
and response is extended to below 25Hz (see Figure 13 for WATT/Puppy response).
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