Speaker Placement Calculators

This is a collection of speaker placement recommendations from around the web. All of these calculations are based on proportions so use what ever unit of measurement you feel comfortable with. All Measurements are for from the front center of the speaker. Also, if it recommend speakers flying outside of your room you may not want to use that formula, try another one. These may work perfectly for you out of the box, but in most cases placement will still need tweaking to achieve good imaging and even bass response.

Measurements

Length of Main Wall
Length of Side Wall

Results

Real Trap 38% Option 1

The Real Trap option is designed to provide the flattest bass response in some rooms. Originally devised for near field monitoring environments and can work well with some desktop setups.

Space Between Speakers
Head to Main Wall
Speaker From Main Wall
Speaker from Side Wall

Real Trap 38% Option 2

Similar to the Real Trap option 1, but this moves back to the rear 38% mark of the room in an attempt to dodge room modes. Could work well where recording is done in the room in front of the monitoring station. Not sure how useful it is for audiophiles, but who knows maybe you have a bunch of obstacles to avoid and this work for you.

Space Between Speakers
Head to Main Wall
Speaker From Main Wall
Speaker from Side Wall

Rule of Thirds (29% Version)

This is my favorite placement recommendation, and at least in my room isolated the sound from the room very well, as close to listening outside as I've gotten. I recommend starting with this and then backing up the speakers to the main wall as needed for adding a little bass reinforcement back into the sound and making room for other furniture if needed. Just watch out for the mid bass getting muddy as you back up the speakers.

Space Between Speakers
Head to Main Wall
Speaker From Main Wall
Speaker from Side Wall

Cardas

God bless Cardas and his crazy golden ratio obsession If you can't get your speakers to have a soul, this placement will bring it out in force. Great for classical and just about any listening. Only issues that come up here is that your speakers end up taking over the entire room. If you have a dedicated room it's a great starting point, but if you plan to use this room for anything else it's probably going to be a challenge to work just about any other furniture around the placement. Cardas also has recommendations specifically for dipole speakers on his website. This is the mono-pole version.

Space Between Speakers
Head to Main Wall
Speaker From Main Wall
Speaker from Side Wall

Cardas Option 2

If you are stuck in a square room, this is the second Cardas placement option.

Space Between Speakers
Head to Main Wall
Speaker From Main Wall
Speaker from Side Wall