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Thank you. And congratulations!
2) Stand mounting: This is your second option and it’s an attractive
one for many owners. If you’re placing your TSC bookshelf
speakers on stands, you can use a material like Blu Tack®, a
moldable, reusable adhesive compound, to keep your speakers
firmly (but not permanently) attached to the stands. If you can’t
find Blu Tack, just ask your neighborhood hardware store for the
generic equivalent.
Our thanks for buying your new speakers from TSC. We sincerely
appreciate your confidence in us and our products.
Please read this Owner’s Manual! It contains many tips on getting your
new speakers set up, connected, and sounding as good as they should.
We hope you find it clear, concise, and helpful.
Again, thank you.
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Placing Your Speakers Properly
Out of the Box
Main Speakers: Try to put the main speakers (Left and Right for stereo,
Left, Center, and Right for home theater) along the same wall of your
listening/viewing room. If you can place your speakers along the long
wall, so much the better.
You should save the carton and the inserts your speakers came in. You
may need to store or ship your TSC speakers in the future and the
packaging is designed to protect them from damage.
Use the “Rule of Thirds” whenever possible. This suggests that the best
placement for your Left speaker is approximately 1/3 of the way along
the wall behind your speakers. Similarly, the best place for the Right
speaker is usually 2/3 of the way across the same wall. Remember that
the “Rule of Thirds” is a guideline only.
Where Should You Put Them?
We realize that the real world (family opinions, room traffic patterns,
etc.) will have major impact on where you place your TSC speakers.
That being said, here are some guidelines you should find useful.
For TSC bookshelf/center channel/surround speakers:
1) Shelf mounting. Logically, this may be your first consideration.
That’s fine if the shelf is sturdy enough and deep enough to hold
your speakers securely. Remember that the shelf should be at
least 2” deeper than the speaker itself to allow for cable
connections, etc. So if your TSC speaker is 13” deep, you’ll
need a shelf about 15” deep to hold it safely.
Remember that most TSC speakers are bass reflex enclosures.
Some have ports on the rear panel. Because the port is very
important for proper bass reproduction, please do not block it.
In fact, if you’re shelf-mounting your speakers and can leave 6”
to 8” of open space behind the rear panel, so much the better.
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– your seated ear level are ideal. (This may pose a challenge if you
have to place your Center Channel speaker either above or below your
TV screen but you shouldn’t worry too much.)
Make sure that the speaker-to-listening/viewing position distance is the
same for each speaker.
Some professionals recommend placing the main (Left and Right)
speakers so that they form an equilateral triangle with the prime
listening/viewing position.
Try to place the center channel speaker at exactly the same distance
from your listening/viewing position as the main Left and Right
speakers. This helps create the most convincing image.
Surround Speakers
Surround speaker placement is challenging. If you’re using a pair of
TSC bookshelf speakers, you have two options.
If you’re primarily a music listener, place them on the back wall of
your listening/viewing room but a bit closer to the side walls than the
“Rule of Thirds” indicates. Make sure the tweeters are at approximately
the same height as are the tweeters of your front Left, Center, and Right
speakers.
This is as close to ideal as you can get.
If your room won’t allow this, don’t be overly concerned.
Just place your speakers as close to this ideal as possible
and enjoy the sound.
Reflections from side walls have a major impact on your sound so try
not to place your main speakers close to them. Try not to place your
main speakers so they’re exactly the same distance from the closest
side wall. A bit of asymmetry here is actually preferable.
When you take the time to properly place your Main speakers, you’ll
enjoy better “imaging” (the apparent placement of individual instruments
or voices), and more depth.
Center Channel Speakers
For a home theater system, place the center channel speaker between
your Left and Right speakers as close to your TV screen as possible.
Try to keep the tweeters of all three speakers (Left, Center, and Right)
as close to the same height as possible. Tweeters at – or very close to
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If you’re a movie fan, mount the surround speakers on the side
walls flanking your primary listening/viewing position. Make sure
they’re slightly behind your couch or chair and at least 1.5 to 2’ above
ear level.
•
If that still doesn’t please you, then move the subwoofer further out
into the room. You’ll have less overall “boom” but probably higher
overall sound quality.
Once you’ve decided on general placement, there’s another technique
that will help you fine-tune your subwoofer’s ideal location.
1. Identify your favorite listening/viewing position.
2. Put the Subwoofer there. (Yes, we mean put it on or in your favorite
chair or sofa. Don’t worry, the furniture will handle the weight.)
3. Play some music or a soundtrack with a lot of bass content.
4. Crawl around the room on all fours until you find the place where the
bass sounds the best to you.
5. Put the Subwoofer there.
Connecting Your Speaker System
Now that you have your speakers placed properly, it’s time to connect
them.
Before you begin connecting your
speakers, turn your system
Try not to place furniture between your speakers and your
listening/viewing position. Make sure you can see all your speakers
when seated there.
components OFF. That way, you won’t
run any chance of “shorting” your
amplifier and possibly damaging it as
you’re hooking up your speakers. And,
of course, turn your system back ON
when you’re done!
Subwoofer Placement
Method 1 (Line Level Connection)
Subwoofers are not as easy to place properly as some people might
have you believe. Although bass frequencies are omnidirectional (they
spread evenly into a room), you cannot place your subwoofer virtually
anywhere and enjoy quality bass reproduction.
If your surround sound receiver has a line-level LFE (Low Frequency
Effects) output – sometimes called a “subwoofer” output – connect it to
the subwoofer’s rear panel Subwoofer Input via a shielded RCA-to-RCA
cable. See your receiver’s instruction manual for more details.
Here are some practical hints.
•
For more bass, put the subwoofer in or close to a room corner. If
you do, however, know that the resulting bass response will most
likely be very uneven. Some frequencies will be emphasized.
Others will be suppressed. And that pattern of exaggeration and
repression will change as you move about the room!
•
For a bit less bass but more even frequency response, move the
subwoofer away from the corner along one wall.
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Next, connect your other speakers (Left, Center, Right, Left Surround,
and Right Surround) directly to your receiver.
Note that your receiver’s speaker connections are paired. One
terminals in each pair is red (positive or “+”), the other black (negative or
“-“).
You’ll notice a pair of spring-loaded terminals on each speaker. They
are also red and black, respectively.
Prepare the wire by exposing about 3/8” of each conductor by removing
the insulation with a wire stripper or sharp knife. Twist all the individual
strands of each conductor together.
Speaker wire, in turn, has two conductors separated by insulation and
identified by color (if the insulation is clear) or by differences in the
insulation itself (ridged vs. plain is the most common). Choose one
conductor to carry the “+” signal and the other for the negative signal. It
makes no difference which one you pick – just maintain that choice
for all your connections.
Polarity and Proper Phasing
Don’t let these words scare you. They both refer to making sure you get
all the sound your speakers are capable of giving you.
Here are step-by-step instructions for connecting the Left front output
from your receiver or amplifier to the Left front speaker.
1) Locate the Left front speaker output on the receiver or amplifier.
Note the two connectors – one marked “+” (the positive terminal
– usually red) and one marked “-“ (the negative terminal –
usually black).
2) Connect the “+” conductor of the speaker wire to the receiver’s
“+” terminal.
3) Connect the ”-“ conductor of the speaker wire to the receiver’s “-
“ terminal.
4) At the speaker end of the same wire, connect the “+” conductor
to the “+’ terminal on the speaker by pressing the spring-loaded
tab to reveal a hole in the connector. Insert the stripped end of
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the wire into that hole. Release the tab to complete the
connection.
Then connect your main Left and Right speakers to the subwoofer’s “To
Speakers” outputs.
5) Connect the “-“ conductor to the “-“ speaker terminal.
Then follow steps 1 through 5 for all other amplifier-speaker connections
in your system. Maintain the same pattern for all amplifier-speaker
connections!
Why are we placing as much emphasis on consistency here? We want
you to get all the performance you’ve paid for!
Note that all other speakers (Center Channel, Left Surround, and Right
Surround) connect directly to the receiver’s speaker outputs as they did
in Method 1 above.
When your amplifier-to-speaker connections are consistent (when “+” is
always connected to “+” and “-“ is always connected to “-“), your
speakers are connected “in phase.” That means the drivers in each
speaker will push out when they get a common positive signal from an
amplifier and pull in when they get a negative signal.
Make sure you observe proper polarity (“+” to “+” and “-“ to “-“) for all
connections.
When speakers are connected “out of phase,” the drivers fight each
other – some move out while others move in. The result? You’ll get
less bass and blurred imaging. That’s a pretty heavy price to pay for not
taking just a few extra seconds to make sure your connections are
correct.
Some Advice On Speaker Wire
Please use 16 gauge wire if your amplifier-to-speaker
runs are under 50’. For longer runs, we strongly
suggest 14 gauge.
For your reference, standard “lamp cord” available at
most hardware stores is 18 gauge. Better to use
heavier wire such as 16 or 14 gauge.
Method 2 (Speaker Level Connection)
If your receiver does not have an LFE output, simply connect your
receiver’s Left and Right speaker outputs to the subwoofer inputs
marked “From Receiver.”
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Adjusting Your Subwoofer
Break-In
Once everything is hooked up properly, you’re ready to “fine tune” your
system to your preferences.
Many people believe speakers improve with age.
With TSC speakers, you’ll notice a change in timbre, responsiveness,
and sheer musicality as you use them because the drivers “settle in”
with use.
The following suggestions will give you a good start. Remember that
they are suggestions only. You may choose to vary the control settings
to suit your room and speaker placement.
How long should you wait? That depends, for example, on whether you
listen AM radio at low volume or full orchestral music at live concert
levels. In general, you’ll begin to hear differences after 20-30 hours of
us.
Care
Your TSC speakers don’t need much maintenance. Dust them
occasionally. And don’t your kids try to push in the drivers, either!
Above all, enjoy! That’s what your TSC speakers were designed for and
why we take such pride in bringing them to you!
•
Set the Crossover control to 150 Hz (all the way to the right).
This will direct most of the deep bass information to the
subwoofer.
•
•
Set the Volume control (actually a “bass level” control) to
maximum.
Select “Auto On” by choosing the middle position of the three-
position slider switch.
•
•
Set the Phase switch to normal (NOR).
Play a favorite music CD or DVD. Concentrate on the amount
of bass you hear and decide if you like that sound.
If you think there’s too much bass, turn the Volume control
down until you’re satisfied with the sound. (You may also want
to tweak the Crossover control by turning it slowly to the left.)
Once you’re pleased with the sound, flip the Phase switch
between NOR and REV (reverse) to see if that makes a
discernable difference.
•
•
© 2007 The Speaker Company. All rights reserved.
You’ll probably have to play with these adjustments several times until
you achieve just the sound quality you really like. Don’t worry – it’s just
part of the fun.
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