Placement
Contents
A manual is provided in the sturdy packaging. Unfortunately, instructions on how to peal the speakers out of the double cardboard box and how to mount the carriers and spikes are missing. This is very careless. General instructions can be found on Acoustic Energy’s website after poking around on it. Studying the photos on the Acoustic Energy website shows that the longest carrier is mounted on the front side with the speaker units and the shortest carrier on the back side with the bass port. This order will be beneficial for placing them correctly.
If you do not assemble speakers daily, it is wise to do this with two people, allowing enough time and considerate action. The assembly itself is simple. You need to turn the speaker several times and then place it in the intended position. A lot easier to carry out with two people.
With thirty kilos of weight, the speakers push the large spikes through everything, so be careful with hard floors. Spike shoes are included, but these are loose rings and with placing and sliding them around on the floor, you will have a pit in the floor in no time.
At the right spot in the room
The information provided does give clear instructions on how to place the speakers in the room. The speakers have a bass-reflex design, with the bass port at the rear. The bass of these speakers is very present by default, so it takes some shuffling to determine what is a comfortable amount of bass for you.
The MTM design creates a different sound projection than you might be used to. You need to sit a little closer than the imaginary isosceles triangle to get the best result.
The Acoustic Energy 520 speakers benefit from a little toe-in to get more focus in the stereo image, but if you turn them in too much, the stereo image disappears completely. Furthermore, the speakers should be placed precisely the same distance from your ears, on a straight line in relation to your listening position.
By trial and error, the following renders the best result: if you rotate the speaker so that the front and rear spike on the inside of the speaker are in the same line of sight from your listening position, you will have the best result at the listening position.
Now that the speakers are positioned properly, we can start listening.