jansZen Floorstander Tilt Settings
Most standard speakers have wide dispersion, so back-tilt hardly matters, and toe-in adjustment mainly affects the speaker's interaction with its near side wall, rather than the tonality of the direct sound.
Getting the very smoothest and most extended frequency response from JansZen Valentina and Theoretica Martina4BACCH floor-standing speakers, however, relies critically on the back-tilt angle, and there's also a more than usual dependency on the toe-in angle.
Because JansZen speakers have controlled horizontal dispersion, toe-in has practically no effect on side wall interaction, but does have a more than usual impact on the tonality of the direct sound. They also have a very short vertical listening window, so the back tilt angle is quite critical.
Setting these angles correctly is not as obvious as it may seem. It's natural to expect that the best back-tilt angle happens when the center of the speaker is aimed at the ear, but in fact, the actual optimal angle happens when the speaker is tilted three degrees farther forward. It may seem hard to believe that there are good reasons for this, but there are.
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First, it's helpful to note that the two panels behind the rectangular grille are not co-planar. There is a 6° angle between them, rotated symmetrically around the lateral axis between them. This flattens the frequency response by letting the off-axis panel fire its treble below ear height, and only add its midrange at ear height. This also breaks up the tall aperture, which prevents laser sharp vertical beaming that would reduce the vertical dispersion to about one degree of subtended angle.
This arrangement dictates that just one panel should be aimed at ear height, and the best one for that is the upper one, because then the back-tilt must be decreased rather than somewhat unattractively increased.
Lateral aim by way of toe-in is of course also important, but less so, since there is about ±10° of latitude in that direction without major changes in tomality. This latitude is supplied by the extra 1/2-way aspect of the 2.5-way design that functions to increase treble dispersion. Ideally, however, lateral aim directly at the ear on each side is best.
The mirror
Our floor-standers are supplied with a small mirror that has been modified so you can use it for an easy and intuitive visual method of optimizing back-tilt and toe-in. Of course, you can use any small mirror. The back tilt angle is adjusted by adjusting the footer lengths.
For optimal positioning, you simply place the mirror so it is centered 5" [13.5 cm] down from the top of the rectangular grill, and adjust the toe-in and back-tilt so that you can see your ear in the mirror, once for each side. There's a photo that shows a reflected ear elsewhere on this page.
Note: if you received speakers without a mirror, please email or call us, and we will send you one at no charge.
The footers
The footers are barrel-over-core construction, with threads that change their length by turning. They are tipped with a resilient, hemispherical silicone rubber isolation insert that will prevent floor coupling and never leave a mark on a floor or carpeting. These are preferable to spikes, even on carpeted floors.
Because of their chunky appearance, we call them Elephant Footers.
Each full turn extends them by 0.1". The maximum extension is 0.5", which is enough to accommodate a wide range of listening distances. If you are sitting at a normal height but very close to the speakers, however, such as 4' [1.2m] away, or sit in a tall chair, we can supply a set of extra short and extra long footers for attaining extreme back-tilt.
Note: if your speakers were supplied with the older rubber footers, you can call us and order Elephant Footers as an upgrade.
The mirror
So no one has to do any measuring to get the mirror to hang down to the correct spot, a length of string is affixed to the mirror and marked to indicate where it should hang over the top edge of the speaker.
Hanging the mirror
The trick
In the process of finding the right orientation, you may find it helpful to start by waving your hand around until you see it in the mirror as a clue to making the first rough adjustments. For instance, while adjusting the right hand speaker, if you see your hand reflected when waving it far off to your right, then the speaker has to be rotated substantially inward (toe-in increased).
When it comes to setting back-tilt, hand waving can be again a good way to start. It is then generally easiest to fine tune by propping the speaker up on various shims until you get the best tilt, then adjusting the footers to match.
If you are using your own mirror, make sure that it is parallel to the grill cloth surface. Otherwise, its reflection will be off-kilter, and this will give off-kilter results. A rolled up piece of tape is a good way to make a spacer that lets you adjust the mirror so that it is parallel.
A view from the top. The black block behind the mirror is a curl of masking tape. The out of focus white area is the string.
At first, we thought magnetic attachment would be best, but there were issues with repeatability. A magnet also can't be inconspicuously mounted, at least not in this case.