jansZen Floorstander Setup

JansZen Valentina and Theoretica Martina4BACCH floor-standing speakers are supplied with adjustable footers and a mirror for optimizing back-tilt and toe-in.

For optimal positioning, you place the mirror so it is centered 5" [13.5 cm] down from the top of the rectangular grill. For each side, you adjust the toe-in and back-tilt so that you can see your ear in the mirror on that side. There's a photo of an ear reflected in a mirror near the bottom of 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 comprise a threaded barrel over a threaded core. They are tipped with a resilient, hemispherical silicone rubber isolation insert that will prevent floor coupling and never leave a mark. 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, we can supply 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

We modify a pocket mirror for the purpose. New pairs of speakers have a magnet mounted behind the rectangular grills that will hold the mirror in the ideal position. Mirrors sent out for use with older pairs have a length of string on them for taping to the top of the speaker and hanging down to the correct spot. Both have spacers on their backs to keep them parallel to the grill cloth surface. 

The trick

You may find it easier to start by propping the speaker up on 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, or it will be reflecting off kilter, and that 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 to 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.