Wiring

You can play Legend loudspeakers with just a single pair of cables between each speaker and your amplifier. It is best to use high quality cable and connectors so that the musical signal is not changed between the amplifier and the loudspeaker. Be careful to make sure that the lead connected to the positive (red) output terminals of the amplifier is connected to the right hand terminals at the back of the speaker as indicated by the red band. Because these right hand terminals are connected by a brass bar, you can use either of the two right hand terminals.

You may notice a slight improvement in the sound quality if you use the upper terminals (labelled ‘bass/mid’ in the next figure) as they draw more current. Similarly the negative (black) terminal of your amplifier should be connected to the left hand (black) terminals of the loudspeaker, preferably the upper ‘bass/mid’ ones.

You can also improve the sound quality by bi-wiring. This involves removing the brass bars and using separate wires to connect your amplifier to each drive unit. This reduces interference between the drive units and can improve clarity, especially if the cable lengths are over 3 meters.

Positioning in your room

Legend loudspeakers have been designed so that they will sound excellent anywhere in your room and you can enjoy your music. However, loudspeakers do interact with the room in which they are being used and so you can modify what you hear by changing their position in the room or by changing the characteristics of the room.

You hear both sounds both directly from the loudspeakers and sound reflected off the walls, floors and ceiling of the room. If the loudspeakers are sited with a wall close behind them, the lower notes will be reinforced to extend the bass performance for rock and contemporary music. When sited away from walls, the soundstage (positioning of instruments) will be optimised for jazz and classical music because the direct and reflected sounds will not be confused. Try to keep the loudspeakers at least 1 m from side walls.

To optimise the width of the soundstage with no "hole" in the centre, you should sit near the apex of an equilateral triangle formed with the speakers 3-5 m apart. You should also try to avoid sitting on the diagonals between the opposite corners of the room where the room’s “standing waves” caused by sound bouncing back and forth between parallel surfaces may muddle the performance. If your listening room is rectangular, you can improve its performance by judicious use of cupboards, bookshelves, sofas and curtains to breakup or absorb these standing waves.

The small treble drivers (tweeters) of Legend loudspeakers have been offset from the centre of the front of the speakers to improve their sound dispersion into the room and reduce diffraction from the front baffle. It is recommended that you place the speaker marked ‘L’ on the left as you look at the speakers so that the tweeters are on the ‘outside ‘ edge of the speakers. We prefer the speakers to be pointed straight ahead, rather than ‘toed in’. To get the best tonal balance, you should site Legend loudspeakers so that your ears are approximately level with, or just above, the tweeters. But not as close to your head as shown in the diagram above.

The above are only recommendations and you should experiment to get the best results for your room and types of music. Also note this fine tuning of positioning is designed to get the ultimate performance from Legend loudspeakers and they will sound excellent no matter where you position them.

Advice on home-theatre setup can be found in the home-theatre section.

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