Is there an optimum room placement for a dipole?
A31 – Yes, there is, from a sound reflection and also from a standing wave point of view. Both are a consequence of the figure-of-eight or cos(angle) free-space polar response of a dipole with its opposite phase front and rear radiation and very low output at 90 degrees off-axis. Assume the dipole speaker is placed at the same distance from the front wall as the listener has to the wall behind him. The negative polarity sound from the dipole’s backside is reflected off the wall behind it towards the listener. The sound from the front side of the dipole travels directly to the listener and also to the wall behind him where it is reflected back towards him. The rear wall reflection reaches the listener at the same time as the reflection off the wall behind the speaker. The two reflected sounds have traveled the same total distance for this particular speaker and listener setup. The two reflections cancel each other, because they are of opposite polarity. (Jorma Salmi, “Dipole source plac
