Installation Tips
1. Set each Gibraltar in place and, if on carpet, step on the platform to make sure the footers penetrate the carpet and contact the floor below. Without solid contact, sound will be severely degraded. Make sure the brass footers are tightened only slightly more than finger tight. DO NOT TIGHTEN HARD.
Room placement for Gibraltar is not, in principle, different than for any conventional stand. As per our free audio upgrade advice for speakers, we recommend: a) if possible, an ear-to-speaker distance of 5 feet, with 7 feet between speakers (and then keep on increasing the 7 feet until the center image falls apart); b) if possible, sit with the listening chair/sofa up against the center of the room’s long wall with speakers directly to the front of the listening position using the 5/7 foot geometry; c) if the wall listening position is impractical, then place the speakers at least 15 inches away from the wall behind them (increasing this 6 inches at a time until you find the best sounding wall distance) while preserving the 5/7 foot geometry, if possible.
2. For Gibraltar with Standard and/or Radiused Rear Support Posts, place the speakers firmly on the rear posts and put the Triplepoint alignment footer under the front bottom of the speaker. Move the Triplepoint back to raise the tilt of the speaker. For speakers with the tweeter above the midrange, start with the tweeter axis pointed just below your ear height. Make sure that all three points on the top of the Triplepoint are firmly in contact with the speaker bottom and that the rear corner posts are firmly gripping the speaker.
• If you are concerned about dings on the speaker due to the corner posts or the Triplepoints, use standard 2 inch wide clear packaging tape on the speaker cabinet, just enough to cover the contact area of the corner posts or the Triplepoint.
3. To adjust tiltback for optimum time alignment, use one minute of a really well recorded acoustic guitar or upright bass solo as a test track (suggestion: #09832 Spirit and Samba). Listen, then increase tiltback slightly from the initial tweeter axis pointing just below your ear and listen again. If the “pluck” of the guitar or bass gets cleaner and crisper, increase tiltback again and listen. Keep on doing this until the “pluck” starts getting slightly muddier, and then just go back one step.
• For speakers with the tweeter below the midrange, start with the tweeter axis pointing slightly above your ear and then listen to increments of decreasing tiltback.
• When you reach the best-sounding tiltback—that is, the optimum time alignment—it will sound like the guitarist or bassist just removed cotton gloves from their fingers.
• As you increase tiltback, you will also note that the image floats higher and higher above the floor.
4. Start with speaker toe-in nearly parallel, and then increase toe-in 10 degrees to 15 degrees at a time, listening always to the same one-minute test track. Toe-in works like a tone control: parallel speakers give more spaciousness and less presence; speakers strongly toed-in to point straight at your ear give less spaciousness but yield maximum presence. It also pays to try even more toe-in with speaker tweeter axes converging in front of your nose; this usually gives the widest sweet spot for multiple listeners.
5. For perfectionists, it is worth running through the cycle of the above adjustments—distance from wall, toe-in, and tiltback—twice because each adjustment slightly affects the optimum for the next adjustment.
6. Two or three weeks after first setting up the Gibraltars, check the tightness of the footers; maple compresses slightly over time, particularly in the first few weeks. Thereafter check tightness every three months or so.
