Testing and tuning your speakers: first sound, fault-finding and placement (Beginner Guide, Part 8)

Part 8 of 8 of the NB Audio beginner guide to speaker building. Start at Part 1 and the series contents.

Your speakers are built. Before you turn them up, give them an hour of checking. Not because something's wrong, but because if something is, you want to find it at low volume, not halfway through your favourite track.

Expansion Guide 7 walks you through that hour, in order.

The checks

Look over the build with the amp disconnected: driver models, wiring against the crossover drawing, loose strands, anything that could touch a cone or block a port. Take photos before you close the cabinets. They'll save you opening one up again later.

Then start one speaker, quietly, with a track you know well. The guide covers what to do if you hear nothing, and the sounds that mean stop now.

The comparison

Two cabinets in two spots can sound different even when they're built the same. So the guide compares them in one marked position, on one amp channel and one cable. If something sounds off, you change one thing at a time until the difference follows something you can point at: the cabinet, the cable, the channel or the room.

It also works through the usual suspects: a tweeter that seems quieter, a rattle, and a leak that's easy to mistake for port noise.

The finish

Move the pair into the room, try one small placement change, and only then think about EQ. Then save the setup: what's inside, where they stand and which settings worked. When something changes months later, you're not starting from scratch.

Who it's for

It's written for a first build. Your ears and a familiar track are enough. If you set up a measurement mic in Expansion Guide 5, it shows you where to use it.

What it won't do is tell you to start swapping parts or reaching for EQ before you know what the problem is.

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Previous: Part 7: Designing the crossover: from the drawing to a working board (Beginner Guide, Part 7)