Installation – Focal PROFILE Portable Speaker User Manual
Page 5

05
installation
English
Positioning
The loudspeakers have been en-
gineered to deliver the most faithful 
sound reproduction, whether they are 
used for music or home cinema. In 
order to enhance their performance, 
to guarantee a high quality of 
listening, sound image and tone 
balance, it is important to note the 
following basic rules. 
The listening area must be located 
at the summit of an equilateral 
triangle whose two other points 
of insertion are determined by the 
position of each speaker. Nevertheless 
it is possible to modify these distances 
to find an ideal compromise according 
to the particular disposition of the 
room (fig. A).
Each loudspeaker must be placed 
at the same height and on the 
same floor plan. The tweeter should 
be at the same height as the listener’s 
ear, when the listener is in their usual 
listening area (fig. B). 
Avoid placing the loudspeakers 
too close to the room’s corners or 
walls. This will induce some unwanted 
room resonance and artificially 
increase bass response. On the 
contrary, if the bass level proves to be 
insufficient, it is possible to move the 
speakers closer to the walls to adjust 
the bass level (fig. C). 
Optimization
To please the perfectionists, we shall 
give an optimum positioning formula :
if 
A is the distance from the boomer
centre to the closest wall (floor or 
wall), 
B the intermediate distance and
C the longest distance (Arelation
B
2
=AC determines the ideal
position of the speakers (fig. D).
• Example 1:
The boomer centre is 60cm (24”) from 
the floor (
B=60cm) (mini speaker on
a foot), standing 50cm (20”) from
the back wall (
A=50cm), the
side wall will be ideally 72cm (28”) 
(C=B
2
⁄ A=72cm).
• Example 2:
the boomer centre is 30cm (12”) from 
the floor (column speaker) (
A=30cm),
1m (39”) from the back wall (
C=1m),
the clearance with respect to the side 
walls will be 
B=√AC=54.7cm (22”).
Important
Stylish driver protective caps conjoined 
to the loudspeaker. Do not remove for 
optimized performances.
Connections
The Profile input sockets ensure 
reliable multipurpose connections for 
stripped cables as well as for plugs.
It is imperative to respect the connector 
polarity of both the loudspeaker 
and amplifier. The positive terminal 
“+” must be connected to the 
corresponding (matching) amplifier’s 
terminal and the negative terminal 
“-“ to the negative terminal (fig. E). 
Stereo image, soundstaging and 
bass perception would be seriously 
compromised if these conditions were 
not respected.
User instructions
The sound rendition of the loudspeaker 
depends strongly upon the listening 
room’s acoustics, the place of the 
loudspeakers and the listening area. 
These factors can be modified in 
order to correct or enhance a desired 
effect.
Should the soundstage be im-
precise or not centred, try to move 
the loudspeakers closer to each other. 
Harsh or aggressive sound means 
that your listening room is probably 
too reflective. Try to use any absorbing 
materials (such as tapestries, sofa, 
wall coverings, curtains…) combined 
with reflective materials to absorb or 
diffuse resonances.
Should the sound be “flat” 
or muffled, there are too many 
absorbing materials in the listening 
room. The sound appears to be 
closed-in, with a narrow stereophonic 
image. Try to find a better compromise 
between absorbing and reflective 
materials within your listening room.
Generally the wall to the rear of 
the speakers should be made up of 
reflective materials so that the sound 
image exhibits satisfying volume and 
width. On the contrary the wall on 
the rear of the listener should be 
absorbing in order to avoid reflections 
damaging the perception of the 
stereo soundstage. These reflections 
may limit the impression of depth of 
the sound image. Furniture, such as 
bookshelves should be ideally placed 
along the side walls in order to diffuse 
sound waves and to prevent some 
frequencies from being amplified, 
especially in vocal range (it removes 
“flutter echo”).
notice profile gb 4
12/04/05, 12:06:08
