Corners look harmless. A little molding, a houseplant, maybe a lamp. But sonically? They’re landmines.
Corners reinforce bass. Every room mode—the low-frequency pressure waves that build up between walls, floor, and ceiling—piles up most dramatically in corners. That means boomy, bloated, one-note bass. The kind that makes a stand-up bass sound like a rubber ball.
If your speakers are near corners, they’re being boosted at the lowest frequencies, often by 6 dB or more. That’s a doubling of perceived energy. Worse, it’s not linear—it’s peaky. You get too much of one note, and not enough of its neighbor. That’s what makes bass feel sluggish and disconnected.
So what can you do?
First, pull the speakers out. Even 6 inches helps. A foot is better. Keep at least 2–3 feet from the rear wall if you can manage it, and try not to place the speakers the same distance from the side walls as the rear—that symmetry makes the problems worse.
Second, stagger them. If one speaker has to be close to a side wall or corner, don’t match the other one. Asymmetry is your friend here—it spreads out the modal energy instead of stacking it.
And third: don’t be afraid of traps or heavy furniture. Even a well-placed armchair or bookshelf in the corner can help absorb or scatter energy.
Corners don’t have to kill your sound—but they’ll sure try.
