We formulate the data analysis problem for the detection of the Newtonian c
oalescing-binary signal by a network of laser interferometric gravitational
wave detectors that have arbitrary orientations, but are located at the sa
me site. We use the maximum likelihood method for optimizing the detection
problem. We show that for networks comprising of up to three detectors, the
optimal statistic is just the matched network-filter. Alternatively, it is
simply a linear combination of the signal-to-noise ratios of the individua
l detectors. This statistic, therefore, can be interpreted as the signal-to
-noise ratio of the network. The overall sensitivity of the network is show
n to increase roughly as the square-root of the number of detectors in the
network. We further show that these results continue to hold even for the r
estricted post-Newtonian filters. Finally, our formalism is general enough
to be extended, in a straightforward way, to address the problem of detecti
on of such waves from other sources by some other types of detectors, eg.,
bars or spheres, or even by networks of spatially well-separated detectors.