A Zu / Tekton / Omega Speaker Positioning Thread


Friends,

I'm a couple of months into ownership of a pair of 10-inch fullrangers, Zu Omens in this case. In extensive play with positioning, I've managed to get incredible tone out of them, the best I've ever heard -- but great soundstaging still eludes me. Specifically they fail at creating images outside of the speakers. On a recording of Bill Berry's Ellington Allstars, for example, my old 2-way monitors placed a trumpet 2.5 feet to the outside of the right speaker, and a sax just to the left, still outside the speaker. Now it's just two _great-sounding_ horns emerging directly from the right speaker.

We may be up against a reality that the limitation of 10-inch fullrangers is the inability to completely disappear, but let us have a discussion of best practices when positioning these guys.
cymbop
First, let me state that my measurements really won't help you, completely different type of room, speakers and so forth...yet, it is interesting to explore because I know my circumstance breaks with conventional wisdom.

As stated, my office is 14x16, to exit there is a small hall of 4x4 feet with a 1 foot 45 degree angle (about where Neil Young's rhythm guitar player is). The ceiling height starts at 9 feet slope upward to around 12 feet, has a 3 foot run before it slopes back down to 9 feet.

My Tekton 4.5s sit on a 6 foot long heavy duty solid maple piece that holds albums, cd's and books. The speakers are only 6 inches from the back wall toed in 1/2 inch from edge back left, 1 and 1/4 inches from edge front left. Same measurement on the right 1/2 inch from edge back right, etc. the center of the 4.5 inch Teckton speaker is basically 60 inches apart and they are 43 inches to the center of the single driver off the floor which is carpeted. My desk is on the opposite side of the room and I face speakers from about 10 feet distance, my ears just slightly below 43 inches, which to me sounds best. My chair adjusts up and down.

When I swapped in the Lore just to see what they would do in this room I ended up placing them exactly as the 4.5s with the following difference: as a 39 inch floor stander I placed them 2 inches away from the side edge of the maple cabinet and 2 inches in front of the front edge of said cabinet. As stated the toe in and distance from back wall stayed nearly the same. This room has a 2 person couch and 1 over-stuffed chair and wood filing cabinet, no room treatments. That pretty much covers it and I am sure it doesn't help you one wit in your room. I want to state one other thing though, the bass on the little 4.5 is very good given its parameters, probably beats its specs a tad. As for the Lores, tuneful, warm, gets very close to the measured specs.
One thing I forgot: I also tilt the Lore up slightly, about 1/2 inch. Also, the Lore loses about a foot laterally, but still well outside the speakers. Depth is superb on both speakers. If I swap in my Cary 280 v12 with KT66s, the depth increase, the height increase, it's wall-to-wall on good recordings like Muddy Waters "Folk Singer."
Cymbop,

I am now going o give you my main listening room positioning for Lores only. Room dimensions are 16x26. 9 foot ceiling. When I use the Lores in this room I have them along the short wall 4 feet out into the room, 4 feet from each side wall 8 feet apart. I sit about 10 feet from speakers. Toe in is basically the same angle as my office. This room has an abundance of furniture, plants, paintings, hardwood floors with rugs, and so forth. Sound stage is wall-to-wall with either the Lores or Infinity Prelude Compositions. With the Compositions there is no toe in, fires straight ahead. I usually have my Cary 280 V12 with Cary SLP 98, a Rega P3 with Grado Platinum, or Sony DVP S9000ES as transport with Eastern Electric DAC upgraded fuse and Shuguang Black Treasure 12AU7, plus either Silnote Reference II IC, sometimes Alpha Core Silver Saphire; PS Audio Statement speaker cables. I also have used Kimber 8TC, Alpha Core Silver AG1s. Digital is either Black Cat Veloce or MIT. Power cords are all Custom Power Cords.
I am a Zu lover but found the Superfly speakers extremely difficult to place correctly. As David alludes to above, there is little margin for error, but when placed perfectly (I also found treatments necessary for this speaker) they are capable of disappearing.

On the contrary when placing/room interaction is off, the top end can be hot and fatiguing and the sound flat, dead and not really compelling.

Zus are capable of beautiful tone with great harmonic density coupled with raw drive, but they need to be coaxed. Its my theory that the difficulty I had placing mine is why they traditionally show poorly at conventions.

I've had 3 Zu haters hear my rig and change their conclusions... that is, until I reconfigured my room and lost my magic.
Gopher, this thread is aimed at helping to get that magic back. The harmonic density I'm hearing from the Omens coupled with their _speed_ is an incredible combination; if I can get the imaging right I'll be in heaven.

So for you, what specifically changed with the new configuration? Sidewall distance? Pullout from the front wall? Seating position?