How far away from your speakers are you?
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it said no audiophile“ never. I am not lazy, but I placed my speakers where they function best without worrying if it is the absolute best spot. I correct soundstage/imaging problems with the speakers by using a pair of Shakti Hallographs on the front and rear wall areas. The speakers are equidistant from walls but I chose 8'6" center of speaker separation, 2' from side walls and 3' from rear walls for Focus speakers. I sit 11' from the front of the speakers and 3' from the rear wall on a velvet couch although sometimes I place a chair in front at about 9'6" for more direct sound. Unfortunately, my smaller listening room almost dictates the speaker and seating placement. The room is of very high custom built quality so that I have no bass issues and has acoustic foam along the side walls and hung from the ceiling. The walls have 22 SR HFTs placed on them and 10 on the speakers. Three people can enjoy great sound on the right and two on the left (10' wide couch). After I adjusted the Hallographs, I haven't altered the speaker positions or the HFTs in a year (new residence). |
@kftooll, Wow, just wow! I love it! It just oozes the love put into it. I wish you the very best with your health. I hope your endeavor to find an eventual suitable curator comes to your attention soon. Perhaps, the local symphony could purchase it to house the residing conductor as part of his or her's compensation? |
I have ATC SCM100aslt's setup in a 2.5m (~8ft) equilateral triangle in a 4.3x6.1m (~14'x20') room. Per ATC'S setup recommendation, the speakers are spaced well off the front and side walls. I'm also a strong advocate of room treatment. The speaker position and room treatment is mirrored L/R. This is probably close to how the monitor versions of the 100's would be used in studios and provides wonderfully neutral coherent sound. |
Thanks Larry5729 I rechecked with the Ballad of a Runaway Horse by Jennifer Warnes and felt placement and imaging good but had to mess anyway. I sit 9’ from speakers. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it said no audiophile“ never. |
With my maggie 1.7s I have them 6.5’ apart, center to center (5' edge to edge) with the tweeter ribbons to the outside. They are exactly 41.5" from inside back edge of speaker to the wall behind and 42.5" from outside back edge of speaker to the wall behind, so very slight toe in. The rt. speaker is 3’ from side wall and left speaker is open to the dinning room. The audio room is 14’ x 27’ plus 11’ x 14’ open dinning on the left. Listening distance is 8.5’ from the center of ea. speaker, so it works out very close to the 120% ratio. I have a well dampened room with acoustic drapes across the wall behind the speakers. As set up, the image stays tight and true regardless of standing sitting or in or out of the center sweet spot, but if the toe in is changed even by I/4" the off axis imaging diminishes. I’ve tried changing their placement a dozen different ways but nothing sounds as good as exactly the way it is....Jim |
Once I read that a good way to find a place to put your speakers is to put one of the speakers in the chair where you sit (if they are small enough) and to move around the room with music going in the chair and find a spot where the music sounds balanced. Put one of the speakers in that spot. Repeat the process for the other speaker and put the other speaker in that second spot. This procedure also works with small sub-woofers to give balanced bass. Alternatively some people like to put sub-woofers in the corner. That often gives more output, but there is also a level control on powered sub-woofers. Other recommendations are given by the manufacturers. You could try that, too. They often suggest things like a triangle shape, and various amounts of toe-in and distances, such as the rule of thirds. I have recently experimented with four Magnepan 1.7 speakers by putting two on one end of the room and the other two facing in the same direction about halfway along the room near the walls. It really gives a big image. The key is experimentation. |
Hi all, I had the luxury of designing my music room on the side of our home with no size restrictions. The room is 30 ft. wide by 55 ft. long with no parallel surfaces. The ceiling is 11 ft high in front and 18 ft high in the rear. The ceiling design was patterned after a concert hall in Osaka Japan.It was designed with acoustic treatment from ETF tests taken when the room was closed in. The three front channel line sources are 9ft 6 inches tall. Left and right channels are 6 ft. from built in subs and center channel is 11 ft from the curved front wall. Seating positions are 23 ft. from the front channels. Pictures are in Audiogon's extra large rooms-Ken Fritz's system. Additional information in the following links.https://www.dropbox.com/s/yqoirc6g2w6jf9m/Ken%20Fritz%20V3%20CC%20Mix.mp4?dl=0 |
My dual Audire dual mono powered amps feed older B&W 803 II Matrix speakers on 10", time aligned positioned subs a bit over 2 feet from the back wall of windows, 4 1/2 feet apart in a 12 foot wide room that is 9 feet deep, The speaker/dining room (Table is below and between the speaker drivers) is about 6" lower than the rest of the house, and is completely open to a 25 foot deep kitchen room on one side, and 32-35 feet on the other. Variable bright reflection or deadening rear reflection of the sound is provided by blinds with a woven, convex surface on one side and a slick concave side on the other. Other options are available by partially open blinds that can be set for a bit of directionality of the reflection off of the 12-14 foot high windows and with open windows, at least when my neighbors are gone for the winter. I usually run the blinds in the soft, reflection absorbing position. The rest of my house is two medium sized bedrooms and baths. Depending on the source and the mix of the recording, and on the position of the blinds, I sit from 10 feet to about 13 feet away, which gives me from 15-22 feet of open room behind me. I did buy the house based on what I thought the acoustics would be, with its open area floor plan and high ceilings. My guess was right. My electronics are in the ex- laundry room, with its dedicated washer outlet. Speaker cables are still only about 14-15 feet long. Yes, I am spoiled by my listening room, but... It gets worse! By turning my listening room chair 90 degrees, after sliding it back a few feet, I have my much older stand mount B&W DM14's a foot and a half from the wall, 5 feet apart, and 12-13 feet from me, with the ceiling rising from 10 to 14 feet before dropping off behind me. Under the television, just above the fireplace mantle is a fake fireplace stuffed with Bryston electronics and TV electronics. And yes, all can play on NPR FM play when I cook! Oh yeah, a friend gave me his BOSE towers with powered subs, which sit alone on the back wall by my antique desk, alas, with no amp, bless their little hearts. |
Good question. I have 2 listening areas. Main, for my primary system. Secondary, for my computer system. My listening room is 30ft x 12ft, roughly divided in 2. Approximately 1/2 is for equipment and listening. Approximately 1/2 is for an office. Primary KEF LS50 Speaker are about 2.5ft from side walls, about 4ft from the back wall and sit about 6.5ft apart. My chair is about 6.5-7ft from the speaker center line. Speakers are toed in so I can just see the back edges of the cabinets. I initially placed the KEF pr in the same location as the Triangle pr: about 3ft from the side walls, 5ft from the back wall and about 6ft apart, with a listening distance of 6ft. This location was perfect for the Triangle pr; they disappeared with an image that extended far beyond the confines of the cabinets. However with the KEF pr, I began to feel that the the stereo image was a bit confined and I wasn't fully hearing what I felt the pr were capable of. I moved the KEF pr a little closer to the side walls, a little farther apart, and a littler farther away from me. Improvement was immediate. A much wider and more detailed sound stage. Images have started to move outside of the speaker edges. I hear more depth around musicians etc. Still a work in progress, but moving farther away definitely helped. Triangles worked best in near field. KEF not so near so to speak, even though they are an homage to the LS3/5a which is the archetype for the nearfield monitor. Secondary system is in my office. Spica TC50 Speakers are located at the outer back edges of a 4ft wide desk and toed in to directly face me, and my head is about 3ft away. Imaging is pin point with outstanding depth and placement, albeit in a small space. Almost like a pr of headphones. I tried several small monitors in the same space (NEAR 10m, Acoustic Energy Aegis 1, ADS 410, Advent 3, Dynaco A-10) and the Spicas are significantly better in this location. Like the KEF example, not what was expected. The lesson of all of the above is to be open to experimentation, and thinking out side of the box. |
My Listening room is: 22’(L) X 12’(W) X 8’(H). My Tannoy SGM-15’s are 7’ apart, 7’ from front wall, 9’ from seating, and 14’ from the rear wall. A pair of Rel S-812 are just inside L & R Speakers. The Tannoy's are on 18" stands and fire directly to my ears when I am seated in my "sweet spot" The sound stage is good and most noticeable in between speakers. |
Focal aria 936’s: room: 19x42 2 10” diy subs. Set just high enough to add support without obvious bass boost/boom speakers are 5’ from curtained front wall 7’ 7” apart and 9’ 5” from listening pos. Which leaves just over 5’ from side walls. Very slight toe inImaging is outstanding. With maybe just a touch too little center fill. Toe in more? 936’s by most recc’s do best firing straight forward, but I’m not finding that in my room. Time to play a bit with position but I’ll have to mark current carefully. Hate to loose what I’ve got and not get it back. |
It's a good question, but it begs for another question. Do you have near, mid or farfield speakers? How large is your room. I have nearfield speakers in a small room. (Barfoot sound MM27) What annoys me inspite of room tuning (acoustic material) is that i still would like to move my rear wall 2 meters further. A close position would be a benefit talking side reflexions (floor, roof and side walls). You want direct sound and not reflextions. Anyway, this is all a can of worms.... |
I don’t sit down to listen to music because I feel couch potatoes take more ambulance rides then anybody in the long run I place my speakers high enough to have the correct sonic level of the speakers My speakers have horns and drivers in them to find the correct location I close my eyes listen carefully and position my body slowly where I am hearing the most out of the music Then I take a soundbath That is my way of doing it and I know there’s many different ways to achieve this Everyone has their own idea Whatever works for you after sifting through all of this is probably best for you Thank you for reading my posts and considering a new way |
Far enough away from all of y'all that I can play whatever whenever as soft or as loud as I may care to at this time of night. *S* Since I'm diy'ing speakers, I occasionally on purpose see if I can break them. Large enough space that things may clip and go into thermal shutdown.... I'm usually wearing hearing protection when doing this because I'm not stupid.... (...and I heard that, too.....back atcha'...) |
To say my listening room is less than ideal, is an understatement. However, we do the best we can! Speakers are set up in a 11X18 room using the Fibonacci Progression method, as outlined on Cardas site. I'm sitting approx 6' from my Cornwalls. They are elevated by 2" (On street hockey balls) Toed in and tilted back by 1 degree. Might as well be wearing headphones I know, but it does sound fantastic :) Cornwall's were never meant to be used as near field listening I suspect... They have had extensive internal bracing done, some added poly and bass port mods and some damping of the horns which have been coated with spray foam insulation. |
Perks of being single: Speakers are 4 feet from front wall. Never ask to listen to music. Play whatever I want at whatever volume I want. Never ask to buy any equipment. Never have to lie or schedule deliveries of new equipment. No one ever nagging me about audio or anything else for that matter. Never worry about someone taking my system or needing to sell my system for extra cash when the divorce happens. |
Room and WAF dominant factors. Cat plays a roll too. Room 17x12x9. Speakers ~ 14.5 ft from ears, 2 ft from side walls, 1.5 ft from front wall, 7 ft apart. Room is partially open on side walls, eliminating much of 1st reflection point to the side. Nothing I can do about ceiling and floor reflections, as the cat pisses on any rug placed in the room. Shockingly, it sounds pretty good. Voices dead solid in the center, stage width wider than speakers. When the shock of last few purchases stops reverberating on the WAF, and I can again spend to influence the sound, some white GIK panels will go on ceiling at FRP. And some GIK art - Euro vacation pic - will go behind me on back wall, so I don't always have to use the couch to limit those reflections. That will get my ears back up toward tweeter level, which is unfortunately immobile. Not that I dislike lounging on the couch with a sound-enhancing bit of Kentucky's finest. Also, don't mind bending to the WAF - she's more stunning than any stereo image could ever be, and brings my refreshments to the couch. For a few years I used Bose cubes to make her happy - man hath no greater love, almost! |
I would Google master setting speakers. Not sure where you live, but find a dealer who specializes in this. Soundings here in Denver is one of the best in the country. I have copied and pasted an article to help you. Soundings demonstrated this in their listening room and it is amazing. After the master set you can sit in any part of your room and not detect left and right front speaker. This is a very tedious process and it can take hours. Little movements 1/8" movements takes a long time. I literally took a tape measure and measure the distances to my ears and then set that distance in my ARCAM AVR 550 receiver. I then calibrated my pair REL S2 SHO subwoofers until they were seemless. You will be amazed by the difference in sound staging. This helps to balance the bass so it is not boomy.
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I measure from my ear to the front of the speaker using a laser measure (actually my bass driver, probably, as my laser goes through the Vandy 'sock'). I thought at 8’-9’ was close as well, but am surprised how many others listen from that distance, or closer. I don’t have much flexibility, and attempt to sit as far away as possible, while also pulling them out to achieve the best sound. I’ve always wanted to explore Maggies, but just don’t think I have the room unfortunatley. |
How are you guys measuring? From ear to front baffle of speaker? From general seating distance to front baffle of speaker? From either of those to the plane of the speakers? 7-8 ft. from your ear to the drivers is VERY close. Not many speakers are coherent enough to pull that off. I think most of you are farther away than you think. Oz |
My listening room is the garage simply because I spend a lot time outside. I have a nice private space here for me, my system and my CBR 600 which is parked between (nice visual) the speakers The first pair of speakers are 7' apart second pair are next to them and 11' from the futon I relax on.I greatly enjoy the sound and the solitude .....and some of the neighbor's must enjoy it as I have on many occasion been asked to "turn it up I like that song!". |
A Dead Head wife with her own substantial LP collection who understood and enjoyed audio prior to our marriage and an invaluable partner in setting up and furnishing. Very close to Golden Ratio for speaker placement with very slight toe in as per manufacturer suggestions. Used the mobility of an office chair to fine tune seating position. Crawl Test method to locate two subwoofers. Home theater in a separate room using perfect circle and uniform tweeter hight for 7.1 to locate six of the seven identical speakers. Crawl tested the subwoofer location in the mode nearest the listening position. |
Mine are about 5 feet from side walls, 3 feet from back of speaker to wall, speakers are angled in so I can just see the inner sides of speakers, It's been awhile since I measured how far they are apart but my sitting position is roughly the same distance as the speakers are apart. It is so system dependent if I'm using my Quads they sound best with just a slight bit of toe in, pretty much all my other speakers I use the current toe in where I can barley see the inner side of the speaker. |
My speakers are 16’ apart and I sit on the couch between them or stand about 10’ in front of them. This is condo/wife/practicality. It soundstages flat as a pancake but images are well defined, recording dependent. Don’t feel sorry for me. It’s a master at grabbing hold of music and making me dance. Counterintuitively the quality of the gear is super critical because of the distancing. My previous Vandersteen 3A Sigs with Ayre amp and ARC Ref 3 pre could not even create a well defined center image and showed just how mid-fi that combo was. |
I sit 8 feet away. Speakers are 7 1/2 feet apart, 2 1/2 feet from sidewalls, 3 feet from front wall. I sit 3 1/2 feet from the back wall. Speakers slightly toed-in. I should add that I level my speakers and they are almost identically placed with regards to distance to the side and front walls. Makes my ocd happy! |
My room is 16' x 22' feet with roof on shorter side 8' high and taller side 12' high. Then the kitchen also opens up to the listening area adding an additional 20' in length. It was a challenge setting up my Thiel 3.6 speakers with Mark Levinson 23.5 amp. Speakers are 3' from the front wall firing straight into the listening area (no toe-in). Right speaker is 3' from the wall on shorter side of the roof and left speaker is 5' from the wall on taller side of the roof. Speakers are 8' apart. My listening chair is 10' from the midway point between the speakers. Thiel speakers use first-order cross over networks and drivers are vertically aligned so that direct sound waves from the three drivers arrive at listening position at the same time. Thiel 3.6 user manual says chair should be at least 8' from the speakers for this to happen. This arrangement can work perfectly for only one listening position. However, because the drivers are positioned in a vertical line the error introduced by a listener to the side of the speaker is very small. Also, because the driver spacing is small compared to the wavelength at the crossover frequency, the error introduced by changes in listener height are small within the range of normal seated listening heights provided the listener is 8 feet or more from the speakers." When I am seated comfortably, my ears are approximately 36" from the floor, same as the height to a point between the mid-range driver and the tweeter. Both the distance and height are critically important when you have time and phase coherent speakers. Some listeners find Thiel speakers to be harsh and bright. Several factors contribute to this perception/experience. First, you need a muscle amp to drive these babies. Your amp must have enough current to bring life to Thiel speakers. Second, the distance to the listening position. If you have toed-in these speakers and seated less that 8' away, you are basically hurting your ear drums. Whether you toed-in or not, your listening chair must be at least 8' away. You need to play with this. Third, listening height. If your ears are above the level of the tweeter axis, then these speakers will sound bright. You may have some flexibility with listening height with Thiel speakers using coaxial drivers (ex: Theil 3.7). We all spend money on audio gear and there is the bug that keep pushing you for upgrades. Bit you can get lot more from your system by playing with speaker placement and folks that cost you nothing. |
I have been positioning my speakers using this CD. It is available on Spotify. https://store.acousticsounds.com/d/5456/Chesky_Records-Gold_Stereo__Surround_Sound_Set-Up_Disks-CD |
I put them where they would not be in the way, about 20-30cm from the wall and maybe 2 m between their tweeters. If I ever sat down to listen to them, it would be at about 2 m from each speaker. However, I virtually never do it. I do not think I turned them on in weeks. The speaker I really listen to is a Bluetooth speaker. Wherever it fits at that moment. |