Lacking Soundstage - Vandersteen 2C


Hello,

I have been trying different placements with Vandersteen 2C speakers, but soundstage and depth have been elusive. The speakers are placed 2ft from the back wall and 2 ft from the side walls. One thing though, only the right speaker hads side wall next to it, the left one has a pillar (next to the entrance). The speakers are about 4 ft apart and about 8 ft from the listening position. The speakers are (now) toe'd in a bit, still cluttered soundstage.

Is there something wrong with the speaker placement?
livin_262002
Also,I read your placement after(sorry) writing about the crossovers,and Mofimadness is on the right track.Usually unless the manufacturer states otherwise,Try starting out with the triangle theory. If 7 feet apart,then 7 feet to the listening area.If 10 feet wide,then 10 feet to the listening area,and so on.
My guess is that your room is too small for these minimum baffle wide dispersion speakers that provide deep though not exceptionally tight bass that need room for driver intergration..
Try room treatments. I read the following tip-it makes a big difference in the image and soundstage, and its easy- Take a small mirror and have a friend hold it against the side wall. While sitting in the listening position, have your friend move the mirror along the wall until you can see the speaker's tweeter in the mirror (the speaker closest to the wall). The mirror will be in the first wave reflection. If you put something on the wall, like a tapestry or whatever, it will go along way to helping you get great stereo sound. For further refinement, try taming the second wave-continue to move the mirror further along the wall until you see the tweeter of the opposite speaker relected in the mirror. This is the second wave and if you place treatment there it will further refine the sound. This applies to any stereo and any room. Good luck.
Thank you All very much for the precious tips. I'll first try setting the speakers as far apart as possible as suggested by Mofimadness, Hifitime and Unsound, then I would try Tbromgard's suggestion to pinpoint wave reflection points on the wall. Will keep you updated with the status.

Thanks Again
All the Vandy floorstanders are sensitive to tilt and have a minimum listening distance (as specified in the manual). Also make sure that the speakers are level on both axes to begin with. I had to shim my Quatros to get the final tilt right. I use a Craftsman laser level to get a precise tilt at the listening position.

There is also the issue of minimum ear to speaker distance for time coincidence. This will be the minimum distance shown on the tilt diagram in the manual. (It's 6' for the Quatros, but 8' for the 3As, and I don't know what it is for the 2CEs. Check the manual.)

[Hifitime: No, no batteries in the Vandy 2s. The Quatro, 5A, and 7 require a high pass filter before the amplifier, and the one supplied by Vandersteen uses a battery for capacitor biasing (I don't really understand the need for this, either. It makes amp swapping less convenient).]