O.C.D. Speaker placement


How o.c.d. are you in speaker placement, and how important is it? I am o.c.d. in many aspects of my life including speaker placement. I've always enjoyed what is known as a formal balance (symmetrical design). So this is my dilemma: I have the distance of my speakers equal, within an 1/8", from the side and back walls, and they are also level side to side and front to back but the distance from the center of my listening position to the tweeters is different by somewhere between 1/2"-3/4". Does this even really matter?
I'm sure I'll get all kinds of jokes towards this question, but whatever. I figure there has to be some other o.c.d. people here considering all of the products aimed towards audiophiles, from footers to cable risers to c.d. and i.c. polishing kits.
128x128b_limo
Having your speakers equal distances from the back and side walls may not be the best acoustically. I would try the golden ratio. Read the quick primer on speaker placement at the cardas website under "insights".

Also, no need for periods between OCD. Its an acronym. But thats a little OCD of me to mention.

-Karl
If you're not using the speaker placement track on the XLO Test CD or similar you're not even close. Tip - speakers should be placed much closer together than most people think.
"Tip - speakers should be placed much closer together than most people think."

It never worked for me on the long wall and with large speakers. Every situation is different and requires trial and error because all speakers react differently with the room. Only if it were that simple to use a CD or read a book, but it's not.
02-06-13: Geoffkait
If you're not using the speaker placement track on the XLO Test CD or similar you're not even close. Tip - speakers should be placed much closer together than most people think.

This coming from the seller of the Teleportation tweek and the clever little clock.
After some reflection I would suggest that you avoid something that, while it might help in initial speaker set up, would really activate your OCD to new levels.

Don't buy a sound meter and test disc and try to obain flat frequency response (at your listening position) as well as maximizing your systems potential to produce high quality sound, especially its ability to do 3 dimensional soundstaging. The odds are highly against success, so if you try don't say you weren't warned! :-)

Rok2id, I'll take credit for that bit of toe-in. I recommend it all the time, but for some reason I get little feed back - I think many folks here really are not into soundstage specificity as we anal folks are. FWIW, its biggest influence is the obvious, it reduces side wall reflections thusly making the on axis response much cleaner. A side benefit is that it will also change the reflection patterns off the ceiling, as well as all of the 2d reflection points. I think this works best in medium sized rooms where these issues predominate. Also, it can allow closer to side wall placement to widen the sound stage without lessening the center image's specificity. Lots ot trial and error though to get it right.