Small Discrepancies in Speaker Placement


So, of course, after a hard day’s work, I had nothing better to do than futz around with speaker placement. After some trial and error, I found that my speakers (JA Pulsars non-graphene) work best when pointed straight ahead with no toe-in. When placing them, I inadvertently put the left speaker about 1/2" closer to the side wall than the right speaker. They were previously exactly the same distance from each side wall. With this new, slightly unequal placement, the speakers completely disappear. This was confirmed by my wife who, without any prompting, told me that the music now seems to be coming from out of nowhere, whereas it was directional previously. I can’t explain this phenomenon ... does 1/2" really make that much of a difference? HEY, turn off your dirty minds. wink Any opinions would be welcome. Thanks.
rlb61

@rlb61 , I am playing with speaker placement in a small room myself. What have you found is working best for you as far as distance from the wall? (Meaning the wall directly in front of the speakers that you are facing when you listen.)

@immatthewj ... I’ve got the speakers a little over 2.5' from the front wall to the baffle.

One other thought is that it’s not the difference on the sidewall distance in your setup, but possibly discovering the best distance between the speakers.  If you shifted each in the same direction 1/4” away from the short measurement they would be equal to the side walls and maintain the current distance between.  Do they continue to disappear?   I have found small changes to the inter speaker distance can be critical in my system. 

@rlb61- thank you for posting this.  Placement can be completely critical and small differences in horizontal or vertical placement can yield major differences in performance.  You have figured out exactly the way to do it -just change the placement around until you find the magic one.  

When  I visit recording studios this is exactly the same principle.  Stands (often ignored) can also make a huge difference. 

Brad