Speaker placement

Geoffkait - I had my Dyns approx 5ft (with no toe in) apart sitting approx 8ft back so I do mostly agree. Mostly because Raidho recommends 9ft apart. Right mow I can only get them 7ft apart (with about a 30 degree toe in). Tried closer together but it kills the sound. The Dyns have a very wide dispersion while the D1's is fairly narrow. Both give a nice wide sound stage from the sweet spot - with the Dyns having a wider sweet spot. Like I said 2 very different speakers.

Newbee, the answer to your question is the XLO Test CD. The speaker placement track allows you to find the very best speaker locations in any room, independent of room dimensions, room acoustic treatments, if any, and type of speaker. Attempting to find the absolute best locations by ear is a pig in a poke because you can never really be sure you have actually found the best locations.

My speakers are like gypsies, they are never in the same place for very long.

Everytime I THINK I have found the sweet spot(Acoustat monitor X)I think I can do better and so I move them,a bit more forward, a bit further apart, a bit closer to the side walls, a bit more toe-in.

Then I move the chair back and forth,closer then further away from the speakers.

Nothing is really bad, and it's just one trade off for another.
You win in some areas and lose in others.

And did I say, it varies from recording to recording?

I do have some room tuning devices,which have helped,but when it comes to stats, the book is still out on a reflective or absortive wall behind the speakers.

So far spreading the room treatment out around the room seems to work,but that stuff is also in a gypsy state of mind.LEDE, been there done that, moved on.

Rules of thirds, Cardas measurements, tuning by ear, using test records,everything sounds decent, but still no definitive speaker placement.

My hat's off to anyone who feels that they have accomplished what I think is an almost impossible feat, at least with my speakers.

Boy does that ring a bell! I started with Acoustats then I moved on to Quad 63's (for better resolution) and did most every thing you mentioned including changing electronics, wires, etc. I spent over three years of my life(!) trying to tune them in. I'm a slow learner I think, but I finally gave up. I went back to boxes and the sun shone brightly again. A walk in the park in comparison! And I got to apply successfully all that I had learned. There is a Santa Claus. :-)

I guess I should clarify that I don't find the speaker placement issue a bad thing.

I've always appproached this hobby as a work in progress.
Here's one thing that I've done that's given me some help in arriving at where my speakers are now-more radically towed in.

I listen to headphones-AKG K702-Burson headphone amp-and then because they are almost like headphones, I place the Acoustats in my room to try and replicate that sound.

So far this has worked for me.