Toe in is important, but too rarely do we talk about listening height. We are all of different stature and surely have different listening chairs. Standmount speakers are put on whatever stands with different footers, maybe backward slant etc. That is an important and difficult variable, the professional reviewers sometimes mention it, often not.
Toe in is crucial
I’m like the rest of us, obsessing about the smallest tweaks in power supplies, USB cables, cable risers, room acoustics, etc. But an underrated (or discussed) speaker tweak is toe in.
in my system (SF Amati, Mc components, Cardas, Weiss) adjusting speaker toe in by as little as ¼ inch has greater impact on SQ than many cable and other tweaks I’ve made at the tail end of refinement. The impact (and trade off) on sound stage, imaging, and treble presentation, by the smallest adjustments is profound.
I wasn’t quite satisfied with my system tonight—a little too forward; a narrower soundstage than I like. A ¼ inch toe in adjustment took me from hifi to the concert.
Not sure if others have experienced this, but thought I’d share.
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As @ghdprentice says - "Proper toe-in is definitely one of the critical basics of speaker placement", which I am in complete agreement. But one thing which no-one has mentioned; and that's to look at what YOUR speaker maker recommends, and start there. I use Mag 1.7i's and they reco that the tweeter should be closer to you (when tweets placed on inner edge) = toe in. Each speaker type has massively different vertical and polar response plots, so one cannot say that toe in/out for speakers is good/bad/right/wrong. It depends entirely on the speaker and the room. My old Apogee Stage used very little toe in, but these Mags require quite a lot. And TINY changes make a large and noticeable difference, and staying with panels, the tilt of the speaker; Apogee even supply a plumb line to get this right. And panel distance to listener MUST be the same - I use a laser measure, and just moving one speaker 10mm (3/8" to you guys) forward/back makes a BIG difference to the focus of the sound stage. And, @ortodox - that is completely wrong. Horns require toe in/out/none adjustment too, as acman3 also says - I KNOW, from personal experience. As for @incorrigable - What a load of balony (I couldn't think of anything less insultng to say, rather than what I wanted to say!) - BO**OCKS. Which can also be applied to your 2nd paragraph, more so in fact! WtF has Power got to do with anything here? NOTHING! And; "If toe makes you post here make your next speakers something that radiate nice and wide" - what ARE you on about?? Stop taking whatever you're on! |
- 43 posts total