What is the minimum distant for Zu?

52tiger, Looks like your speakers have built in adjustable subwoofers. Which makes it much easier to dial in the bass. Assuming you have your speakers on the short wall I would try pulling them out about 6 to 7 feet from the back wall. That should leave you about 10' from the speakers to the listening possition assuming your bed is on the other side of the room and you sit in front of it. You will have to readjust the bass controls as the bass will be less strong with the speakers pulled from the corners of the room. You should notice a deeper soundstage and a bigger sound with the speakers farther into the room. As for how far from the side walls 2 to 3 feet is a good place to start.

After you try that I would just move them around forwards and back/ side to side till you find the sweet spot for your taste. Being able to adjust the bass is a big bonus because it allows you to set the speakers in the best place for the soundstage then you can dial in the bass for that placement. My speakers have adjustable bass as well and I don't think I would have it any other way.

Sean

New house dedicated room, 28 by 17.8 and 8 ft ceilings. I had them about 4 ft of wall behind speakers and about 13ft apart I thought the wider the better however I went and visited a shop in Memphis to have my turn table set up and he was listening about seven ft apart and seven ft away. I had remembered Shaun was saying in a room you should set the speakers a 3rd of the way in and so I tried the speakers at about 9 ft from the wall and about 9 ft apart. Let me back up a bit. At 4 ft It sounded good but there was a certain tone that would irritate my ear, not sure what it was but after I moved them it went away completely!!! To me placement made more of a difference than a new component did.

The right distance is highly room-dependent. But you have lots of latitude for the minimum acceptable distance. The original Definition architecture with the rear-firing sub-bass array can be used as close as 2" from the wall behind them. Side walls and other boundaries will affect your perception of the soundstaging but sometimes you just don't have a practical choice. 2' from side walls is certainly within guidelines for acceptable placement.

Depending on the room, experimentation may lead to widely differing conclusions. You might trade image scale for lessened constraining effects of side walls. But you might make it up with less toe-in. Def3s have the nano FRDs, so you get more spatial latitude to dial in your preference on the continuum from precision to sheer spatial scale. Get away from booming effects of corners if possible and then prioritize soundstaging.

Phil