Need help with room problems

Eenteresting, eenteresting. I can imagine it now. Not sure it would pass the WAF but it's worth a try. Never thought of it. Guess that means I'd have to change the left speaker for the right so the tweeters are properly aligned.

I know what you mean about the narrow sweet spot but right now it seems ridiculously narrow. I remember some bizarre post somewher in which the author suggested a kind of head vise to maintain objectivity during a review, (or something to that effect). Methinks I gots to get me one o' dem.

One of many reasons I like Maggie 1.6 speakers or anything above them (3.6's or 20's if you got the dough) are that they yield a very large 3D window on the music. The sweet spot is large if set up properly. And they do not sound much different even if you stand up.

But back to your problem. I can not know for sure but I can tell you that the largest improvement I have made in my system bar none, is the placement of 4 bass traps in my room. I can not tell you the difference in the size of the soundstage and how they helped eliminate smear. What I am suggesting is that maybe this is the reason you have such a small sweet spot????? OR at least it could be contibuting to it. Food for thought. But I also agree with the prior responses above that it has been my experience that many box speakers have small sweet spots. If you like box speakers, rather than planers, I heard some "Tyler Acoustics" that threw a very large presentation almost like the Magnaplaners.

Hope some of this was useful.

R.

Robert

Stuart:
I've checked your room pics. I second Newbee on trying toe in the speakers maybe not as radical but some you'll have to play with them as usual. Your room dimensions are close to mine and I ran into problems when I opened the speakers apart too much. Your idea of tweeter position inside or outside seems interesting to explore. I have noticed your bass trap type acc treatments. Do you have something for side wall reflections your "like corner" pic doesn't show clearly but there seems to be some furniture very close to the speaker, correct?
Do you have any acc treatment behind your seating position? WHat's your seat distance to back wall?
If cable length allows would really suggest you try to move back the rack and TV 2 ft behind speaker plane ....
Maybe you have tried before some of this ideas but would like to hear your comments
Regards
Luis

Your instincts are right. Try the short wall with the curtains behind your speakers. As an experiment, set it up without the TV between the speakers. Pull the speakers out from the wall about 3 feet and set them 8 feet apart on centers. Toe them in about 10 degrees. This will help to focus the soundstage and widen the sweet spot. Place your listening chair so your ears are about 10 feet away from the plane connecting the speakers. Make sure the symmetry is exact. Measure it carefully. Put the bookcases behind the listening chair. They will act as a partial room divider and also function as good diffusors. You could put some absorptive panels at the new first reflection points on the walls, but I would try it first without them.

This setup should give a large soundstage. Firing down the long dimension of the room is almost always preferable to firing down the short dimension. One advantage is it allows you to sit a little farther away from the speakers, which gives the sound from each driver time to integrate. The curtains behind the speakers are ideal for reducing reflections. This should be close to a LEDE (Live End, Dead End) approach which works very well. The open area behind the listening position will also help reduce reflections. Don't worry about losing the sound. The ideal case is for you to only hear the direct sound and the early reflections. Later reflections just serve to muddy up the sound.

If you must have the TV and equipment rack between the speakers, set them back at least 1 foot behind the front of the speakers.

Good ideas. In fact, great details. I think I will try the complete room re-arrangement and see how that goes.

At present the side wall reflection treatments aren't great, in the sense that the window on the left starts at the midpoint between the tweeter and woofer. There is a bookcase but a low one that is below the window. The right is open but I do have a large plush chair and some bookcases that correspond with the 1st reflection point. Maybe this deadening in opposition to the window's highly reflective properties is a problem. Other experiments with toe have been mixed. There is a focussing but a corresponding collapse of size and imaging. Hard to explain but the manufacturer suggests no toe-in and I have found that preferable in the long run. I guess I could put the TV on the other wall but I doubt it will reall work there. We'll see.

As far as behind my head. At present the wall is about 5", that is inches, not a typo, behind me with a large wool Iranian rug hanging the width of the couch. The speakers are about 8' away at the moment.

I'll try the re-arrangement and post again.