Speakers along short or long wall


What scientific test/ test tone/ track can help to determine whether I should have the speakers along the short or long wall in my living room.
Does the Stereophile 2, 3, or the Rives CD have any track to be used. I do have the Radio Shack Sound level meter.
Thanks
dcaudio
FWIW I don't think any test disc is really going to give you the information you are looking for if what you want to determine is on which wall to put the speakers. I think the difference between the two locations is, as much as anything, how you hear all of the reflected sounds. Most folks I know prefer using the short wall. Give it a try. BTW Rives is as good test disc for tones as any and its corrected for the RS meter. If you want to fine tune your set up or equipment find a copy of Depth of Image by Opus 3, its outstanding for that purpose.
Try the speakers in many locations. Long wall and short wall -- see what sounds best to you. Depends on the dimensions, but I generally prefer the
long wall -- give you more room for your sound stage -- I like to have my speakers far away from side walls. But, every room is different.
Hmmm.... I'd start with the rule of thirds for both axes to get a good estimation of the total differences. Then maybe tighten up the long wall geometry to the same as the short wall one to further isolate just the ROOM difference...in other words set of a nearfield triangle and try it both directions. I use such a geometry on the short wall, creating a VERY deep sounstage (8 ft behind the speaker plane). Sidewall tuning becomes more critical, but with great speakers will yield a very wide stage, as the 60 degree or so angle with the listening chair is still sumptuous. It all depends...no easy answers here.
Just have fun, trust your ears, paying specuial attention to toe in and sidewall splatter. Some speakers--especially 3 ways or any with widely spaced drivers, will require a minimum lestener distance before cohering sufficiently.
My home demo of N803 comes to mind. They needed 10+ feet to work, as the midrange/woofer crossover is too high at 400Hz. So there's a speaker that ONLY works on the short wall in a long triangle, for example, but with special attention to sidewalls to dampen the hot tweeters' flare.
Two-ways will generally cohere well in the nearfield, giving you more room setup geometries that are acceptable tonally. As you might sense, I'm a fan of closely-matched stereo pairs in the nearfield, using a 7.5' equi triangle in a 14x24x8 room. Cheers.