Soundstage - Too much?

Anyone?? when you speak of distance from wall to speaker, is it wall to tweeter,wall to the outside of speaker or wall to inside of speaker cabinet? What about front wall measurements! Wall to back of speaker or front?

perfectimage, ewe say:

"The further from the wall the speaker gets the less defined the image gets...."

this is precisely where i disagree, & think the exact opposite is true. in *my* experience, proximity to side walls, & to a lesser extent, back walls, is what ruins imaging in many speakers. the sound-absorbent wall treatments need to be at the 1st reflection points specifically to *remove* the wall.

in my listening room, the speakers are ~5' from the rear walls, ~8' apart, & ~9' from the side walls. i sit ~10' from the speakers, with ~23' behind me to the rear wall. with my 25'-wide room, there's no way *any* speaker is gonna image outside the side walls, and i wouldn't even want an image that wide - it'd be way-too-unnatural. the *depth* of the soundstage, however, often *does* sound like it extends beyond the wall behind the speakers, tho. but, this is not unrealistic.

regards, doug

ps - david, sorry i'm not more specific - my measurements here are approximations. i *do* think it's best to keep as far away as possible fro the side-walls, tho, &/or use sound absorbtion at the 1st reflection point if they're anywhere near the speakers. monitors too far from the rear walls can lose lo-end reinforcement w/o subs, so there can be a soundstage-vs-bass compromise regarding how close/far to the rear wall ya wanna have the speakers...

david99: it's easiest, of course, to measure from the edges of your speakers. the measurements that usually count most, tho, are from the center of your speakers (if alingned or approximate center if not) and the vertical mid-plane of the surface(s) to which the drivers are attached. but, as sedond notes: "the farther the better" is the general rule of thumb, no matter how you measure.

Sedond. We are never going to convince each other so I wont push anymore. You have very keen observation skills and although I cant convince you maybe I can help. I highly recommend The Master Handbook of Acoustics by Everest. Its a heavy read at times but very imformative and covers all of the topics we were discusing. Enjoy!!

thanks for the tip, perfect image. regarding "convincing me", i guess the only way i could be convinced, would be to hear imaging improve as a speaker is moved closer to a side-wall! :>) 'til now, as previously said, i've found the opposite to be true.

perhaps, i'm misunderstanding a bit, if you define *precise imaging* as something that comes at the expense of a wide soundstage. i've found this to be true when comparing different models of speakers - i.e.: some models seem to have a wide stage at the expense of specific image placement across the stage, while others' image specificity is more precise, w/the soundstage rarely extending past the edges of the speakers. (i'm searching for *both*!) but, even regarding these distinctions, i have found *both* to be improved the farther away a speaker gets from the side-wall.

regards, doug