Speaker direction?

Dave_b:

"The more toe in used the the [sic] smaller the soundstage." In fact, it depends upon the speaker and the room. A speaker like your WP 6 requires toe-in due to beaming caused in the upper mids by the use of what is basically a woofer as a midrange cone. Some speakers can achieve best staging when the axis crosses several feet in front of the listener (Revel Salons in some set-ups), others tend to sound best with no toe-in (Thiels), etc.

"Speakers should be on the long wall and 10 to 12 ft apart min." D'Appolito'd speakers like Dunlavys can play best that way, but many speakers will have a weak or non-existent center image if run without toe-in. As for long wall versus short wall, long wall happens to be my preference with most speakers, but not always.

"Seating should be no more than the distance apart, preferrably a ltlle [sic] less." Many speakers are best listened to far-field, particularly those with drivers spaced far apart so that the sound coming off the drivers has the space needed to properly integrate. The room boundaries and room treatment also affect optimal listening distance.

"Sit low with back against treated wall if possible." It depends. A basic rule of listening room acoustics is that either the front wall or back wall should be treated, but not both (and not always the back wall). Also, some speakers (the Aerial 20-T) require space behind the listener.

If you are interested, Robert Harley's book about hi-fi basics covers a lot of these points. Also, I noticed that your system is all-digital and uses Krell electronics - do you have experience with other types of systems?

Raquel, I assume you are a woman, because you are correct in everything you said:) Of course, I was generalizing for the average system and the most common mistakes made by audiophiles. I have owned many reference systems, but most were digital based. All things considered, I do believe most audiophiles tend to constrain their systems by placing the speakers incorrectly for whatever reasons they may have.

I believe this subject is based on finding the magic "sweet spot" where the soundstage is..... what your system ( speakers) has or can produce. The amount of toe in is like what was explained above. The best way to know if you have found your "sweet spot" is to know what it sounds like. Meaning that there is a real "soundstage' where music flows between and even past your speaker distance. It can be a pain as mentioned to get it right. One thing some forget to do is make sure that both channels are equal. I use a db meter from radio shack. One point I listen for is vocals. I want them dead center and the most natural. I don't agree with the equal or triangle set up. That is used for most near field monitors and or smaller rooms. For large floor standing speakers the distance and seating is best done by moving your seating position first. Then move the speakers farther apart and try again. Just one foot ( or 6 inches each side and or back wall also ) will made a change. As you are approaching the lock on position for the sweet spot small changes will get you where your system sounds the best. I like to do this at night when the ambient noise level in your room is the quietest and with very little light. Taking your eyes out of the equation helps your ears focus better.

Calldr, I grew up listening to music in a basement with the lights out. The ipod generation will never understand the complete immersion that is possible with music. Not only has music been dumbed down, but the art of listening has as well...along with the discrimination to even recognise either abilities loss as important.

Believe it or not the iPod is the best thing to happen to music. It's not showing up right now, but this new generation will evolve to BETTER sound! because they are at least interested. The future for HD recordings that go hand in hand with Video/Movies is a bright future. You enjoy music like I do. But don't forget what we used to think sounded good...LOL! The NEW Audiophiles will not be as gullible. They are better at math..LOL! No 1,000.00 cable to make a 1,000.00 speaker sound better...LOL! The problem with Hi End audio sales is because the younger generation gets better sound out of an iPod than we did in the 70's with top gear in that time. The winners in high end audio will be those that can produce affordable products that preform at a rate to the money paid. We are guilty for spending 1,000.00 for 1% improvement..if that...LOL! This is the digital age and new Audiophiles will be a new breed.