2. speakers
  3. 132116-1973

Speaker Placement - When it's perfect!

So many audiophiles have commented that when your room treatment is completed, your electronics set up and tweaked and most importantly, your speakers are set up in your listening space correctly that you'll know it because everything just sounds so "right" and natural.  I just accomplished that feat in the last two weeks.  I say two weeks because I needed to play a wide variety of recordings to be sure that I'm there.  It is so great to have finally hit just the right set up.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it has taken me well over a year of experimentation to get to this point.  It's not that other placements yielded poor quality sound its just that now everything sounds like a live event (as much as any of our systems can).

I would really appreciate hearing about your journey to the promised land of audiophile/music lover bliss.  How long did it take, what were the most difficult aspects of the journey?  And if you have yet to get there, what do  you think is the "brick in your wall"?
128x128hifiman5
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,013 posts
 
my listening room is a living room of sorts so i have a few constraints that preclude a lot of speaker related tweaks other than trying to stick to the “ hocus pocus” formula of the hard physics of node creation. My choice of speaker includes 11 bands of EQ below 120 HZ so getting that right, tweaking level and Q on the sub consumes a few hours...
i do have 5 dedicated circuits and some ground float cheaters and some isolation tweaks but overall the hours put in were not excessive...
hifiman5's avatar
hifiman5 OP
1,832 posts
 
@dentdog Those fractions of an inch that you moved your speakers...I can relate to that. Actually that’s when I knew I was close. It was remarkable how much of a difference a fraction of an inch made especially as regards toe-in.

@kosst_amojan I bought those Walmart mattress pads too early on in my quest. An inexpensive way to experiment with room treatment!

@agriculturist I never used the Cardas info. from your link but I’m going to take a look at the different layouts to see if any fits my situation. (But I am NOT moving my speakers!)

@tomic601 Since your are not in a dedicated listening room, I imagine the EQ abilities and "Q" adjustments really helped you out.
tomcarr
1,538 posts
 
Understand where you're coming from hifiman5. Eerily similar journey, just reached my Nirvana point a few months ago. Dedicated room, dedicated outlets, room treatments, microscopic movements of the speakers and the listening seat. Amazing. Sonic bliss. Can listen for hours without fatigue. Good recordings yield goosebumps. Very, very happy. So happy I can focus on music purchases instead of gear purchases. Feels incredible to get off the "upgrade train".
Thanks for sharing the post, and thanks for your honesty.

Tom
jayctoy's avatar
jayctoy
4,211 posts
 
One thing I notice when I got my Andras correct placement , it’s like the speakers interact with each other, the way band are or orchestra, I feel the music the way  it intended for the listener...I neglected speakers placement, too busy finding the right cabling and tweaking...yes moving inches by inches did work for this kind of speakers... 
tomcarr
1,538 posts
 
PS-

You asked how long did it take. Since I got into this hobby in 1975 and have never gotten results like I have now, I guess you could say it's taken me...42 YEARS. Obviously, a bit of exaggeration there, lots of systems, rooms, homes, wives, dogs and cats, kids.
Current system took about two years. I can only now say it's worth it.

Tom
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