Speaker Placement - When it's perfect!

wgutz
I want the empirical study, the double blind statistical results and logarithmic adjusted scope printouts before I will ever believe live plants deteriorate the sound. Especially those live and floating roses.

>>>>I suspect the whole idea of putting plants in the listening room - and to a certain extent flowers - stems no pun intended 😀 from the use of plants and flowers in some high end systems at CES and other big shows and also arose 😀 from photos showing them in audiophile home systems. Presumably the plants (and flowers) act as diffusers or some such thing and or provide a more natural, attractive, soothing, atmosphere or whatever. Subliminal message: Relax, listen to how good the sound is. You are getting sleepy...

Ironically, as I said, plants and flowers actually hurt the sound. It’s not as if they don’t do anything. Bad rose, bad! 🌷 It’s an obvious case of expectation bias. So, if you have plants or flowers in the room take them outside ASAP. Let your sound bloom. Leave plants and flowers in your room at your own peril. 😄Check it out! Audiophiles need to root out the problems in the room that are not on the standard radar. The usual suspects have been discussed to death - the tube traps, the panels, the tiny bowl resonators, Helmholtz resonators.

I used the Rule of Thirds (29% Version) for speaker placement found on this site yesterday.

http://noaudiophile.com/speakercalc/

My room is 154" x 134." I am setup along the long wall.

Rule of Thirds (29% Version)

"This is my favorite placement recommendation, and at least in my room isolated the sound from the room very well, as close to listening outside as I've gotten. I recommend starting with this and then backing up the speakers to the main wall as needed for adding a little bass reinforcement back into the sound and making room for other furniture if needed. Just watch out for the mid bass getting muddy as you back up the speakers."

Space Between Speakers  64.68" (5.39')
Head to Main Wall  94.87" (7.9')
Speaker From Main Wall  38.86"
Speaker from Side Wall  44.66"

Previously my speakers were (measured from the center line of the speaker):

Speaker from Main wall  29"
Speaker from side wall  31"

I've never had my speakers placed this far into the room before and never had them this close. So far, I'm really liking the results. I'm getting a much flatter response (Vandy 2cs Sig II's). The soundstage is much more coherent and stable. The depth of the soundstage is  crazy! Guitars are coming out of the front plane of the speakers. While vocals and drums sound like they are coming from 3 feet behind the speaks.

I know that good sound is very subjective. Are there any thoughts on any of the above?

I should mention that I'm using a Belles Aria int. amp. Source is a Node 2. Speaker cables are AQ Go-4. Gik bass panels behind speaks and diffusers at 1st reflection points.

Thanks!
Joe

@audionoobie,

Interesting. I'm also using 2Cs, (though not the Sigs), source is Oppo 103, amp is Krell s300i. After countless hours, I finally got the most cohesive sound with the speakers 7 feet apart, no toe-in, and 16 inches from the front wall, (all measurements from the tweeters). Just goes to show me, again, each room will dictate speaker position. Glad to hear you got yours dialed in. Happy listening!

Tom

@tomcarr  As a one time owner of 2Cs, are you hearing much in the way of soundscape depth with the speakers so close to the wall behind them?

@willemj - hey, thanks. I’m aware that bass management methods are far different than simple higher frequency scattering/absorption, but I appreciate the feedback, especially delivered in a friendly recommendation.

I’m trying to decide between bass panels or slack membrane absorbers. Any recommendations?

Funnily enough, @geoffkait , I recently moved an orange tree back into my listening room after it was outside all summer. I’ve been having boomy bass issues and have some measurements showing me the frequencies that are not decaying fast enough. After I moved the orange tree inside, the bass issues are reduced by a significant amount. Decay times and volumes of spikes are greatly reduced.

Plant power! This tree is helping my sound...