Speaker distance

Vandersteen Quatro CTs

Speaker position (acoustic centers)

• 8' 7" apart
  
• 1' 8.5" from side wall
  
• 2' 7.5" from front wall

Listening position

• 6' from side walls
  
• 1' 10" from rear wall (acoustically damped)

Ear Height

• 2' 11" from floor
  

Room Size

• 12' wide
  
• 13' deep
  
• 10' high
  

+1 Geoff

I have ATC EL150ASL at about 7 feet apart tweeter to tweeter and I sit about 12 feet back. No toe in. I don’t like an exaggerated stereo effect and I like to keep speakers well away from side walls. There are also no walls within 6 feet of the listening position. Walls close to the listener just make the sound terrible.

I would be remiss if I didn’t say that there’s an infinite number of speaker locations for a given room, so obviously the ye olde trial and error method can only get you so far. You can NEVER find the absolute best locations that way.

What is needed is a long range plan that involves both finding the optimum locations for the speakers given a constant listener location and degree of room treatment. (It is not unusual to discover the listener position is located smack dab in a standing wave.) The XLO Test CD Speaker Placement track is a fool-proof method for determining OPTIMUM locations for ANY room and for ANY degree of room treatment, including no room treatment, for a constant listener position.

But as more and better room treatments are added, the optimum speaker locations will probably change, as the radiation patterns, reflections, echo locations, etc. are modified. So as things progress, the XLO Test CD should be used in conjunction with a program of room treatment, as well as the addition of other tweaks or upgrades that affect the overall sound. Trying to listen a little, move a little can only find local maximums, not the real absolute maximum. It’s like trying to solve 3 simultaneous equations in 5 unknowns. 😬

The XLO Test CD Speaker Placement track is a fool-proof method for determining OPTIMUM locations for ANY room and for ANY degree of room treatment, including no room treatment, for a constant listener position.

@geoffkait 

Can you describe (in writing here in this thread) how this track "works" in order that it is "fool-proof"?

Thanks.