Adjusting speaker positioning. What, if anything, to expect?

And another thing. Another reason the laser method is not such a good one is that all speakers have different radiation patterns. Combine different radiation patterns with different room geometries and you have a recipe for disaster. That’s why the out-of-phase (read polarity) track is the ONLY perfect way to find the absolute best speaker positions. No matter what shape you’re in regarding room geometry, acoustic treatments, other tweaks like isolation, AND radiation pattern of your speakers the out-of-phase track gives you the best you can do under current conditions.

NOTE - the out-of-phase track ALSO is the KEY 🔑 to finding the 🔜 ideal locations 🔙 for future room and current acoustics treatments. As I mentioned already, in the beginning when first starting out with the XLO Test CD you will almost certainly have a hard time getting the sound to “come from all around the room with no particular direction.” But I never promised you a rose garden. 🌹 🌹 🌹

I am very glad that I passed this test....XLO test cd is very useful....

Lightweight speakers are a different matter.

Your speakers weigh 110lbs each. Spikes? No Spikes? Wheels?

I would buy a pair of something like these

https://smile.amazon.com/JzNova-Heavy-Metal-Wheels-Square/dp/B07S6ZP255/ref=sr_1_12?ascsubtag=1ba00-01000-org00-win10-other-smile-us000-pcomp-feature-scomp-wm-5&keywords=small+dolly+on+wheels&qid=1581685557&sr=8-12

to help move them hither and thither, find differences/preferred location(s) and, then

learn if you truly hear any benefit from spikes.

First, existing location: listen with spikes. Then remove spikes, listen. Now on the wheels ....... 

After you find preferred location(s), you can repeat listening with spikes; no spikes; on wheels. I tried, I assumed, I believed, finally I tested, I don’t need/benefit from spikes. I added wheels to my heavy speakers. I don’t lose anything on wheels. You can always put spikes back to re-check.

What I would do, is leave them permanently on wheels, have a close to the wall location that works for moving around the room, decor factor, then

roll them out to their ideal listening position when listening. leave them out until they need to be pushed back.

Perhaps one location for a single listener, another position (toe in more) for a pair of listeners, when you want a wider center image.

Exact location: yes, you will want an easy method to move/locate two corners of the speakers when you roll them out. You can figure that out. Temporary wide painter’s tape while trying here and there.

My speakers are shorter, wider, and deeper than yours so I can safely use 3 wheels, (3 never wobble and distribute all the weight divided by 3). I think yours would be safer on 4 wheels. 4 wheels may need a leveling shim whereas 3 don’t.

@skyscraper Well, man, sometimes the truth hurts, right?

Being openly prejudiced is one of my many, many failings in life, but hey, you only go around once, right (as far as we know, anyway,,,) so you might as well have the best!

Obviously this is all meant as lighthearted fun...whatever speakers you have will need to be set-up carefully IN YOUR ROOM, and you should audition whatever equipment you are thinking of buying in that same room.

Speaker set-up is sometimes difficult, and the various ways presented here are probably OK.  Stereophile had a CD for setup at one time, I believe, and even my Denon home theatre system came with a microphone to help me set it up IN MY ROOM, although I made some manual changes later.

The point is, obviously, use whatever you can to help you obtain the sound of the music that YOU love.

It just happens that Maggies are the only way to get the BEST sound...uh oh, here we go again!

Cheers,

Richard

Tomico60 and asvjerry, OK, I did google Fibbo sequence and came up with the Fibonnacci sequence. I’m guessing this is what you are talking about. Said something about the golden rule be an example. My golden rule is do unto others....... and leave the math to someone else. I’d get hopelessly lost doing it in forward, much less reverse. I could likely figure it out, but rather go to the dentist for another root canal.

Geoffkait, I will get that XLO test CD, check it out and report back.. My options for speaker placement are severely limited if you recall ,and there will be no room treatments. I’ll probably not be able to achieve sound coming from all over the room. The only time I’ve had that effect was quite recently with a Sonny Rollins record newly purchased. Oddly enough the piano on one track clearly was positioned on the center of a side wall, maybe eight feet out from the left speaker and a few feet behind an upholstered chair . It was a quite startling and weird effect. Can a recording or one instrument be recorded out of phase to cause that effect? That’s the only recording that’s ever done anything like that. I played it twice even it was so odd with the same result.

Elliot, The Magico A3’s are on spikes and the spikes came with small metal discs they sit on to protect the oak flooring. They do slide on the floor fairly easily and I’ve only a small distance to work with for speaker placement, but thank you for the link to the wheeled dolly/stand anyway. I could try them without the spikes or other decoupling options though, and see if that offers any improvement. I hadn’t considered doing that.

Richopp, I did audition some Magneplanars back in 1976 when I got my old Dahlquist DQ10’s. They sounded good, but were big as doors and the WAF ruled out their purchase. The much smaller, but still substantial size of the DQ10’s bought me enough grief over the years as it is.

I’m glad you’re pleased with your Maggies. They must sound great. I’ll have to content myself with the speakers I’m burdened with now, having made a mistaken speaker choice twice in a row. Due to the intentional and misleading name similarity I might have been confused thinking Magico’s were Maggies.

I will play around with the Magico A3’s positioning some as you described to wean the last bit of musicality out of them.Then thanks to your clearing up my thinking on this matter, my next speaker purchase, planned for 2060, will definitely be for Maggies. Thanks

Mike