Great question Todd!
Erik is right in his post - Toe in/Toe out will vary based on speaker brands/models, the distance you set away from the speakers, and the distance the speakers are apart from one another.
Music is generally mixed as though you are seeing the band or symphony on the stage. Their setup and positioning on that stage has width and depth to it. That’s what you’re ultimately trying to achieve when setting speakers up - is recreating that stage.
Toeing speakers in will narrow the stage and warm the tonality, toeing them out will widen the stage and make the tonality brighter (in most cases regarding the tonality). As you’re aiming the speakers (toeing in/toeing out), where does it sound like it has the instruments in their proper place, giving you proper width and proper depth (being balanced on the stage) and the best tonality overall? Do the instruments sound pinched together with no width, or are they too wide across with no depth?
The amount of Toe in/Toe out will be different based on one’s personal taste (some people may care more about the tone than how the stage actually appears), and again, the distance you are sitting away from the speakers and distance the speakers are from each other can affect it.
Some manufacturers may make recommendations as to visual cues on the speaker - like what Erik mentioned about Focal, because manufacturers know where and how they tend to be positioned best - that’s what we try to teach our Dealers, and the Dealers in-turn, teach clients.
With Paradigm Personas, I’ve set those up in so many different rooms with different widths apart and get consistent results when I’ve toed them in to where I can see approximately 1-3 inches of the inside part of the speaker’s cabinet. When some people sit in the position where I’ve set the speakers up from, they may like it - they may not. I’ve had some people move one row back and like it better and seen people argue as to which seat/row sounds better. That’s ok - again, it’s preference.
Most Magico setups I’ve experienced, primarily from Scott Walker, seem to tend to have virtually no Toe in and are aimed directly straight ahead regardless of the width apart.
When manufacturers and Dealers set their own products up at HiFi Shows and in Dealer’s showrooms, and we manufacturers set up for Dealer’s in their showrooms, we do it so often that the formula for positioning becomes almost automatic. We know how our products react and when they’re right, and we work hard to try and teach our Dealers our techniques, giving them a blueprint if you will, so they replicate what we’ve instructed and they can give their clients the same consistent and predictable results.
Some Dealers take the advice and embrace learning different ways of setting up speakers, adding new tools to their repertoire, and some feel certain they don’t need to learn because they think they already know. It’s why there’s such a mixed bag of good and bad system setups around the country.
Sorry for the longwinded reply.
Cheers,
Chris
