Severe toe-in for Def4 doesn't make sense to me and is the exact opposite of my experience with them although for those placing speakers 12' apart or more, I can see more toe-in than I use may be necessary. My Def4s are placed 9' apart, center to center, and one of the clear improvements of the Zu nano FRD even if mounted in Def2 or Druid is the broader horizontal dispersion compared to older Zu drivers. So I hear less toe-in is needed for proper sound staging than for earlier Definitions. I also cannot replicate any similar experience where different speaker positioning is needed for 16/44 digital vs. vinyl analog sources.
Spirit, the toe-in and positioning 4' out into the room, with the imaginary Crosspoint being 4' in front of you is reminiscent of the setup advised by Audio Physic for the initial version of the Virgo in the 90s. It was quite effective with that speaker and in fact the speaker wasn't well placed conventionally, if you cared about soundstage. But that speaker bears little behavioral similarity to Definition 4, so I don't have any correlating experience that suggests your setup should be optimal, nor that you should have big differences spatially between analog and digital.
Sean & I (I was volunteering to help Sean get back on the road fast) set up a pair of Def3s for a Zu customer in Los Angeles a few days ago. One thing that was handy was having two people to move speakers while the listener evaluated placements. In his room, there was very little latitude for spacing the speakers apart so he ended up about 9' on centers. We started with mild toe-in to get our bearings and then with the listener in the sweet position, Sean and I incrementally rotated toe-in around the front inside corner point until the owner's preferences for sound staging snapped in. He's not an inexperienced listener. You have a continuum of spatial options from extreme focus to expansive staging, and anything in between. No toe, and the middle of the soundstage starts to tear. Too much toe and the acoustic space collapses (though focus might remain). Since there is no way to be sure how most rock, blues and jazz recordings reference an intended sound image, this is an area highly subject to preference as well as to the variances in how individuals perceive acoustic space and spatial cues. We ended up simply dialing toe-in to his preference and it was pretty much spot on where Def4 toe-in works in four rooms I have listened to them in so far, here in LA.
Then at Sean's suggestion we dialed in some rake, deviating to a little back-lean from level. in some respects rake angle variance was more influential to image precision and tonal balance than toe-in. The adjustments have to be quite small too, by increments. It sounds tedious but the owner was seeking a trifle more vocal presence, and a slight tilt back nailed it for him, in his room.
Most people live in rooms presenting some acoustic anomalies, so I can't rule out that I might agree with your severe toe-in, Spirit, if I was there to hear it. But my experience with Def4 in a variety of rooms doesn't correspond with what you're suggesting.
Phil
