Speaker shootout question -- do you position the same or differently, depending?

@riley804 No, it's not my first time. Far from it. But I did two sweeps with REW with the speakers in exactly the same position and the differences between them was very interesting. I recognize that finding the optimal position is, well, optimal. But for folks who may have another way of testing both their room and the speaker, e.g., when there is a lack of flexibility in the placement, I thought I'd open it up. Maybe it was too dumb a question to do a thread on!

That’s not a cut and dry question ,a MBL for example is a great Omni directional ,

maggi ,marten Logan both have some rear radiating sonics 

under normal traditional speakers I have the front baffle the same distance .away from the seating area.

as others have said, it depends greatly on radiation pattern of speaker and whether boundary reinforcement of bass is desirable for proper tonal balance

that said, degrees of freedom are finite... my seating position doesn’t vary much at all and i am trying to get the speakers wide apart for best stereo imaging (but away from side and front walls), toe in (or lack thereof) is last major adjustment

some speakers with odd treble driver heights (tall or short) and shapes may benefit from some rake (rear tilt) adjustment too

The easiest and least expensive way is to walk through your room talking, where your voice sounds the most pleasing to you is a starting place. Front to back and side to side. 

It’s a worthwhile discussion because it should address level matching and IF ya cant get the inactive pair out of the room at least short the inputs. 

Good that you have REW as level matching at 1k is a joke…. 

Have fun…but also imagine a floorstander with 11 bands of EQ below 120 hz, so ya can put it where it images best..and then adjust the bass….