Speaker positioning: why do audiophiles neglect this so much?

I will add that yes speakers positioning is the most important factor to adress first BUT this matter is not so much the straigth forward RECIPE many people think it must be...

It is relative to many factors: speakers type yes, but also the acoustical state of the room and the PRECISE relation between a chosen type and the way the room must be organiszed to answer for the speakers needs...

In my room 13 feet square with 8 feet 6 inches high... I enjoy TWO sweet spot : one at 3 feet and another one at 8 feet from the speakers...

One spot is slightly more clear and detailed like headphone and rival any headphone ...The other sound more natural with a more encompassing bass...The two positions give me an englobing soundscape encompassing the listener with, relatively to the recording, even a sound almost coming from behind my head sometimes...The two positions give me an intimacy like with an headphone but out of my head with an astounding depth imaging in near listening and with a sound filling the room and around me in 8 feet listening position, according to the acoustical cues of the playing recording for sure...

Impossible to prefer one position to the other.... I listen half time in each one... 😁😊

Then there may be many sweet spots, at least two , not only one in a controlled room...

And in small room any change in the room is audible even at three feet from the speakers... Then those who claim near listening eliminate the need for room treatment and room control are completely wrong... But to know it, someone must EXPERIMENT it and dispose his room to experience it to begin with...

There is many myth in popular audio acoustic threads...One is near listening eliminate the need for room treatment and control...

Another myth is about speaker position, any bad position CAN BE to some extent compensated by acoustic mechanical control over the pressure zones of the room by modifying them ...For example one of my speaker is pressed into a corner of the wall , the other speaker is not...Is it not bad enough? It is... it take me one year of acoustic control experiments to compensate acoustically to a great degree for this bad positioning...my soundscape is almost the same now coming from the two speakers without imbalance...

Then reading that a speaker in a corner is bad means something in a non controlled room and dont work the same in a controlled room...And for sure it is relative to the speakers type, mine is a box two way speakers with a port hole in the front... Acoustic is not a list of ready made recipes to blindly apply  but a list of priciples to experiment with...

I am not an acoustician at all only a "nut" experimenting with a dedicated room for 2 years non stop....I only know a few things but i learned them in listening experiments ...

I agree with your post.  Well said. 

Ah, now getting somewhere.

Yes, if you want optimum speaker positioning it is going to be in a room where music is primary and you sit and listen to the music. For background listening, nothing is very important.

The methods of using microphone and instruments sound intriguing, as I suspected all along that this could be done somehow. Perhaps some more writing to detail the procedure/process could be helpful.

FWIW, my room is 13 x 14 x 10. The room is a bit irregular with a bay window on one side and a fireplace in the middle of the back wall sticking out in to the room. I sit to the right of the fireplace, pretty much in line with the right speaker. My perspective is like I am sitting in symphony hall in a seat on the right side aisle. I set my speakers as described in my post following the instructions exactly. The area of sweet listening is pretty large, even in this small room.

You guys sure make things needlessly complicated.

I spent a good amount of time positioning the speakers in my dedicated room. I ran strips of masking tape on the floor at 1/3, 1/4, and 1/5 room width. Then perpendicular strips every six inches from the front wall. I tried 19 different positions, making note of the impact on sound at each position. Once I found a spot that sounded best, I adjusted toe to taste. I then dialed the position in with a laser measure. I now have the speakers positioned equally within an 1/8" in all directions. Oh, and the listening chair is precisely placed as well.

Small adjustments can result in a big difference.