Speaker Placement and Toe-In

This can be a maddening process.

True. And a lot of work. Spending a lot of time that we could otherwise use to enjoy the music. But don't give up. Stay with it. Amazing things can be accomplished by speaker (and listening chair) positioning. And it's free! Lots of trial and error. A UMIK-1 and REW (and a laptop) can help even further, in addition (obviously) to using your ears. 

Dali doesn't recommend any toe in and so far I'd have to agree.

The fact that there is no on axis sweet spot is fantastic.

Where I originally had my speakers, the vocals seemed to be a little fuller. (If my memory is correct). Now, with little toe in, they seem to be a little thinner sounding, but the soundstage is wider, and details are more apparent.

Which is correct? Or the best? I’ll keep fiddling.

ozzy

As always: it depends. All other things equal a front baffle design upon toe-in does three things: it increases treble as treble is directionally radiating from the cone; it shifts the first reflection point further into the room which in turn affects standing bass waves as well as sound stage and -if the speaker has a bass reflector on the rear- it changes reflection from back wall to both sides of the corner. The effect of the latter can be significant but all three cannot be determined without knowing rhe specific room acoustics. Finally all of this may or may not have been accounted for by the manufacturer, so I am afraid my opening statement applies!

I just had to get this right.

So, I removed the Sopra’s from the Townshend stands, it is just too hard to move them while on the stands.

I do believe I have zero’d in the soundstage!

What I have found is, again, I prefer no toe in. But it has been interesting. I used the 1/5 rule for centering the woofers from the sidewalls. But I liked a slightly different distance from the wall behind the speakers.

I also found that my room is not exactly rectangular, that is probably why I have had so much trouble.

Now I have the center image locked in, I think can feel Linda Ronstadt noise hairs!

ozzy