Speaker Placement and Toe-In

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

Ozzy,

Congratulations.

To be honest, I hate futzing with speakers. My approach is to just make a little move every few weeks. If negative…. Back immediately.
 

if I don’t force a slower approach, I end up in a frenzied dervish of activity, wanting to get it over with and concerned I will end up with the system sounding worse than when I started.

Ideally, you want to talk a couple friends into spending two or three afternoons moving them for you while you relax and listen… without having to get up. I’m not sure what you would have to do to bribe them. I would feel so guilty, I would never allow myself time to actually make good judgements.

So, congradulations, sounds like you got there.

ghdprentice,

Thank you for your comments. As much as I really like the Townshend stands, they did make it hard to find just that right spot.

Now, I will again move the speakers to reinstall the stands underneath them. But this time I am armed with measurements and duct tape...

BTW, my friends are old like me, best I could offer them is perhaps some oxygen. LOL!

ozzy