Speaker Placement and Toe-In

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

“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”

Heyya Ozzy,

Hopefully no issue for me to revive this thread - seems a very good question went unanswered.

Which soundstage (wide vs. deep) is best or correct? Easy - whichever is most enjoyable, as judged by you. Indecisiveness is a key enemy here, lol!

The real question: how consistent among all your recorded music are your preferences in sonic imagery characteristics? I’d hazard a guess of “below 100%” ;)

Uh oh, so much for “Easy”!

To keep sane on spacing / distance / toe-in, I remind myself that speaker placement measurements and ratios should theoretically differ from album to album, or even among “pressings” of one album if remasters are involved. Heck, some of the more digitally manipulated recordings seem to vary among tracks on the same album in how “effectively” things are staged by speakers’ positioning.

My speakers don’t provide the most pinpoint imaging, but they do shine a glaring light on any studio panning oddities. The toe-in that sounds great to me on some recordings is far from ideal on others. Thankfully, I don’t think most speakers made for one MLP will be such divas in this way. Still, we might be mistaken if we adopt a one-positioning-fits-all-recordings mindset. It would be a bit like assuming one-volume setting-fits-all-recordings mindset, yeah? Sigh, some complications are unavoidable even with the best of tech.
 

In my case, those Townshend podiums would never work without extreme customization, so at least I have that part of my back-and-forth considerations simplified, ha!