Anotherspeaker placement question (distance measurements)

So, it is really true. Formula are simply a starting point. For me, I did my movements over a year. I plunked them in the prescribed place. And listened for a couple months (they are really awesome speakers). I realized they were capable of disappearing, but were not and the soundstage was restricted. So, I toed them out some. Listened for a couple weeks. No question… better. Moved again. Better. Some folks move, listen, move, listen… in a day. I find that confusing. I prefer listening to the music and wholisticly appraising the change.

Thank you, @ghdprentice  , I am keeping this in mind as I work on this.  You are more patient than I am.  I am often lazy, but less often patient.  I am using the formula that bigtwin provided as a place to start from this time around.  In the past it was always how far do I think I can get away (get away from a sonic perspective, not the perspective as 'am I allowed to') pull them out & spread them a part.  This is about as scientific as I have ever got with this aspect of the hobby. 

Let’s address the elephant in the room — what are your room dimensions and on what wall are your speakers situated?  Not sure why this critical info has to be a national secret.  Sheesh. 

@soix 

Probably because everyone will tell me to give up & quit bother trying?

Okay, from the bare wall I am using to place the speakers along to the integrated book cases(s) that cover the back wall is 8'4.  To the left of that is a even boundary, that I have been referring to as a wall for the purposes of measuring, is a gun safe and a file cabinet, they are about 5' high, and they double as an equipment stand for my amp & CDP; above them & attached to the real wall are two shelves which hold my preamp and the power supply for the preamp and several pieces of gear that are being unused at the present--therefore there is no gear behind or between my speakers.  From that boundary to the righthand boundary is about 8'.  This boundary is a file cabinet and book cases filled with books and CDs which extend up to a shelf near the ceiling also filled with books.

Using the formula @bigtwin  provided I started with slightly less than 27" from 'front baffle' to wall and 22.25" from center of tweeter to side boundary.  These are B&W 805s.  I tweaked them to 27" & 22".  Without getting up & measuring, I believe center of tweeter to center of tweeter is 47" and to achieve a ear equilateral triangle, I have about 21" behind my ears to the book case laden rear wall.

As I have previously typed, in the past I had height and a lateral sound stage that extended beyond it's boundaries.  There was/is a less clearly defined sound stage from front plane to rear wall, but none the less, a sound stage.  I lived with what I had before, trying occasional placement tweaks, but it was a couple of recent threads here & in amps/preamps that got me going on this recent endeavor to see if I could achieve more in this small flawed space.  However, with the lights off & my eyes closed, my speakers to disappear. 

@ghdprentice  , I went to your page & looked---awesome room and system!  Way, way, way out of my league.   I hope you still have the dog?  I did a quick search on your speakers and I may be being materialistic, but I believe that to a large extent you get what you pay for.  I believe you when you say that they are wonderful speakers.

It would probably be a bad idea for me to hear a system like that.  Most nights I am not hearing my room or my speakers--I am hearing the music & I think things sound fantastic, but fantastic is a relative term and hearing gear of that caliber would probably be the ruination of my own experience.

In the mean time I'll keep working with what I have and after looking at yours I think I am going to experiment with throw rugs and blankets and if I get some sort of positive results I'll look into room treatments on a higher level.

Rock on!

OP,

Thank you for your kind words.

I can’t tell you how much better my system sounds with the careful tweaking I have done (something a system at any level can benefit from). The room tweaks… getting the equipment racks from in between the speakers. Deadening the wall behind, speaker placement… etc. have improved the sound quality.

You noticed the room… well that was luck. The best room I have ever heard. My audio guy as well… and he has been installing $100K+ systems for over 20 years… many in dedicated, purpose built rooms. As I said luck there.

BTW, in a previous house, with ribbon speakers using a 1’ wide by 4’ strip of thick wool carpeting made a huge difference in imaging. While a much more modest system, I would have put it up against much more expensive systems. It is not all about cost… tremendous advantage can be gained by effort. 

But, your system can be every bit as rewarding to you. I have had many systems, and listened to dozens “better than mine”. They helped me shape the direction I took in constructing mine. Listening to great systems is a great way to learn. Surprisingly, often jealousy does not ensue.

My dogs enjoy music and are why my audio seat is a love seat… one place for me, and one for the dogs. I also love it when they take up an attractive pose in front of the system.

@ghdprentice , oh, don’t get me wrong, it wouldn’t be jealousy (well, maybe a little bit of envy, if I was totally honest), but I think it would be hard to listen to mine after hearing a system on that level.

I remember back in ’94 or so when I started down this destructive path, my wife & I went to a brick & mortar "hi-fi" store because at the time I was wanting to move up to a Carver CDP that featured a 6DJ8 in the DAC. (I certainly "progressed" since those innocent days.) Anyway, after I listened to some stuff in one of their listening rooms & had met a couple of salesmen, one young guy (& I was young back then also, but he was younger) was telling me about his Silver 9s (or Silver 7s, I cannot remember which) and also about Winston, another salesman I had met, who had to get rid of all his stuff and wouldn’t replace it with "affordable" because his previous gear had ruined for something less. I can maybe see that.

Anyway, there is a lot wrong in my room, but one thing I’ve got right is no gear between the speakers or on the back wall.

However, as far as my dogs go, I give them run of most of the house, but I don’t trust them (one in particular) a whole lot, & therefore, they don’t go in The Room.