2. amps-preamps
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Is toeing speakers a bad idea?

I was toeing in my speakers and that seemed like a good thing to do. But then I decided to de-toe the speakers. I was hoping that the speakers dispersed things well enough and maybe they don't need to be focused so much to create a so-called sweet spot.

I found the imaging in the room was a lot better and sound improved. The room is a rectangular room and the speakers are placed at one end of the room about 3 feet from the wall. Room sizes 17 x 23 with a 7 ceiling. Maybe someone can share some rationale for this.  I feel the sound waves may spread out better and not be so disturbed when they collide in a so called sweet spot near my skull.

emergingsoul
geof3
1,129 posts
 

Depends on the speaker. Some are designed to be toed. Sounds like you figured yours out…

brubin
121 posts
 

if your the only one listening then sure.  Otherwise ...  leave out.  Personally i think having them out closer to 180 deg. gives me more sound stage. 

larryi
4,010 posts
 

There are no generally applicable rules on any aspect of speaker placement, including toe-in; speaker design, room acoustics, listening preferences matter.  Toe-in results in less sound first bouncing off the side wall before reaching the listener.  This tends to make the center image seem more sharply focused and prominent.  However, this does tend to make the soundstage seem more narrow.  Toe-in choices tend to be matters of picking the right tradeoffs.

Very severe toe-in, with the speaker axis crossed well in front of the center listener’s position, tends to make for a wider stereo sweet spot.  This is the case because, for example, a listener sitting to the left of center will be closer to the left speaker, which will make that speaker more prominent partly because the sound arrives first (we locate sound sources using timing differences between sound reaching the left and right ear..  But, with severe toe-in, the right speaker will be more directly aimed at this listener so its higher volume partially compensates for the timing cue favoring the left speaker.

knotscott
928 posts
 

Every room and every speaker is different.  Experiment and trust your ears.  

dill
2,528 posts
 

I have found that toeing in speakers benefit the listener more in smaller rooms than in larger rooms, especially in near field listening.

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