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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
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.

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,974 posts
 

 

erik_squires
16,104 posts
 

The off-axis response of the tweeter + the room are the balancing acts. I do think the idea that all speakers need to be laser calibrated to point to the listener is a myth we should deal with more.

The correct answer IMHO is balancing your preferences with imaging.

Some speakers are meant for little toe-in (Revel, Magico) and throw a great image over a wide area IF they are not constrained by side walls.

Some speakers have raspy tweets on-axis which sound great off axis. 

I've found Focals to need minimal to no toe-in for instance.

Also, it's not just toe-in, but some speakers just sound better on mid range axis, so speaker tilt can really vary.  B&W's are IMHO like this.
 

czarivey
5,946 posts
 

Go through change and feel good.

If you toe in again after a while you will feel almost same or better

ghdprentice
7,000 posts
 

As many have said… it depends.

The recommended toe in, or not, is a starting point. My manufacturer recommends to start by crossing the beams behind your head by about 18”. Turns out in my room with my setup, no toe in results in the widest and deepest soundstage without loosing the central images. So imaging is homogeneous across the soundstage. Hence a piano recorded in stereo with the intent of capturing the sounds from left to right will be be equal volume across the soundstage, with no warping of the image.

 

You must make adjustments in very small increments to find the exact best spot. An 1/8th inch can make a big difference with some speakers.

If you are fairly new to carefull tuning, then it is easiest to way to start is to just listen to your speakers for a few weeks until you know the sound. Then make a big change in toe in. Then listen, for as long as it takes for it to be obvious that is much better or worse. That could be a minute or a couple weeks. Then go to the best sound and move half way towards what was last tried. Anyway take your time and make successively smaller moves until perfect.

Folks with lots of experience can do it in minutes… but the first time can take months… but there is no hurry. Getting it perfect is a huge win.

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