Speaker placement at dealers

I find it amazing that even owners with very good equipment have speakers buried in a corner with "lamp cord" wire as an interconnect...I am by no means an expert...but if you went into 9 out of 10 homes...90% of the households would have speakers set up incorrectly...I applaud Symphony for SOund for having the integrity and insight to do it "right"...most owners emulate how their speakers were positioned in a shop...assuming the shop knows best...this is a disservice to the buying public...i should know...I had my first sytem set up incorrectly...unitl an audio buddy showed me "what was up"...that alone improved sonics by 50%...before you upgrade...try experimenting with placement...

I think this hits a nerve with a lot of folks. Along with the other comments, I have also found that stores will also showcase their best speakers far into the room, well beyond the aesthetic limits that most people can live with. An example of this was with some Proac Speakers that sounded exellent away from the walls, but sounded perfectly awful at distances comfortable in our home. Dunlavys on the other hand was much less affected by the same distance reductions.

If the dealers were honest they'd ask where you are able to place them at home before letting you listen to ANYTHING. If you answered that the speakers have to be placed against a wall then an honest dealer would have to recommend that you save your money and buy some midfi, because the money is wasted if speakers are not properly placed (IMHO).
Since very few people are prepared to live with speakers way out into the room I think this would completely kill whatever bits of the hi-end business still exist.

Would have to agree with both Bigtree ..in regards to Vandersteen...few dealers let alone owners know how to intergrate these into a room...a buddy of mine who knows his stuff went Maggies...but swears by Vandersteen if you dont want a sub...I auditioned them on several occassions...
but due to space limitations went with a monitor...some have said they dont require much room "to breath"...but my experience has been the opposite...they "throw out" so much sound...I was concerned about wall interactions...I do have to admit...their soundstage is HUGE...some have complained about 1st order "lobing"(small sweet spot)...they sounded pretty good to me when set up correctly...the only downside...and this is being honest...they do lack speed...especially in the bass department...however...the bass is very clean...no speaker is perfect...at least you are getting some low frequency...too many speakers today sound bright and thin...Vandies dont...

By far, the greatest "tweak" I've found in audioland is SPEAKER PLACEMENT! And it's free, though it will cost you a fair amount of time.

With our customers, I frequently go over speaker placement with them. They should not only hear them well positioned in our store, but a good dealer will EDUCATE them how to do it in their homes as well.

Often, I'll deliver equipment right to the customer's home. They may just be buying cables or accessories, but I'll take the time to reposition their speakers for them within their home livability range (ie, not tripping over cables in their living room, etc.). I do it while they are watching, and tell them what to listen for when I move them.

By the time I leave, their system easily takes a big jump in performance...much more so than the new amp or other piece of equipment they bought would do on its on, without placing the speakers right.

And yes...an amazing amount of people I know that THINK they are audiophiles have no clue about positioning. It's really laughable how little they care about it when their system costs about $10-20k. Sometimes, they'll even move them back to their poor positioning when I return...and it's not as if I stuck them 1/3 of the way out into the room either.

Jeff Delman
Value Audio
www.value-audio.com