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Speaker distance and tow in?????/

My room is big / 18x30. But due to arrangement I can only bring out my speakers 2 ft from back wall..... side walls not an issue. My 2 main L-R are 8 1/2" apart ( center to center of speakers ) . How far back should my seating be? I "think" there is some "basic" math to work from for far field seating. In my "near fields" it is all equal.... as a rule of thumb. Tow in is another adjustment. I am just looking for some "basic" good info and hope I don't start something... You guys have spent a lot of time on these issues..... and I am glad to have your suggestions!
mlbattey
classical1
168 posts
 
Sean, can you elaborate on that 'old trick'.. do you mean you can find a better placement by using mono and once that is achieved then going back to stereo? (maybe a condensed answer if you've already posted this) I couldn't find it. Also, thank you Rives for your link.
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
766 posts
 
Jadem6,

My room is about 18' x 18' with 14' ceilings. My positioning issues are 2 fold: 1) I share this space with my wife and 3 year old son, and 2) I've got this Mitsubishi 48" RP TV that limits my placement (damn TV - it took buying a big screen TV to learn that I'm not a big screen TV type of guy). I've changed things around so that the TV is no longer between my speakers, but it's still taking up space in my room. If the TV was gone, I'd put a speaker on either side of the fireplace and be able to pull them out from the walls.

However, my comprimise is allowing me to use a 2 pair of 4 1/2' twisted CAT-5 DIY speaker cables (bi-wired) instead of the the 15' Audioquest GR-8 cables. Nice improvement in detail and clairity.
jadem6's avatar
jadem6
1,074 posts
 
Nrenter, yea I figured setting up on each side of the fireplace was out of the question. Tough room, almost a cube. I'll look at a couple of my accoustics books to see if there are other thoughts. I'll let you know in a day or so.
nrenter's avatar
nrenter
766 posts
 
Jadem6,

Not necessary. I've accepted the fact that this is something I have to live with for the time being. However, it was a great lesson to learn - placement and room setup is more important (IMHO) than the hardware.

Maybe what the ladies tell us is actaully true - it's not what you have, it's what you do with it.

I'm sure there are audiophiles out there (none that visit the Audiogon forums, however) that constantly upgrade their hardware to no satisfaction, not realizing their room (or physical setup) is to blame.

An investment in a couple of hours one afternoon boxing up all my stuff and taking it over to a different room saved me unnecessary "upgrades". Sure there are things I'd like to do to my system (re-tube, new CD player, power cords, etc), but I consider those tweaks to my existing setup rather than looking to replace my core components.
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