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Andra II speaker tilt/effective tweeter height

Some time ago I had B&W 802Ds and Eggleston Andra IIs in my room at the same time. These speakers are very distinct from one another, and it was interesting to compare their relative response to variables in positioning, associated gear, and so forth, but one area had me flummoxed: There was nothing I could do in terms of speaker position, toe-in, toe-out, room treatments, cables, wires, amps, bi-amping, bi-wiring, preamps, or digital front end that would allow the Andra IIs to approach the level of detail of the 802Ds, or bring down the detail in the 802ds to that of the Andra IIs. And the Andras sound a bit "tipped down" to me in my room relative to the B&Ws and even generally relative to various other speakers and other systems. In the end I concluded that I prefer the Andra IIs, and I no longer have the B&Ws. But it has always nagged me that the Andra IIs are "tipped down" so to speak and I was not able to alter that presentation with gear changes, toe-in, etc.

The Andra IIs are built such that they tilt back and the speakers fire slightly upward. My listening position is almost 12 feet from the speakers, and the tilt causes the tweeter to "aim" about 2 feet over my ears. The B&W tweeter fires parallel to the floor. Anyway, while reading a speaker review a couple days ago the light went on! The reviewer noted that the speaker measurements went south in the upper octaves when measurements were taken even a few inches out of the plane of the tweeter. So I proceeded to tilt the Andra IIs forward such that the tweeter aims parallel to the floor, essentially right at my head in the listening position. Without other speakers to compare to, I cannot say that the relative tip-down has been turned around entirely (I don't want to do that), but I have remedied the one nagging deficiency in my perception of the Andra II. It is definitely and pleasantly more detailed in this configuration, and I perceive it to be considerably less "tipped down". And the tilt did not degrade imaging or move the soundstage perceptibly (my room is dedicated and heavily treated, which may provide a bit of flexibility in that regard).

Anyway, I thought this experience might be helpful to other struggling knuckleheads like me, if there are any.

Carry on.
der

Showing 2 responses by kurt_tank

kurt_tank
1,189 posts
 
So, as a fellow Andra II user, I am interested in how you achieved the tilting forward of the speakers. (Did you back out the spikes in the rear to lengthen them a bit? Or did you place something under the rear spikes?) To be honest, in my room, the tilting back problem of the tweeter that you describe does not seem to be nearly as much. (Perhaps only a few inches.) But if it can increase the treble response, even a bit, it might solve the problem I describe below, (although I doubt it will, but it does give me something else to play around with).

As I mentioned, I too have a bit of a treble problem. But to be honest, I think that it is more of the combination of the Lamm M2.1 amps (known to be just a touch on the dark side), with the Jena Labs Pathfinder speaker cables (also known to be just a touch on the dark side), and combined, they add up to a bit more darkness than I would prefer. It is not bad mind you, but still, I would prefer to have a more extended treble response than what I currently have. (However, everything else about the sound from my system is pretty magnificient. From the tight bass response, to the wonderful mid-range, and even into the lower treble region. And the imaging and soundstaging is some of the best I have ever heard, (and definitely the best I've ever heard in my system!) I used to have a bit of a mid-bass hump, but I have started doing some minor room treatments, which seems to have solved that problem.

My two cents worth.
kurt_tank
1,189 posts
 
I too have found that a good about of toe-in is required in my room as well. (Not quite as much as yours, Der, as my speakers are toed-in so I can just barely see the inside side panels from my listening position.)

Question: What type of speaker cables are you using?
And are you bi-wiring them or using jumpers?
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