Anyone have comments on radical toe in?

In my experience speakers with fairly smooth off-axis response are the best candidates for radical toe-in. This will help maintain good soundstaging and tonal balance for off-centerline listeners. With such speakers I routinely use about 45 degrees of toe-in, such that the axes criss-cross in front of the normal center listening position.

Duke
dealer/manufacturer

For best results, see the "Camel toe in" method, don't point in, you might get in trouble that way.

Lacee,

Can you be a bit more specific - just how "radical" is your approach (measurements)? Also, what is the typical sound that can be achieved by this method – is the sound more resolving, clearer, more focused, or is it warmer, fuller, smother, etc.? Is room size a significant factor – in that a smaller room may be a better match for this type of setup? My speakers are voiced on the warm side and my room has very limited depth; if I wanted to gain a bit more resolution (midrange clarity) would your radical toe-in be a viable alternative for me?

More importantly, what happens to the soundstage in your setup (specifically the outside information and width of the overall soundstage)? Typically, increasing the toe-in is great for the central image, but adverse to the soundstage width (limiting the field of information presented beyond the outside edges of the speakers).

Since I am interested in your findings, I would appreciate more details.

Thanks.

Ben

I went back to the conventional set up, nearly no toe in.

The radical toe in that I tried was a 7 inch difference between the left side of the speaker's top and the right side.In my case the left side of the speaker was 60 inches from the back wall and the right (angled)side of the speaker was 67 inches.

It made for a very nice full centre stage, like super mono.
The sound was a bit less diffuse(less room interaction-sidewall?)than usual.

The draw back was a sense that you had to listen in for the music as opposed to letting the music come to you.

Either way has it's benefits.

I think if we were meant to listen to speakers with a radical toe-in, then our ears would be radically toed-in to hear them, but that's not the case now is it? There's a sweet spot, but it's not radical in my eyes (or should I say ears?).