Distance between speakers - are the physics what they are?

Two questions- physics, and upgrades being worth it. Upgrades are always better. That's why they're called upgrades. Otherwise they're called flipping, rolling, trading, etc.

Physics, that one's more complicated.

The distance between, its not that it doesn't matter its that it matters in a way that's a lot more complex than simple. 

If you are sitting dead center between them and at the right distance away then the 3.5 feet will be fine. The main thing by far is perfect symmetry, which is why I can hear sound staging even from my MacBook Pro.

But large flat surfaces reflect sound, and there's a lot of those in a kitchen. Large flat surfaces also provide bass reinforcement. The physics of it is the frequency coming out of the speaker reflects off the surface and depending on the frequency gets reinforced or cancels as it propagates outward towards you. 

You can hold a speaker in your hand, raise and lower it near a counter top, cabinet or wall, and hear the tone change with distance. Its pretty obvious. Some places will generate a boxy or closed in sound. Others more open. Some good bass reinforcement. Others none.

This tonal difference can be heard everywhere, while imaging can only be heard from one spot. Since you'll likely be moving around the kitchen then it'll probably be a waste of time to set them up for imaging but setting them up for tone and response will matter.

Moving them farther apart will only create a situation where you mostly hear the one you're closest to. The other one will be echo, reverb, which you already have too much of in a kitchen.

So the physics of the matter is very close together in a location that offers good response and directed towards the area you spend the most time is the way to go.

You can learn a lot playing around with simple little systems like this. Everything you learn is directly applicable to every other system. So good to know.

If you could post a pic, it would make things easier.
Either post a link or put something on the Audiogon Virtual Systems or PM me.
Bob

Thanks for the comments so far, picture added. The good news is I usually stand directly in front of the system while preparing food, about 10 feet away. So the question is, would investing in "better" speakers be largely a waste because the restrictions on placement would not allow me to really take advantage of the improvements the better speakers could otherwise deliver - like buying a sports car but never being able to drive more than 30 MPH?

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=kba_8040+kitchen 

With that limitation on setup, you would probably get better results with speakers that have very wide dispersion pattern.

A pair of small Ohm Microwalsh which are largely omnidirectional would fit and might be worth a try.


http://www.audioreview.com/product/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/ohm/microwalsh-talls.html

like buying a sports car but never being able to drive more than 30 MPH?

I think you may have answered your own question.  A distance of only 3.5 feet is too much of a bottleneck for any system.

I see you have a turntable. Can you just extend speaker wire (carefully kept in place on along molding) and place whichever small speakers you end up having on wall mounts?

Thanks everyone for the responses.  Wall mounts are not an option so I'll either just live with what the space can provide (directing any upgrade effort toward the primary system in my listening room) or look into wide dispersion speakers (a good suggestion, I have never looked into these before).  Thanks again!

What you need for cramped speakers is good dispersion control. Check out the Hsu monitors or the JBL powered monitors. Both relatively small, horn loaded tweets.

Noted on the Hsu and JBL - thanks for the recommendation

Is there no way to mount them on the walls, say up near the ceiling corners?
Bob

Good thought Bob but no, the wife would have me and the gear out on the curb if I mounted the speakers to the walls.

You might be surprised by what a single mono powered speaker will accomplish in a space like that.  I use a Bluesound Pulse Flex 2i.  It has a built in streamer and 30W amplifier plus it’s wireless other than a power cord.  It doesn’t occupy much space and is easily moved room to room as needed.  BluOS app offers thousands of radio stations too.  The speaker has 5 programmable presets so no need to even open your phone/tablet for operation.  Volume control is included too.  There are also equalizer settings available in the BluOS app if you need them.  

I would use any upgrade funds for another system,and enjoy the kitchen system for what it is. 

Yes not what was asked about but practically a good bluetooth speaker could work very well there and fit in nicely in regards to aesthetics.   

The way to position your speakers is to open them up as much as you can until there appears a hole between them....move them back toward the center a bit.