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Listening position/speaker position

I had a friend visit this weekend for some extended listening. I generally trust some of his suggestions, and his hearing may be better than mine, but I am 61 and don't have any hearing "issues." Also, in the interest of full disclosure, my friend and I are competitive with each other so there is always the possibility that he is busting on me.

 

I am very happy with my setup and my sound----the room is quiet, the system is quiet and I have low distortion, plenty of punch and volume, without sacrificing any detail. I have Revel 228be speakers, a McIntosh MC312 amp, C53 preamp, Pass XP-17 phono stage, Technics SL1200G TT run with an AT-art9xi MCC.

 

Anyway, my listening room is approximately 26' x 15' with less than 8-foot ceilings, plaster walls, wall to wall carpeting, lots of cushy furniture, and it's perfectly rectangular. I have my Revel 228's positioned on the narrow end of the room, a couple feet from the side wall and about 2-1/2 feet from the back wall. The listening position is about 10 feet from the speakers, or just shy of the midpoint of the room. My critical friend was suggesting that by having the speakers at one end of the room, I am asking them to "fill" a 26-foot room, despite the listening position being near midpoint depth. He suggested that I put the speakers in the middle of the room and move the listening position against the wall, so that the speakers are only tasked with filling half of the room. He also implied that I was under-powered with the MC312 which doesn't sound valid..

 

Obviously, the only way to know if I would get sound improvement would be to swap sides in the room, but his suggestion sounded so odd that I thought some of you with more experience might have an opinion.

willyht
pwerahera
107 posts
 

Without getting in to details, I will say your friend gave you a terrible advise. My room is the same width and length as yours. My speaker placement is very much the same as yours. Placing your listening chair against the back wall is a very bad idea! I cannot comment on your amp being under powered or not. If you want to play with the speaker placement, may be pull your speakers another 6-12" from the front wall. Trust your ears.

rajugsw
193 posts
 

I recently repositioned my Cornwall IV's from toed in and only a foot or so out from the front wall  to straight out in roughly the same position. When I tried this 2 years ago and a few times since then. The straight out (and I've always tilted them up 10° since day one never sounded right.

Recently, I tried it again. I was amazed. The phantom center never got out of focus and the soundstage widened as did imaging. Room treatment was the major factor as was how some of my Amplification has also changed.

In my living room, I can bring out small Speakers on stands, 3ft.- 4ft. max. away from the front wall (along with skinny towers) but the big bulky Cornwall's have to go in the corners by design. 

hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,795 posts
 

Well, It's your room and it's your audio system.  You set-up your system to please you and not your friend      

Yes, and don't forget to face the speaker drivers directly into the floor.

After all, "it's your room."

wolf_garcia
6,615 posts
 

The only recent speaker position change I've made is from reading about the Wilson Loke sub (they apparently didn't know that Schiit audio had copped the Loki name first...although a different spelling of the same Norse rascal), where they recommend the sub's cone aligns with the main speakers. Seems to work with  as one of the subs is between the speakers, and the other is to the right generally pulled away from the wall. Everyone should do exactly as I do as I'm real smart and have impeccable taste.

garthb309
48 posts
 

Easy, google “Cardas speaker placement” for the formula-works great!

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