Moving the sweet spot
Moving the sweet spot.
I was just walking behind my sweet spot chair, and I had noticed that I can hear more of the high frequency, just before I arrive in the center of the listening position, then I move back and forth to pinpoint the place. Then I move my chair at that new spot, one foot farther back, one foot to the right, the chair pointing between the middle of the speakers. So, It seems that if I am sitting at the sweet spot, there is a high frequecy cancellation. My room is an open space, and my left ear is not as good as I was young.
20 responses Add your response
Yup lowrider57 has got it. Adjust one speaker for one ear. Set the camber, caster and toe in/out THEN closer or further for DB gain or loss for your ailing ear. I found the biggest thing about the seated position is height in relation to the Bass roll off and the HF being there but not beaming and boiling your ears to death... Painters tape a square and a tape measure. You want to get real picky laser line placement or string lines to your head in the seated position.. You can get REAL picky... A mic stand and some tape to hold the string lines at the speaker and stand. |
This is tech talk. Map out your room modes and it will be obvious that cancellation only happens at certain locations that vary by frequency. What happens is the waves reflect off the walls, come back and where they meet they either cancel or reinforce. This happens all the time everywhere, but really is only audible in rooms with almost all smooth unbroken walls. Because otherwise the waves hit uneven surfaces, bounce off in different directions, and the result is the reflections become diffuse. Which is why surfaces deliberately designed to do this are called diffusers. This never happens in as you say "an open space". So we can cross that one off the list and we are left with, "and my left ear is not as good as I was young." |
millercarbon, I think you are right, it happens for most every one of us... with the age. Thank you |
audiosens OPYou were probably on axis to the tweeter behind the chair and off axis in the chair. Also use a mirror get your better half to go along the side walls with it against the wall till you see the tweeter in the reflection from your listening chair. Mark those spots on either side and hang something thick and soft there, to stop any secondary tweeter reflections which smear the highs reaching your ear. You can also do the ceiling (and floor if hard surface) if your up to it. Cheers George |
In reality there can only be one ultimate listening position where phase, timing and frequency response are all correct. Everything changes as you move about. Some systems are better off axis than others but none are perfect off axis. All systems are going to have a spot where they sound best but very few are going to have an ultimate listening position where phase, timing and frequency response are all correct. Phase is easy. All you have to do is be equidistant from both loudspeakers, timing depends entirely on the design of the speakers unless you have subwoofers which make things more complicated. Frequency response is the big outlier. It can literally be all over the place. You are lucky to get it within +- 10 dB at the listening position. Most but not all of the trouble is below 150 Hz. This is the variable that at first listen makes systems sound so different. It also makes bass difficult to evaluate. The three variables are easy to measure and adjustments can usually be made to optimize them if you have digital signal processing. If you do not then you are stuck with whatever your speakers do in the room you have which may be good but it will never be optimal. I do not know about everyone, but I can not get a system running optimally by just using my ears. You can get a great measurement system $300 plus your computer. IMHO this is the best way to get the optimal performance out of any system and the best listening position. Ultimately, you should just hear individual instrument and voices, not loudspeakers. |