O.C.D. Speaker placement

Earlier in this thread someone suggested twice that you purchase "Get Better Sound", by Jim Smith. He is very well thought of in the industry.
Not only does he give good guidelines, he describes how to evaluate the results as well as any meticulous listener would want.
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Bravo Lacee!! No disrespect, but are you female or male.

You hit the nail straight on the head.

It's funny that this thread hasn't died off yet and, being the o.p., my view on this question has changed quite a bit since I posted this question.

I believe that great sound from our equipment isvery very important but that 1/4" here or a 1/4" there isn't what makes the difference between good snd great sound. I don't buy into that anymore even though Ido believe placement IS important but I believe that the quality and synergy within every single piece of the chain is actually more important than laser precise placement.

My current set-up sounds better than ever simply beacause of power cords, interconnects, power conditioners, and room treatments than I could have ever obtained through just speaker placement WITHOUT the aforementioned.

Thanks for the kind words,it's always a bit humbling but also gratifying to know that what I've said makes sense to someone other than my(man)self.
Sometimes ,in the past on another site, those same sentiments about how I treat music reproduction were mostly met with disbelief,and hostility.

My only intention when I post is to inform others about some things that over the years have opened my ears to even more appreciation of what this hobby was and should still be about.

And for me until the day I give out, that's been the quest for better sound,even before the book,I had a few mentors along the way ,who bucked the accepted "wisdoms" of the day and practised what some still refer to as the stuff of fairy dust.

For me and I hope for others who may have lost their way, deluded by the now so common "it's not about the gear, but just the music" rants,it is so much more about the music when it's also about the gear, where it's used, and into what it's plugged into.

I may be just another curmudgeon who clings to the old ways,but back then, people tried to help others interested in this hobby get better sound,,and for free.

Now it seems to be the norm that anything said to bring about a change for the better in this hobby is just more fodder for the "prove it with science,double blind,perfect specs,it's all snake oil,myths perpetrated by the Evil High End"crowd.

Yes they were around back in my fomative years,but they were a bit more polite,again,my bad for being so old school.

No one is forcing anyone to buy tube traps, to run dedicated lines terminated in expensive connectors and gear decked out with designer fuses and demagnetize cd's and lp's that have been cleaned on a VPI.

Some of us are only saying that these things have helped bring more musical pleasure from the gear and music that we already own.

Proper speaker placement enhances these things even more.
Improper placement,and a lack a daisey attitude to system set up, is a recipe for the "nothing makes a difference"sentiments of discontent and jaded disillusionment.

If some folks don't want to go where I go, that's fine with me.
I'm just saying I'm glad I went down that rabbit hole way back when.And I'm all the more content with doing so.
My musical experience has been more uplifted and enjoyable.

I have no regrets about where I am in this hobby today.
I've set up a decent system in a decent room and taken care to go a few extra steps along the way.

I have no malice towards anyone who just enjoys the music system as it is out of the box and into the wall.

I would only ask to be given the same respect for my practises from those who fit the above description.

Again, I am from the old school.

Okay. Sooooooo, does that mean you're a girrrrrl, or a guy? Don't be shy, you can tell us.

He has a wife.

I have a wife who gave me complete freedom of the lower level of our home.
So I am one of the fortunate few who doesn't have to compromise good sound in order to have a good marriage.

I feel for the poor unfortunates who don't have this luxury and have to share a living room or family room or even worse have to settle for a combined HT/music system.

I can understand why power cords, fuses and speaker placement aren't taken seriously by them.

Use measurments for initial placement but fine tune by ear using a familiar mono recording. Due to room factors, hearing differences, equipment imbalances, etc. you might need to move one or both of the speakers for the image to come into proper focus. In mono, listen for a narrow centralized sound between the speakers.

Maybe it's been mentioned,but placing the audio rack between the speakers can upset all that time and effort you put into fine tuning the speaker placement.
This is especially true for planars and stats,even way back in the 70's Acoustat wrote about this in their set up instructions.Also,they said a reflective wall behind the speakers was better than a soft absorptive surface.

I have followed both of these rules with my Acoustats and they knew what they were talking about back then.

I would like to try some dispersion units behind the speakers which is more in keeping with todays views on stats.