Placing B&W 801s3 in Small Thin Room

Vegasears: Seems you have your 801's on the short wall. I can't do that.

I have B&W 801S3's in a 13' wide x 22' length room. These conditions work great for me. The speakers are located about 2 ' off the side walls and 5' off the front wall. Also my listening chair is 5' off the rear wall. With my related gear and the right recordings the speakers will disappear.

I have seen folks use radically different alignments of woofer to mid/hi modules in the 801, even so far as the woofers toed-out. Most common is woofers square to the rear wall and modules toed-in. It all depends on the room acoustics and your ears. Good move on sitting closer; that can really help. The concrete floor can be an issue. You might want to try thicker rugs in front of the speakers. If you want to discuss this further, send me a PM.

Thanks Effischer for your comments on my new system. Got the preamp here on Audiogone (was looking for a KBL but could't find one). The KSA250 and the B&W 801s3 I got on Craigslist. Speakers have no stands just on spikes.

I have a concrete floor with rug coverings. The speakers are aside a fireplace (with TV over) and are 11' apart. I now on your advice have them slightly toed in with the mid/top units toed in just a little more than the woofers. I started sitting to make an equilateral triangle but widened the sound stage by moving forward so that I was about 9' out from the fireplace. These speakers just do not have a hole in the center no matter how far forward you go.

The speakers are still only 1 ' from back wall (wife insistence). Is it normal with the B&W's to point woofer and mids in diferent directions? They do swivel but the B&W manual is silent on the issue.

Nice rig! You don't say how far apart the speakers are, but I suggest you start with moving the speakers further away from the back wall, maybe go to 2 feet. That should bring the bottom end more in-line. Double-check the mid and high range adjustments on the back of the speaker modules to make sure they are flat. You already have some notable toe-in, but you will have to fool around with that quite a bit to get the most out of the room. You may find the sloping ceiling is accentuating brightness the closer you get to your sitting position. That could mean you have to move the speakers closer together and sit closer, or perhaps throw a rug in front of the speakers. I've always started with the inside taper of the woofer and midrange cones pointing at my ears and adjusted from there. I prefer to use a mono recording I know well and listen for vertical coherence as an indication that I'm on the right track. Figuring this stuff out is half the fun, so take your time and happy listening!