As a long shot, I don't suppose anyone has compared the B&W800d3 with Proac d100. My listening room is a living room with the usual sofas, chairs, cabinets, subwoofers x 3, windows one side, wall the other and I am sure both speakers would be quite "forgiving" in all this. The Proacs are very big so most will be above obstacles, and are great in my small office basement with things close all around. The size is great still, in such a small area
Putting speakers next to other speakers
I have two systems, The main one at home which has B&W 800d3s, and the "less expensive" in my office (smallish) basement has Proac d100's. I am pretty sure my favourite speakers are the Proacs, but they are 200 miles away and will take some hefty lifting to bring home. My aim would be to put them both side by side at home and just swap speaker cables from time to time to test and then decide which set up to persevere with.
Yes I know it is frowned upon ... cross vibration etc etc ... in theory .. but IN PRACTICE can this work? The Proacs are big and are very close to my basement wall but sound great. From a layman's point of view what is difference between a wall and close speaker? I reckon in practice all will be ok - but it is an experiment that will take significant lugging around and swearing! Not something lightly undertaken.
I am not looking for technical reasons why I am doomed to failure .. I can read enough of that already. I am looking for the real world good news ACTUAL experiences which defy gloomy theorists. Both speakers are built as heavy as sin .. so should just be normal "room obstacles" that we have to cope with in a living room.
Yes I know it is frowned upon ... cross vibration etc etc ... in theory .. but IN PRACTICE can this work? The Proacs are big and are very close to my basement wall but sound great. From a layman's point of view what is difference between a wall and close speaker? I reckon in practice all will be ok - but it is an experiment that will take significant lugging around and swearing! Not something lightly undertaken.
I am not looking for technical reasons why I am doomed to failure .. I can read enough of that already. I am looking for the real world good news ACTUAL experiences which defy gloomy theorists. Both speakers are built as heavy as sin .. so should just be normal "room obstacles" that we have to cope with in a living room.
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Had a pal who was a Linn dealer. Other speakers were banished from the listening room. The idea was that any passive transducer would vibrate and distort or pollute the music. This seemed to make sense and was gospel growing up. I doubt it would color the difference between your speakers enough to impact your final opinion on the matter. |
analogluvr Actually it’s the opposite, the more random crap you put into a room the better it sounds. >>>>One assumes you include yourself in the random crap in the room. |
Both expensive speakers so why wouldn’t you want to set each pair up perfectly? If you keep both speakers of the same brand on the left of the other pair so they’re the same distance apart maybe it’ll work. I’ve seen shops in the past do it. Personally I use a dolly and get the unused pair as far away as I can when demoing. |
You should be able to hear the sound deteriorate when any additional speakers are brought into the room. Or any other audio or music related items even if they’re just sitting there on the floor not hooked up. This includes but is not limited to speakers, cables, amps, violins, guitars and even pictures of musical instruments. Even CDs and LPs as I’ve oft cautioned. The more CDs or LPs you cram into the room the worse the sound gets. Yes, I know you don’t hear that too much, gentle readers. That’s because I’m from the future. I only come back here for the jokes. |
From experience, I know it is a compromise for both sets of speakers. Bass not be as tight on both sets, imaging and soundstage will not be as good. But if you do it, make sure you stagger them, so each pair has an inside and an outside speaker. Chances are, that the optimum position for both sets of speakers in the same room, will be very close. If you put one pair inside the other pair, one pair will be more compromised than the other. At least if you stagger them, their distance away from each other will be the same. |
This discussion is academic, without a decent solution. What is your
alternative? Are you going to build two rooms? Are you going to put them
all on wheels, listen to one pair, then swap them? I'm pretty sure the answer to all of this is no, so set them up side by side, alternating speakers from L to R so neither pair is entirely inside the other. You will listen and pick the better of the two, or you'll keep both. Also, of course, this being a basement, before you do this testing, treat your room. Best, E |
I am looking for the real world good news ACTUAL experiences which defy gloomy theorists. Replace "gloomy theorists" with "experienced factualists" and you begin to get a feel for the answer. If you have two speakers that sound very different then you should have a good enough idea to not need to go to the effort. You'll just go with the better sounding pair. But if they are close enough you're willing to do the work, then do the work. What you seem to be saying is you're willing to do 90% of the work, getting them into the same room, but not the last 10% that will make the other 90% worth the effort. Mull that one over. Your answer is in there. Trust me. |
Go to any audio show to see (and listen) to speakers placed next to each other. Staggering is key and the speaker on the inside will be at a disadvantage. You will hate moving the speakers around and making fine tweaks in the dozens. It takes me at least an hour to get placement just right in a show room. It will never be perfect but it can be done and sound good. Just don’t expect perfection. |
