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Speaker Placement

This is a tough topic for the newbies, and even some of us old guys. Regardless of the theory and even the software available, I suspect there is much that the more experienced among us could pass on with this problem. As you shift your speakers closer to the optimum position, what do you hear? What do you hear when the speakers are too close to the front wall, or when they are too far out? What do you hear when they are too close together and need to be moved further apart? What do you hear when they are too close to the side wall? What effect does toe-in have? What strategy do you employ to dial-in a new set of speakers or a new room? I am sure Albert Porter could help us all on this one. I will post some of my experiences if this topic gets rolling.
redkiwi
jadem6's avatar
jadem6
1,074 posts
 
Redkiwi, you refere to the female vocalist with "This is what I call too much body and not enough outline." I think I call that fat! Where as alot of well placed female body is always welcome. (there now you can call this post RHUBARB, and you can thank me later!)
redkiwi OP
1,092 posts
 
JD, I think it is indeed possible to have too much female body in certain circumstances, but like you, if I read you right, I don't like to be short-changed either.

Pops, I often do it the other way around (that downunder thing), in that I often start too close to the wall and move it out listening for how the soundstage opens up and takes the correct shape, but looking for the point at which the voice starts to "fall apart" in terms of its palpability or body.
starchild
3 posts
 
Stereophile had an excellent article on speaker placement that was written by Jonathan Scull in one his installments of fine tunes. I believe it was the October or August issue of 1998. I've probably gotten the date wrong (i'm at work) but you can probably find it on their web site. The article provided a very uniform way to set up speakers in rectangular rooms and I have found it to be unfailingly useful.
kitch29
316 posts
 
Pops, does your son really need a closet? Aren't his clothes on the floor, anyway? It's impossible to overstate the importance of re-positioning the speakers when making any change to the system. My recent switch from an active to a passive pre-amp caused the image to congest in the center. I got rid of the toe-in that had worked just fine and now, with the speakers facing forward, the image is just right. The need for change was also true, to a lesser extent, when going from the stock power cord on the CDP to Kevperro's Asylum cord. For apartment dwellers like myself witht the typical long, narrow (12x30) LR-DR, I've found that, whatever the speaker position in relation to the walls, it seems better to sit farther away. As I moved back and forth on a wheeled ottoman (no, that's not a gun-toting resident of Constantinople), I was able to find a distance that just "clicked", about 11 feet away from the front plane of the speakers. BTW, transmission line 2-ways.
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