Speaker Placement Issue/Thoughts

Nice suggestion on the yarn. I'll definitely do that. I also bought that book this weekend... I'm curious.

Like Rpfef, I've started to become convinced that my hearing is at fault, as the situation has persisted across multiple listening rooms, full equipment changes, and careful interconnect and speaker cable switches (including just flipping the cables connections at the speaker inputs).

Right now, however, I think it is partially due to my room. As you can see from this little mockup (Listening Room Diagram), I've got a 1/2 dining room 1/2 living room with a fireplace (that we don't use because of the stereo) in the front left corner of the room. In order to be able to walk into the room, the couch has to sit at a weird angle, and because of the room shape, there's no way to get the speakers similar distances from the side walls. I toyed with placing the stereo on the left short wall, but unfortunately then the TV (50") will block the room's windows. The S.O. will never let that happen...

As it's currently set up, I'm about 11 feet from each speaker (they're not quite symmetrical though, so it doesn't form a perfect equilateral) when I sit at the far right end of the couch. The speakers are 9 feet apart and 18 inches from the rear wall, and 10" or 16" from the media cabinet that houses all the electronics and a TV. The left speaker is further away from the cabinet because there's a Thiel SS1 sub in between the two.

To address the room issues and center the image, I have to give the right speaker about 4 more db of volume. Or alternatively, I started playing with JRiver's room correction, and I can leave my pre-amp balance equalized and just tell JRiver that the left speaker is 10' from me, but the right speaker is 12' away.

This doesn't really matter, but I just found a real tape measure... and my speakers are actually only 7'6" apart, and I'm exactly 11" from the right speaker, and 10'8" from the left speaker.

Well, last night I used a small rope to match the distance from my listening position to both speakers (inside and outside corners). Unfortunately it didn't correct the need for a 4db shift. I'm starting to blame the fireplace that's in the front left corner. I think it might be amplifying the sound from the left speaker, making that side louder, and muddying up the Thiels' imaging.

PC and Jetson, I think you are both correct. I remember reading about someone with a McIntosh stereo amp actually noticing a difference in their right & left meters and getting worried that something was wrong, only to decide later that it was simply a louder left channel in a number of recordings.

That said, I think my room is still amplifying the left channel, and the fact that the left speaker is in a corner, while the right is truly on a long wall (but with a close by doorway) isn't going to help. Fortunately, I don't think the seating direction isn't really an issue, as I just sit facing directly forward (where the TV is) rather than actually following the plane of the couch.

I started reading the "Get Better Sound" book, it looks like it is going to be very valuable... and will be an easy, and interesting read at the worst.

I think I'm going to try the grid system suggested within "Get Better Sound" this weekend... I do find the prospect of hiring an audiologist attractive, but I doubt I live in this house for more than one or two more years, so I'd rather save that money for a longer-term living situation (how much do they cost, btw?). I'm also a researcher and scientist, so I find the prospect of solving the problem with my own two hands mildly attractive. I also agree with Jetson that the room is really funneling the sound from the left-speaker to the listening position, so perhaps there isn't going to be an easy solution without lots of acoustic treatment to deal with those room reflection points.

I was pretty close to buying this laser measure, Bosch DLR130K-RT, but figured I'd go the old tape measure route first. I'm going to remove the furniture from the room today and take my first stab at the grid method. Have to get it done now before my saturdays get filled with college football. Looking forward to the experience...

Well, the living room has changed configurations, although the current setup might be temporary because it makes the room somewhat less user friendly. The speakers are now about 4-5 feet away from the front wall, and the couch is straight across the back of the room, about 3 feet from the back wall. I did manage to get most of the left shift out though, and it definitely sounds better.

Minus the laser measure, in the end I found Smith's suggestion of using an anchored tape measure the most useful. I took a small board, attached the tape measure to it using a finishing nail (through the measure's pre-made anchor hole, and then taped the board to the floor at my listening position. It was easy to stretch without slack to measure speaker distance. In the end I didn't actually use the grid very much, and probably could have just gotten away with only the tape measure. Really the only benefit was for helping me place the speakers an equal distance from the centerline...