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  3. 132116-1973

Speaker Placement - When it's perfect!

So many audiophiles have commented that when your room treatment is completed, your electronics set up and tweaked and most importantly, your speakers are set up in your listening space correctly that you'll know it because everything just sounds so "right" and natural.  I just accomplished that feat in the last two weeks.  I say two weeks because I needed to play a wide variety of recordings to be sure that I'm there.  It is so great to have finally hit just the right set up.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it has taken me well over a year of experimentation to get to this point.  It's not that other placements yielded poor quality sound its just that now everything sounds like a live event (as much as any of our systems can).

I would really appreciate hearing about your journey to the promised land of audiophile/music lover bliss.  How long did it take, what were the most difficult aspects of the journey?  And if you have yet to get there, what do  you think is the "brick in your wall"?
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Showing 2 responses by wspohn

wspohn's avatar
wspohn
579 posts
 
Some speakers are more demanding than others.

I recall setting up some Spica Angelus - they were capable of pin point localization but needed to be positioned exactly right to get that.  Helps to have someone to help you - if you can just sit there while the helper moves the speakers closer or further apart, or toes them a bit, it is easier to compare the sound in your own mind.

My current main speakers (Wilson Maxx 2) have advantages and disadvantages. Each one weighs over 400 lbs so you have them on casters to even be able to move them. We used a laser range finder to be sure of distances to listener and moved them back and forth to zero them in. They have the advantage of having the mid and treble drivers in a movable module that you can precisely angle according to head height and distance from speaker.  Still, it takes awhile to set them up.

Right now I am doing battle with a pair of original Martin Logan CLS - slight changes in distance apart and toe can make or collapse the soundstage, plus there is the variable of amount of tilt, and height off the floor (customs stands are either unsightly or impossible to find).

It is worth all the trouble once you get the zeroed in, though.

wspohn's avatar
wspohn
579 posts
 
Wow. The Spica Angelus. Haven’t thought about that speaker for a long time. That was, to me, one of the most unique looking speakers in its time. I never had the pleasure of hearing music through them.

Agree with you about the differing demands of various speaker designs/sizes. It is a long way from the Angelus to the Maxx 2!

The classic Spicas were the TC50s which had superb imaging. The Angelus added some bass extension but retained the excellent imaging, while looking like a pair of nuns staring at you. A shame John Bau stopped designing speakers!

The Wilsons also have very good imaging along with a bass down to 20 Hz and the sensitivity to operate well with lower powered amps - I change out and use a CJ Premier 11a for music and a Roland 5 for video. I’ve heard the Maxx 3 and they are indeed an improvement but the 2s are something one can be happy with indefinitely unless one suffers from audiophilia nervosa.

Any hifi addict should take the trouble to hear some speakers at least once - original Quads, Spica TC50, Apogee (preferably Scintillas), Magnepan Tympani, I’m sure many here can add their candidates for ’special’ speakers.
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