Speaker Positioning - ProAc D30RS

People who have compared say the Podiums are a lot better than Gaia. Rather than spend a lot on something not that good, if you want to save money I would go with Nobsound springs. Probably better than Gaia but at $30 for 4 you will be happy if they even come close. I used them under a lot of my gear until upgrading to Pods and Podiums. They are quite good, you cannot judge by the low price, crazy good for the money. 

My floor is thick carpet like yours. I’ve gone from spikes to Cones to Cones with Round Things to springs to now Townshend Podiums. Each one was a lot better than the one before, but the jump to Podiums was greatest of all. Probably the best speaker isolation out there. Someone recently went from Iso-Acoustics Gaia said it was a big step up. I was just about convinced time to break down and get tube traps, then Podiums made such a big improvement I can thankfully forget about all that.

This has to be due to the speakers no longer mechanically exciting the room as much. In a smaller room I would think the improvement would be even greater.

The Moab thing was probably in jest. But if you were serious, then boy will you be shocked how much better they are.

The room overload fallacy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuU-GrirOXI

Excellent! Not surprised those speakers have the room vibrating! A lot of energy going from the speakers directly into the floor and walls will have them vibrating. It was a factor even in my four times as big room. A lot of what I thought was a room modes problem went away when I put the speakers on springs. Cleaned everything up a lot. Lot more things you can do. All depends on how far you want to go. Just because it is a small room doesn't mean you can't get great sound.

Right. Basically what you are doing is first you try and find the location where you get the smoothest/best response. Then once you have that play with toe in to get the kind of imaging you want. 

All you can do is try and see. That is all anyone can do. What you will find, pointed straight at you the sound stage will be very focused and deep. Angled out more and it will be wider but not as deep, not as focused. There is no right or wrong, it is all about finding the trade-off that is right for you and your situation. 

Another thing, the more directly pointed at you the less going off to the sides creating reflections you will want to absorb or diffuse.  

Towards the end when you think you got it where you want it use a tape measure to tweak them to where they are exactly equidistant and toe in is exactly symmetrical. Right now it will be hard to tell. But once you get it dialed in real good you will find even a fraction of an inch helps bring the sound stage that much more into focus.

I've got news Gary, it is always a compromise. Nearer to walls is more bass not less. Farther from walls is less bass not more. This goes both for the speakers and you. Where you sit matters as much for bass response as where you put the speakers. Don't take my word for it, play something with bass, move around and hear how much it changes depending on where you are.  

The biggest single factor in stereo imaging is speakers that are perfectly symmetrical and equidistant. The biggest room factor that can screw that up is first side wall reflections. If they arrive too early or are too loud that is no good. Too early we fix in a big room by moving speakers at least 3 feet from the side walls. You can't do that so next best is a small acoustic panel to absorb that first reflection. Key word being small- it is real easy to over damp a small room and make it dead. One foot square should cover it. 

Then you experiment. Move speakers closer or further apart, a little at a time, and listen. Each time you move the speakers try and listen from a couple different locations- closer to a wall, further away. You will eventually figure out the best you can do in your room and then it is what it is. I have a dedicated room, much bigger. But the process is exactly the same. And yes it is a compromise.