Speaker set up for more than 1 person


I have my system set up perfectly for a single person sweet spot. Near field about 9 feet from my speakers. But if I move even slightly off center the soundstage moves and one of the speakers dominates. If I have a couple friends over how can I arrange my speakers so we can all get a good soundstage with centered imaging? Move my speakers closer together? 

maprik

Showing 1 response by richardbrand

@yyzsantabarbara 

I think coincident drivers tend to have a slightly bigger sweet spot, with the Blade being very special in this regard

Completely agree with you except that I would change slightly to hugely!  For decades I used Quad Electrostatic loudspeakers (ESL-63 and ESL 2905) which emulate a point source of sound about a foot behind the flat panel.  The soundstage, imaging and sweetspot are huge.  I recently added KEF Reference 1 speakers (more reliable) and they have much the same characteristic.

With speakers like these you can stand up and walk around a holographic-like soundstage.  The comparison with conventional multi-drive speakers is astounding - no need to use a vice to lock your head into a narrow horizontal plane and precise distances from each speaker.

The physics is to do with cancellation and reinforcement where separate drivers and their reflections interfere with each other.  The ear/brain system quite quickly adjusts to the 'cleanliness' of apparent point sources and their coherence.  The corollary is that going back to conventional speakers is difficult.

When auditioning speakers I always move around a lot!