Speaker set up for more than 1 person

@mylogic 

Thats what I thought also then I heard the other. Maybe it really is both. Being closer should logically get you more direct sound than reflected. 

@ronboco 

Speakers set up for more than 1 person…and near field

Yamaha were the leaders in studio monitors in American recording mixing rooms with their HS series of small speakers. Many photos will show them high up above the mixing consoles. The white cones were the trademark look.

In the UK Yamaha’s were also used but not exclusively as we had our own Acoustic Energy AE1 studio monitors which were the main competition.

The AE1s in the 80s were considered the best mount stand small speaker for the British domestic setting too. High power rating with a  big sound and power handling combined with great imaging and soundstage. Heavily constructed and braced internally with exemplary produced wood cabinet finishes. For best results they had to be used with the dedicated AE cast iron lead filled pedestal stands designed specifically for the model.

I still use the original mk1 model today (the ultimate version) with stereo Rel T9i subs 40 years on. Contenders have come and gone but these just go on. Other speakers have been auditioned but l just keep on going back to them. A success story for me.

“Speakers set up for 1 person” maybe the original post here, but for me, these speakers are the only ones.

It was the NS series Yamahas not HS.  And at the time (70s, 80s), Auratone was the king along with a wide variety of other speakers depending on budget.  Tannoy was probably the king of fidelity, Auspurger the king of rock and roll in walls.  Today Auspurgers are still popular, but in hip hop.  Auratones are making a bit of come back.  NS10s are mostly retired now.

The AE 1 never caught on over here.  Now the cmpany has changed hands a few times and is not the same.

I only have one guest over at a time.

They get the sweet spot.

I sit off to the side.

Time/intensity trading (speaker axes criss-crossing in front of the listening area) has been described and/or alluded to several times in this thread.  I have been building speakers deliberately designed to be compatible with a time/intensity trading configuration for more than two decades.  Ime there are certain characteristics speakers need to have on order for a time/intensity trading configuration to work well.

The speakers need to have a fairly narrow and uniform radiation pattern down to at least 1.5 kHz.  The radiation pattern widths I have found to work well have been between 60 degrees and 100 degrees (-6 dB at 30 to 50 degrees off-axis), though I suspect well-behaved coverage out as far as 120 degrees would still work well (this based on commentary about the JBL M2).   I have found some trial-and-error is usually called for to get the toe-in angles right, with 45 degrees being a good starting point.   In general, the narrower coverage angles work better with a bit less toe-in.  At audio shows I always have a least one chair to the outside of the speakers, WELL off-centerline, and whenever someone takes that chair because the room is too crowded I always ask them how the imaging was from that location when the song ends.  They are always pleasantly surprised and say it was enjoyable. 

With appropriate speakers and set-up, ime time/intensity trading results in a good soundstage even well off-centerline.  Some off-centerline locations will be better than others but ime pretty much all practical off-centerline listening locations will have better soundstaging than with wide-pattern conventional speakers. 

Unfortunately relatively few speakers meet the criteria described in the second paragraph above, and I have yet to encounter a successful time/energy trading configuration using "conventional" speakers.   So it is seldom a realistic option.

Duke