Speaker set up for more than 1 person

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

Yes, as I have said above, the toe-in approach is, at best, a compromise, but, there are few things that can be done for what the OP is hoping to accomplish--it is crazy to suggest buying different speakers, for example.  

I recall that there was one commercial model of speaker specifically designed for the time/intensity tradeoff to widen the stereo sweet spot.  It was a speaker made by Leslie, the same people that made organ speakers that spun to create interesting effects.  There home audio speaker line was not a commercial success.

@lonemountain 

Yammies

Yes l got it wrong from memory…NS8 and NS10 were the boys. Tannoys were great speakers and l remember the Lancasters were as big as radiators. I never heard a really decent sound from their smaller models, but even those were not really small enclosures.

l agree with your Acoustic Energy history.
The company hit the high point with the AE1. A revolutionary redesign for such a small speaker which should never (on paper) have sounded that good. Blind tests provoked a shock when auditioned, listeners thought they were far bigger speakers. Metal woofers with a long throw made them extremely fast and concrete bracing inside the enclosure made a bold statement sound wise. They also go very loud without distortion or harshness.

The company earned its reputation on the back of this model and has tried to emulate the AE1 Mk1s initial success. It is not the same company as it was back then, but their active speaker has had very good reviews.

The AE1s have to be heard to appreciate what was achieved. The sound from such a small speaker less than one foot high and 8 inches wide was previously thought not possible in the 80s. It was no surprise they made it into many recording mixing rooms in the UK 🇬🇧