vandersteen 2ce sig ii listening distance and tilt

thanks both. i think you're both kind of right in that sometimes it is best to try one approach T setup vs equilateral. oh, and toe in definitely changes things depending on a lot on which speaker it is.

so, like i said i started to agonize over whether the instructions meant the T distance, point mid-way between speakers, vs the equilateral.

now, a little more info, my ear height is 42-43". which seems high! and i know again from the manual that non titled speakers are time aligned to 33". i'm a taller person so my only other choice is to get a lower seat which is most likely not going to happen.

"T" distance for me is that 7.8ft and equi distance is 8. well, 7.8ft isn't even on the chart for tilt, it'd be like just over 4" of tilt. whereas 9ft is 3ish or 3.5" of tilt.

and, yes, i'm probably being way to rigid when it comes to this tilt thing, i was trying to find a new starting point.

musically speaking - norah jones nightingale song, sounded so different when i sat on the floor in front of my couch, 2-2.5ft closer (T distance) and ear's 32" off the floor. how did it sound different? it seemed like there was more airy sound with the opening guitar and first few words of voal. mix in with that some "grain" or "texture" or maybe "openess" to the sound. - like a french silk pie made with granular sugar.

whereas up back in my couch with correct time alignment, things seemed smoother and laid back and not as defined, like a french silk pie made with powdered sugar.

so i started questioning - i thought if the tweeter sound got to your ears first it would sound like the "grain" and here i was sitting on the floor, with the midrange sound getting to me first (cuz i didn't change the tilt). to me, standing up always made speakers sound more grain/airy or just plain bright.

does that make sense? oh, and even though i was a lot closer to the speakers than they were wide apart, the image was still smack dab in the middle, like a razor :)

thanks.

thanks for more responses!

1. my 2 seat couch is leather and has a headrest, it reclines a bit, but not enough to be inches lower ear height. i throw a couple of bath towels or blanket over it so the head rest is as dead and low as possible, my ears are definitely clear of it.

2. i'll have to play with width between the speakers, i got them out at 9' because to me, it seems like everything gets bigger.

3. i've got an awkward room, i won't get into that except to say that i'm room depth / 7 (or 3ft) from back wall and seating position is 3ft from wall behind me. so i'll play around with all that too.

4. another thought i had was perhaps blocks to raise them up 6" more over the standard stands they came with. or some other method of raising them.

thanks for everyone's input. good to be amoung like-minded people. sheesh some of these main stream forums, people just have different goals for their music enjoyment :)

i think i'm in a "final" tweak stage. i left the speakers 9ft apart, i remeasured my equilateral triangle and found i was sitting back too far from the tip of the triangle by about 12ish". so i fixed that. before fixing that, ears were only 32ish" from the back wall, now ears are 43ish" from back wall. my tilt is still at 3", which i will change again tomorrow to 3.5" and even try 3.75" and 4" (if i can get that).

as it stands now though, i am closer to that "texture" i described earlier, quite a bit closer. the sound is still smooth. the vocals (N.J.) "bloom" a bit but, before it was a little over powering in the "bloom", now it is not.

one thing RV said to me in an email was to watch out for room enhancing the bass/midbass freq. and that they certainly can account for the lack of detail i had early on.

oh, i repositioned the speakers according to the 5th rule also, so they are 36" out from the wall behind them. so with that plus me moving my head further into the room (even though it's 12" or so), i've put myself into a great spot. i think i'm definitely getting that magic or as close as i've been for the 1 year they've been in this room. like i said, just adding a little more tilt will be my final tweak i think then. not going to worry about raising them.

the sound is solid, i think there's some bass notes that are heavy, but upper bass and vocal ranges and highs are more important to me. the sound is open, there is air, more detail than before, the center image is still rock solid despite being so far apart, and it's all still smooth. oh, i have about 1/2" of toe-in. loving them again :)

next up is new cables from dac to integrated amp. you guys might think me odd, but i'm still using the dac magic+ with a pc as the source, it's good enough for now, and i also have a krell s300i. speaker wires are kimber kable 12tc and i'm looking at hero balanced next.