Who positions their speakers straight ahead (zero tow in) and why.

Is either REALLLY BRIGHT or on the verge of cooking it’s voice coil.....

@asvjerry , I am thinking it is the first, as I cannot see toe in mitigating the second.  Thank you for helping me out with that--"hot tweeter" was one (of many) I was not familiar with.

Yeah, @immatthewj ....the second is generally due to 'overappreciation' of what's queued up and toe-whatever is the least concern in mind.... ;)

However, since it was one of my diy's, the repair shop is very conveniently located...it's the guy at the bench one can issues with, but friendly most of the time....*L*

Have a good weekend, J 

My speakers are, LaScala's ll base bins 9.5' centered slightly towed in & 6'' of the rear wall, pointing just to the left of my seating. A Altec 311-60 sitting on top of a granite slab with a little more direction towards my ears, sitting 10' back. I just added a Fostex 925a this week & still finding the sweet spot. Man that tweeter made everything blend a whole lot sweeter in my setup.

Now I'm in the market for a waveguide for the Fostec.

All the speakers I have had sounded pretty much similar enough whether angled or not and long ago I became accustomed to keeping speakers firing straight ahead.  Any differences seemed too small to get excited about.  My rooms have typically been under 30 sq. m. which may make a difference.

Some speakers do sound different when placed at certain distances apart left to right and at certain heights.  Often times, you get a preferred sound not following the manufacturer's recommended placement height.  So, it can vary by inches or more.  A slight toe-in might change SQ, imaging, etc., a bit but I do not usually like speakers that drastically change tonality, etc if one changes listening axis.

I also seem to respond to wide dispersion over narrow in which my understanding is that narrow requires toe-in to widen the sweet spot while wide dispersion does not to a appreciable degree.

As to appearance, I like the symmetry of forward facing speakers I suppose.  As a further sacrilege in this hobby...I listen with the grills on.  Some grills are designed to get the targeted sound while others may impede it.

My new Audels I use firing straight ahead.  Seems fine, not perfect but even angled they do not focus as tightly as some but I have become accustomed to it.  Was also stated in a review these seemed like that but they have other attributes I really like.  Also, they respond better placed further apart but this may be due to the triangle I form from listening position,  As with many, If I sit equi-distant from each or move somewhat towards them I get a better performance, at least in more body. 

Sitting further away from how the speakers are placed apart affects the SQ slightly.  That's almost the case for many I have tried.  I also notice a slight change along the vertical so speakers could also sound a bit different placed lower or even higher regarding tweeter to ear level.  Perhaps a bit smoother as the tweeter rises from 7K Hz on up.  So its a bit tilted towards the highs, like many, but as I age that tilt seems more moderate.  I think my hearing is affected at 11K Hz now and slowly descending.

Also, probably getting unwanted diffraction, etc., leaving the grills on but they work well enough where I am generally happy with the results.  I notice more improvement over my Dali Opticon 1s although I really like those as well.

While my system isn't anywhere near high end you typically find in this forum, it works well enough together as to tone, resolution, etc., at least at my listening SPLs.  Audel Magika II with a Topping d70s and a Van Alstine CA-1.

Not bad for the budget and didn't pay full retail.  Ideally, while there are a few other speakers I would like to hear, have a better dac and perhaps an integrated/amps utilizing the new GaN technology for size, weight and heat considerations, along with its purported more tubey sound with more depth while retaining detail and resolution...I could easily get on with what I have now.  

In both cases I ended up with tweeters on the inside and zero toe in. I like the more immersive soundstage I get with zero toe in. I sacrifice a little of the lock in for the center image.

This can work fine with some speakers if there's no side walls. Side walls cause early reflections which are interpreted by the ear as harshness. If the reflection is long (+10ms) then the ear can interpret the reflection as echo location information which can make the sound stage image more palpable.

So in a smaller room where the speakers are near walls you'll want to toe in to reduce side wall reflections- that will make the system more relaxed. If this makes the tweeter too bright, you might have to toe in more so the speakers 'cross' in front of you rather than at the listening position.