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

Crites speakers are wide.  It looks like more toe in than I really have. They are pointed at me intersecting behind my head.  Wall to Wall sound stage with good depth.

The toe-in angle can also be used to tone down brightness and correct the imbalance of two-channel sound caused by, for example, asymmetrical sides.

@tomic601 Truth. It's as simple as that. See what you prefer. It varies by speaker, room size, and seating position.  

Experiment…it’s free….

MBL owners like my friend omni directional drivers.

Avalon Acoustics Eidolons, 6’4” from front wall, 1/4” toe in. 
I’m guessing the why, is why Avalon could give a shhitt about being reviewed. Then again I’m just a hack audiophile musician.

My wife was in radio and when her friends visit they ask, why are those speakers in the middle of the room? She drops the tonearm on an LP, then come the requests.

My Yamaha NS-5000's fire straight ahead 0 degrees toe. Tweeters/midranges are inboard. My listening distance is 13 feet with the speakers 8 feet apart 2 feet from the rear wall.

Same with my Tekton OB Sigmas in the bedroom but for a slightly smaller triangle with them 3 feet off the back wall for the open baffle effect. 

I have Apogee Duetta Sigs...they are set straight forward as Apogee suggested. I've tried some toe in, but it didn't produce better sound quality.

@lingraves just a little toe.  Youll hear 3 locations at first.  Left, center, right, until you get it right, then it will all come together as a continuous image

Bjsien +1 absolutely you are correct 

How about focal Sopra 3's , any opinions from those who have owned or currently own ?

In my acoustically treated room my B&W 803 D3 sound best to me with no toe-in. The front of the speakers are 3'  in front of the front wall, they are 8' apart, and the listening seat is 8' from the speakers. Soundstage width and depth increased, and the tonal balance top to bottom improved, after changing from 30* toe-in to 0* toe-in.

With my Martin Logan CLSs and now CLXs, I prefer no toe-in.  A couple of things though that others might find helpful:

1. I have no toe-in, but frequency balance and imaging is also affected by lateral distance between the speakers and distance you sit from them.  I like to be in an equilateral triangle, or closer.  I more back and forth until in what I describe as a sonic "bubble" that forms a time machine that takes me to the time and place of the recording.  For me, too close or too far collapses the bubble.

2. I use precision tools to help make sure the speakers are set up as well as possible, and record the measurements, for dialing in, or re-setting the system in case it is moved.  I use a Leica Distro digital tape measure for horizontal measurements, and a Swanson Tool Co SVT200 9 Inch Digital Torpedo Level that is accurate to 0.1%.  The later is used to ensure the speakers are both tilted exactly the same.

-docknow

Thiels work best straight ahead and ,so far, my PMC's seem to work best that way too. Jim Thiel recommended straight ahead and the PMC's also have wide dispersion.

@simao 

Agreed. I’ve owned Ref 3a Grand Veenas twice and they absolutely don’t work with any toe in.

My Rega RX5 towers with woofers outwards and no toe in. Speakers are designed with a wide dispersion and it certainly plays that way. 
The most toe in I’ve played with is very minimal maybe 1/4”. 

If you have the time & never done it before.. position your bookshelves so they criss cross past your outside shoulders. L speaker across rt outside shoulder, etc. 

What's a "hot tweeter"?  

This question has to do with your room size and your speaker design. In my very small room, I have experimented both ways, toed in and straight ahead. The toed in position works fine, but I notice that I do lose some imaging specificity. I also find that on some recordings, the brass instruments can be a little too much in your face, so for me, straight ahead is the answer.

It is very important to point your speakers directly forward........This only applies to married audiophiles..everyone else can ignore this advice

Reference 3a de Capos have no toe in. Tash recommended that and I've found out it's true. When I toe them in they lose definition. 

I have Vandersteen Treo CTs and experimented with toe-in intervals, but having them pointing straight ahead gave me the best soundstage, etc. Previously to the Vandy's I had some omnipolar speakers that sounded better toed-in using the same listening position...so it just depends on your speakers.

It depends on room boundaries and distance from the speakers. After that it comes down to preference and maybe hearing in the end. Upbringing after that.

Dali recommended straight ahead for my Epicon 8 speakers, and I essentially preferred that. My PS Audio FR20 speakers came with very specific toe in recommendations and I also prefer them essentially with that toe in...

Weird, also have Forte's, 10ft apart, 10in off the wall, each toed in 2in off the wall. I sit 8ft away.  Good soundstage, good depth, feels like my stereo cabinet (sitting between the speakers) is talking to me. 

Used to have them 20in off the wall, 6in of toe. Found that I was missing most of my bass, the image was a little narrow and forced. With a small soundstage. 

During Christmas break, spent almost an entire day moving my speakers around. At the end of the day, this is what works for me. 

Kind of related to this is that we sometimes focus too much on getting rid of all reflections around the speaker when in fact there is an ideal balance between a given speaker's output pattern and how good the side and rear reflections sound. 

Small space + wide speaker may force you to toe in more than in another location.

Speaker toe-in is room and speaker dependent.  Vivid recommends toe in with beams crossed just in front of your head in your seated listening position.  I gradually toed out until I achieved the best balance between frequency response and staging/imaging.  The beam crosses behind my head.  If I approximate angle, towed in is 15-20 degrees.  My listening room is my living room in my small house, so I am limited and from a room perspective. I rate the room poor; but it’s the best I can do.  No toe-in reduces image density and affects frequency response in my room with my speakers.  

Room, speaker and somewhat system dependent. Focal Aria’s with narrow baffles and clear, clean (not bright, but extended) tweeters set up with very little toe-in. Klipsch Forte’s in same system toe-in almost 45 degrees. I fiddled with placement A LOT!

Both have wide holographic sound stage that extends beyond the cabinets and can disappear with a good recording. The Klipsch soundstage is wider, taller and deeper. I’d say the Focal soundstage is more warm and intimate. I love them both, just depends on music playing, time of day and mood I’m in which set prevails.

If the soundstage is more enveloping only if you fire forward, there are some deficiencies in the speaker. You compromise optimal sound power and the perception of it when firing forward, for example. The only exception to firing directly at the listener is.. concentric drivers. for instance, (slightly off axis is the way to go)...or some niche design like the Polk L800 SDA array, which malfunctions if you point it directly at ya.

Spendors, straight ahead. Better soundstaging. Nothing to do with hot tweeter.

 

Harbeth  40.2,  backs against the wall and pointed straight ahead.These are a deep cabinet speaker and I just don't have room to pull out. I've always liked the sound from these speakers and haven't tried different arrangements except a little toe in. I find with no toe in the imaging is really good.

The formal answer is that toe in affects tweeter rolloff, the width of the sweet spot, the treble to midrange balance and early reflections.  There's also the issue of some excellent tweeters may have resonances which completely vanish a little off axis.

Many speaker brands are designed to optimally perform with little or no toe-in.  I include:

• Magico
• Focal
• Revel

Magico and Revel in particular have great imaging across a wide listening area when placed with little toe-in and plenty of space to the sides and rear.

A little history may be helpful.  In the last 30 years or so tweeter manufacturing has come a long long way.  Cheap (< $50) tweeters often flat past 20 kHz, wide dispersion and low energy storage.  In the old days this was the realm of exotics, and if you wanted to hear everything you needed to point the speaker right at your head.

A related issue IMHO is the tweeter height.  Some speakers, like B&W, really should be listened to on mid-range height, not tweeter height.  So in general the best listening position for many speakers in the 21st century is with little toe in and perhaps significantly below the tweeter's laser like axis.

Try this, Toe in the speaker one click,1/8 of an inch at a time on both speakers at a time, stop and listen, and you will notice the center will get better without losing soundstage. It should be very noticeable. You will get a sharp center, without losing soundstage on the side. The speaker will disappear from your room.

I have a pair of Snell Type A's. They are designed to go flat against the wall and face straight out. They rate in the top category for sound.

I did for years until I learned about toe in.  I have one pair of towers with no toe in and they sound good in a large open room.  I toe in the other speakers I have in smaller rooms with more surface reductions.  Adjusting speaker placement as needed and preferred is a fun part of this hobby in my experience.  

I have 1.7is w/  about 20-25 degree toe-in, tweeters inside in a fairly large room and the soundstage is pretty wide for me.  I sit 9ft away and the sweet spot is  about 5ft across.  In my room, the soundstage varies from just the sweet spot to deep behind the speakers and a few feet wide of them ( speakers are 10ft apart), depending on the music.  I’ve experimented with less toe-in to straight on; both sound good but I  prefer the tighter sweetspot (no one else in the household  can stay still and just listen  enough  for me to widen it)…BUT, I will try the incremental method again to see far wide I go and still keep the amazing detail. 

I have 3 setups of highly different calibur. My main system with Vandersteen Quattro Woods, a second system with Vandersteen IICe, and a 3rd with older pioneer HPM60s. All of them face straight forward. My experience is that you can dial in the center image to be pinpoint with toe in but you lose a ton in terms of soundstage width and depth. I've tried it all different ways with all the speakers. No toe in for me

All other factors being equal, I have found that every speaker requires different (if any) toe-in. I have also occasionally experienced the need to change positioning based on a change in electronics .

There are many reasons to fire straight forward, many have nothing to do with hot tweeters. 

Spendors, straight ahead. Better soundstaging. Nothing to do with hot tweeter.

Most dudes who fire it forward tend to have a hot tweeter.

Most dudes who fire it forward tend to have a hot tweeter.

Same for the Pulsars, straight ahead.

I have Joesph Audio Perspectives and have tried both ways a few times but always end up with no toe in.  

Aimed at my shoulders to balance center focus and soundstage. 

I think that it also depends on how far away the listener is from the speakers.

ozzy

My room is pretty good size, and I sit quite a ways away, so am not sure a straight on setup would work so well, but ya never know until you try.

The ideal setup is unique to every speaker, room, and system, so what works great for one situation may or may not for another.  Experimentation recommended.

I've use the straight-forward, no toe-in for my three front speakers when they were Revel Studio 2s and, now, with my KEF Blade 2 Metas.  Both of these have quite flat off-axis FR.

I had the LRS+ with no toe in and tweeters on the outside creating a huge soundstage. I have the Mofi Sourcepoint 8s pointed at my shoulders to get the best blend of soundstage and imaging. 

I've done both. With my Maggies, I have the tweets on the outside. I honestly din;t hear much difference regarding toe. Contrary to old wives tales, Maggie ribbons have excellent dispersion.

I have Sonus Faber Amati Traditional. The starting point is typically suggested to be to have the beams cross behind your head a foot or so. I started there. Then slowly over six months moved the toe in out to be more perpendicular until they were pointed straight out. In my room, this maintained the central image and opened  up the soundstage with and depth until on some recordings the speakers disappear. The sound of playing a piano is linear across the soundstage (when recorded to be). So in my large room, this is the best positioning. 

Speaker and room dependent. 

After an extended period of adjustments, my Revel Salon 2 speakers ended up being positioned pretty much straight forward in my room. Why?  Because straight forward is the position where the speakers became "dialed-in."  Meaning---the bass, imaging, focus, depth and soundstage was the most perfect overall in that position.  Happy listening.