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Speaker Placement - When it's perfect!

So many audiophiles have commented that when your room treatment is completed, your electronics set up and tweaked and most importantly, your speakers are set up in your listening space correctly that you'll know it because everything just sounds so "right" and natural.  I just accomplished that feat in the last two weeks.  I say two weeks because I needed to play a wide variety of recordings to be sure that I'm there.  It is so great to have finally hit just the right set up.

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that it has taken me well over a year of experimentation to get to this point.  It's not that other placements yielded poor quality sound its just that now everything sounds like a live event (as much as any of our systems can).

I would really appreciate hearing about your journey to the promised land of audiophile/music lover bliss.  How long did it take, what were the most difficult aspects of the journey?  And if you have yet to get there, what do  you think is the "brick in your wall"?
128x128hifiman5
tablejockey
3,793 posts
 
I've been aware of it for years, and on page one it's already mentioned-the Cardas setup

http://www.cardas.com/speaker_placement.php

For my situation, it was the answer for wasted time fussing. Like everything, this too is a YMMV thing. Bass traps and first reflection control,make my non listening room sound like a hack audio geek system.The drawback is your speakers are way into the room-5.5' and 3.5' from the sides, in my setup.

Instant speaker upgrade, without the obsessive tinkering. If I had $10K+boxes,
that would probably be an excuse fo endless tweaking with measurment tools, pro consultation and such.


wspohn's avatar
wspohn
579 posts
 
Wow. The Spica Angelus. Haven’t thought about that speaker for a long time. That was, to me, one of the most unique looking speakers in its time. I never had the pleasure of hearing music through them.

Agree with you about the differing demands of various speaker designs/sizes. It is a long way from the Angelus to the Maxx 2!

The classic Spicas were the TC50s which had superb imaging. The Angelus added some bass extension but retained the excellent imaging, while looking like a pair of nuns staring at you. A shame John Bau stopped designing speakers!

The Wilsons also have very good imaging along with a bass down to 20 Hz and the sensitivity to operate well with lower powered amps - I change out and use a CJ Premier 11a for music and a Roland 5 for video. I’ve heard the Maxx 3 and they are indeed an improvement but the 2s are something one can be happy with indefinitely unless one suffers from audiophilia nervosa.

Any hifi addict should take the trouble to hear some speakers at least once - original Quads, Spica TC50, Apogee (preferably Scintillas), Magnepan Tympani, I’m sure many here can add their candidates for ’special’ speakers.
turnbowm
353 posts
 
Dialing everything in right is time-consuming but worth the effort.  Worked the better part of one year with speaker placement and room treatment.  The final phase was fine-tuning with speaker cable and interconnect combos.  When I started listening to the music instead of the equipment I knew that I was done.  
turnbowm
353 posts
 
Over the years, I've found that the Odd Dimensions rule (1/3, 1/5, etc.) for speaker placement seems to work well in most situations. For my listening room, the speakers were placed 1/3 of the room width from the side walls.  The front of the speakers were then placed 1/5 of the room length away from the front wall as a starting point. After a few listening sessions, moved the speakers a few inches closer to the front wall for some added bass reinforcement.    
pmiller115's avatar
pmiller115
95 posts
 
If you have completed the journey to perfection in a year you have certainly done so much faster that I was able to so do. I complete that same journey two +/- time a year until I play a recording or two that sound terrible and I then renew my interest in improving. For me at least this has been a hobby that continually inspires me to try something new for a greater return. I think half of the fun of this or any other hobby is continuing to try to improve what we have. I shudder when I think about how much money I have spent seeking perfection and the best I have done is I may have gotten a little closer to perfection. The manufacturers also try and in some cases do convince us that the finish line has again been moved.
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