It depends on the speakers dispersion, room reflections, and listening position.
Is toeing speakers a bad idea?
I was toeing in my speakers and that seemed like a good thing to do. But then I decided to de-toe the speakers. I was hoping that the speakers dispersed things well enough and maybe they don't need to be focused so much to create a so-called sweet spot.
I found the imaging in the room was a lot better and sound improved. The room is a rectangular room and the speakers are placed at one end of the room about 3 feet from the wall. Room sizes 17 x 23 with a 7 ceiling. Maybe someone can share some rationale for this. I feel the sound waves may spread out better and not be so disturbed when they collide in a so called sweet spot near my skull.
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Toe varies by room and system. Try no-toe, slight toe-in, even trying radical crossing of toe up to 10" crossing in front of the listener - - would have never believed it until my local 53-year-in business dealer showed me with a few AudioNote systems. The differences and results can be quite amazing. Try all positions. The generic methods and formulas do not account for your room, just try it all, listen, take notes for each position. My setup has barely any toe-in, and sounds best like this, for my room and system. You do need to learn to trust your own ears in good time. Take your time, try each position, listen carefully. |
1000%, its amazing how many times we can test something, thinking we’ll remember the results each time, then comparing to 5-10 other test scenarios, moves, and end up repeating the same tests over again IF we don’t have any notes record of prior tests and results.. For me, its a complete waste of time, and potential for do-overs, if you simply can’t take notes to record results, thoughts, and findings of each test case scenario. A few years back, I was testing 30 different pairs of vintage small signal and drive tubes in some different amps. Weeks later I’d go back and re-read the results from each test, almost in disbelief how things can be similar and so different some times. I also do this in case our mood and hearing changes too, trying not to leave another separate day of testing in the dark when comparing back to prior days. |
I remember once upon a time using a Sheffield Labs disc that had an in-phase/out-of-phase track and Doug or Rodger (I cannot remember which) said, when out of phase, to position the speakers enhance the out of focus as much as possible (when out of phase) and then when they were back in-phase, that positioning would result in very tight focus. So I did that, and that turned out to be what I consider a rather severe toe-in in a near field room, and the focus did wind up being real tight . . . but I lost a whole lot of peripheral sound stage. Now I don't use any toe-in at all . . . focus is good and I have (by my standards) pretty good peripheral sound stage. Of course, this is all in a near field listening environment, and that is not what you have. |
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