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Optimal Speaker Placement

I would like to know others thoughts on optimal distance between speakers as well as distance to listening position. I currently have my speakers 9' apart and they are 10' from the listening position. I am fortunate to have a large room and do not have any sidewall or rear wall issues. I am using Vienna Acoustics Mahler speakers which are full range speakers that project a large soundstage. My speaker cables are short and with my current equipment positioning I do not have the ability to test putting them closer without changes in cabling. The speakers do sound good as is but my concern is that they may be too far apart and I am missing some focus. Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated.
128x128dmailer
8 responses Add your response
cdc
1,663 posts
 
The equilateral traingle placement method really works.
I was listening to Sade Live and realized that it didn't sound like I was at a live event. Instead I was outside the building listening through the front door.
My speakers were about 6 feet apart and I was listening from 8-9 feet away. So I moved each speaker about 1 1/2 feet out so they are 8-9 feet apart.
Now the soundstage has opened up, my room is fully immersed in sound and I am inside the building, actually at the live event. Great!
vlugt0027e4a
2 posts
 
my experience with the Mahlers is that they can be placed quite close to the back wall (1 m or even less) but that they are far more critical in their position relative to the side walls. I use mine with the bass woofers facing outwards and then they need a minimum of 1.5 m distance to the sidewalls to avoid booming. I assume it is all very room dependent - i once auditioned a pair of Mahlers in a really small and low room and the sound was edgy with booming bass.
dmailer's avatar
dmailer OP
235 posts
 
Thanks for yoour responses. The Cardas and Audiphysics sites do have some good info reagrding speaker placement. I have been quite pleased with the Mahlers with my 9ft spacing. Since I have been unable to test much different spacing do to my equipment setup it is good to hear that the wider spacing arrangement with the Mahlers seems to work well with others. Sometimes when you haven't tried something you wonder what you may be missing. In this case my current setup is probably about right.
erniec
23 posts
 
Dmailer,

I am familiar with the Mahlers as well as the Beethovens whic I own. VA and Sumiko both recommend wide placement; their rule of thumb is about 70% of your room's width. My friend who owns the Mahlers has about 11 feet spacing between the speakers with great results. My Beethovens are about the same as yours 9ft, and I sit about 10 ft from tne speakers. and I suspect that they may sound as good or better with wider spacing. BTW you have a great speaker.
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
The best position is where you like how it sounds.
There are so many variables in accoustics, I doubt any formula is perfect, but it is worth some effort I guess.


My system is in some sort of triangle like many/most people.
I have a small sofa in the room, with left side of the sofa in the middle.
The right side of the sofa is about in the middle of the right half of the room.
There is a lamp table on that right side.


I had always sat in the middle (left side of the sofa).
A while back I wanted to read something. It was dark, so I moved to the right side of the sofa by the lamp.
It sounds a lot better on that right side, even though I am way off center; the speakers don't point towards me;
and are not the same distance from me.

I can't explain why, but I guess I don't care.
My accidental discovery about my listening room is good enough.

grandpad
151 posts
 
The speaker maker Audio Physic has an approach you may find useful:

http://216.239.35.120/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://www.audiophysic.de/produkte/aufstellung/aufstellung_e2.html&prev=/search%3Fq%3DAudio%2BPhysic%2BLoudspeakers%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG

and George Cardas gives a formula on his site.
kotta's avatar
kotta
649 posts
 
Look up this web site: www.high-endaudio.com/ Go to LINKS
Click on Magazines/Etc. (The Audio Perfectionist) A very
interesting/useful source of opinion. Bill
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Those look like pretty good set-up dimensions to me. If you would like a stronger stereo image but can't move your speakers closer together, you can at least experiment with toe-in-- that can have quite an affect on imaging, detail, coherence, and music quality/character in general. Good Luck. Craig
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