IME setting up bi directional speakers can be problematic. That back wave can be a killer if you don't treat the wall behind in in some fashion. I used dispersive material. The success of crossing the speakers axis in front of the listener depends a lot on how much it is needed to reduce the effects of side wall/first reflections. It usually helps most when the speakers had to be placed close to the side walls. If side walls are not a problem then there really is little benefit other than changing the reflection pattern off the walls behind the speakers. I had Quad 65's for some years and it seemed to take forever to find the balance that worked best, butr I ended up with them pointed to just outside of my ears (no crossing over) and the rear pointing towards the room corners (I was 6ft off the rear wall). But, FWIW, it takes a long time (usually) to find the perfect placement for them to work, but do no minimize the need for rear wall treatment, Hell, I even tried Boston Ferns! Good luck.
Radical toe in once more
Hi all. I have bi-directional floorstanders, two way speakers with identical treble and woofer on the front and the back. Half of the sound goes to the front drivers, half to the back.
The toe-in of this type of speaker is very influenced by how the back sound wave and the reverberant sound behaves. These speakers often sound good with radical toe-in due to better room acoustics with a longer back wave towards the corners.
This is a huge topic, and my question is more restricted: what happens with the front firing sound?
Is there an "inherent" problem with radical toe in, when the main sound from the front drivers cross in front of the listener, instead of the more conventional setup where the crossing point is behind the listener - and if so, what?
Is this (potential) minus factor in fact low, if the listener is just a foot or so back of the crossing point?