Where to place - need some hand holding please


To all,
I bought a system based on my research here with no audiophile experience (Until than my stereo had been an Aiwa boom box from my college days.) I have been very happy, so thanks everybody. Now that I have had it for 1+ year and have become very intimate with it, I want to start calibrating, or flatten the response rather. I had hoped after spending some time I would appreciate the differences better.
Please click on my system link to view setup and pics.
Where do I begin? Speaker placement? I have no clue where to put them. Where should I try? My sub baffles me the most as it fires 3 ways so the corner is not an option. Sumiko said to place it between the FR & FL, but my center goes there and there is no room for anything else up there. My room dimensions are: 19'L x 11'2"W x 8'H.
To make things more challenging, if you look at the pic titled: “Front View” the toed in cabinets behind the speakers are not even on both sides of the room. One goes a 2 inches further out into the room.
I should also mention my severe limitations at this point. I cannot put any room treatments because of Wife Acceptance. Nor can I spend any more money on things like equalizers, again because of my wife, as she was not too thrilled with the money I put in already.
Based on these limitations, is there anything I can do to improve the responses, like speaker placement, etc? If so, where should I move the speaker?

Thank you in advance for any help,
David
captaincapitalism

Showing 1 response by artizen65

Capt,

I went back and read a couple of your previous threads. Glad to hear you are sticking it out, as you have put together an execelent system.

Ok here are my sugestions.

1) The loveseat and recliner. I would remove the recliner from the room and center the loveseat on the center channel. Sorry but I feel that you can create a better listening environment this way.

2) Take your rear speakers off of the shelves and put on stands (the tweeters should be about 1 foot above the listeners head) and locate per the dolby.com website.

3) For the fronts. Pull them straight out from the corners more into the room. Measure the distance between the speakers. Then measure off the inside edge of each speaker creating an equalateral triangle. Place the love seat at that distance from the speakers. Near field listening.

4) Use a 2 chanel source and a CD you are familiar with. Start with your front speakers facing forward. Using just your ears as you are familiar with your system now. Work with toeing in the speakers and see how that affects your soundstage and tone. You can also move one speaker forwards or backwards about an inch at a time and hear how that affects your soundstage and tone. Sitting in the nearfield should help with unwanted reflections.

5) Put the sub behind the loveseat and forget about it. IMHO this is the only logical place.

You can also google "Speaker Placement"

Good luck and keep us posted.