Listening distance

Dodgealum that was interesting . My young daughter also moves the listening chair ahead about one foot when we are not home , claims it's way better . But what does she no a age 11 , she has also become a diehard turntable groupy thanks to a so called friend of mine . I often twist and turn with discomfort until I realize that the chair was left in the forward position . Two of the above posters mentioned that the amount of drivers could have an effect on distance , I have felt for years that large reference type speakers required more distance back for the sound to blend and integrate . Regards Tim

My understanding is that the crossover design may also impact the preferred listening distance for multiway systems. I think I read somewhere that a 1st order (6db slope) requires more distance for the drivers to sum before reaching the listener than a crossover with steeper slopes.

I would think that different speakers would make for different positioning. Due to the constraints of my living room, my speakers are along the long wall about 7'10" (center to center) apart and I sit a about 7' back and I get excellent sound. Even my speaker maker, who at first thought they were too far apart, thought the soundstage was great the way it was, after he heard it.

All of those formulae are great for starting points but there are too many variables to be absolute. Those kids are onto something. Trust their ears.

Dodgealum - thanks for advising someone to trust their ears. WAY too many audiophiles do not do this. For another example, I am constantly amazed at how many people will determine what they are going to spend five or six figures on simply by looking at some numbers and at what others say, without ever listening to the product beforehand. The kid is definitely on to something. There are far too many variables involved in any given audio situation to generalize very much at all. I'm of course not suggesting that the opinions of others don't matter at all, or that the numbers don't matter at all. But you need to be happy with the sound if it's your system, and you can only do this by trusting your own ears. It is easy to get some ear training if you feel it is necessary. I spent two years listening and researching to things in my budget before I bought anything in my system, and ever since I have kept listening and researching, waiting for the day when I can finally buy what I have decided I really want.

Just measured and I got fourty eight inches from the bridge of my glasses to the dust caps plus or minus one quarter inch.