Planar speaker placement

kalali is right - the dipole design reduces side radiation - tho I assume diffraction helps quite a bit on the close side walls or a co. like ARC would not use it when testing

the book by J Smith is just a rehash of obvious principles that have been known for decades mixed in with a bunch of excess verbiage - it sells to people who don't know much, including where to find the info for free.   sad.

Yeah, but absorption & some diffusion behind the planars will improve the depth & clarity because without it all that rear-firing energy will reflect back and smear what is heard.

Agreed, with cone drivers first reflection points are much more impactful on results. Cheers,
Spencer

sbank

... absorption & some diffusion behind the planars will improve the depth & clarity because without it all that rear-firing energy will reflect back and smear what is heard.

This is not at all the case in my experience. Much of the depth and soundstaging of planar speakers is the result of the dipolar reflection. Manufacturers of dipoles could easily use cabinet design to obstruct the rear wave ... but they don't. It's by design.

Here's one for ya !  I bought a pair of Quad 2905 last week . I also bought a bigger Torus power conditioner and some cables at the same time . I placed the quads on the inside of where i have my king Sound King speakers . Been listening to the Quads since i got them home . 2 days ago i started listening to the kings again and i was impressed by something i had done . I was not sure if it was the bigger Torus or the new cables that was making the improvement . I started to isolate the changes to see what is causing the improvement in imaging and bass . Turns out it was the Quad speakers being next to the Kings ! Expensive room treatments !! I will be mimicking the quads with either a absorption or diffuser the same size of the Quads .
Anyone care to venture why the improvement ?

one speaker is driving the other