This will be somewhat counter-intuitive, but with some horn speakers the sweet spot width can quite wide. First a bit of background:
The ear localizes sound by two mechanisms: Arrival time and intensity. With most system setups, as you move off to one side, the near speaker which naturally "wins" arrival time also "wins" intensity because you are now more on-axis of that near speaker. So typically the center image moves over to the side even further than you do, and if you move over far enough the soundstage can "collapse" to the near speaker such that you're virtually listening to mono.
Suppose we take a pair of horn speakers which have a uniform radiation of say 90 degrees wide (-6 dB @ 45 degrees off-axis to either side) and toe them in about 45 degrees, such that their axes criss-cross in front of the listening area. Now something interesting happens as we move off to one side: The near speaker still inevitably "wins" arrival time, but the FAR speaker "wins" intensity! This is because we are now well off-axis of the near speaker, but pretty much on-axis of the far speaker. These two different localization mechanisms approximately offset one another, such that we can still get a center image and a reasonable spread for the instruments even from well off the centerline. The key to this working is, that near speaker’s output must fall off smoothly and rapidly as we move off to the side. Therefore this technique is unlikely to work well with most speakers.
With this technique you can let your guest have the center sweet spot and you can sit to one side of them without the soundstage collapsing. Yes it will still be better right smack in the middle, but it won’t suck off to the side. At audio shows I use this configuration and when possible place one chair up against a side wall, to the outside of the speakers. People instinctively avoid that chair, unless the room is full. Then after the song is over I ask the person in that chair whether they could still hear a decent spread to the instruments, and invariably they say yes, and usually go on to say how pleasantly surprising it was. Some even say it sounded like they were in the middle, which imo is an exaggeration, but still an indication of how well the technique can work.
Duke
The ear localizes sound by two mechanisms: Arrival time and intensity. With most system setups, as you move off to one side, the near speaker which naturally "wins" arrival time also "wins" intensity because you are now more on-axis of that near speaker. So typically the center image moves over to the side even further than you do, and if you move over far enough the soundstage can "collapse" to the near speaker such that you're virtually listening to mono.
Suppose we take a pair of horn speakers which have a uniform radiation of say 90 degrees wide (-6 dB @ 45 degrees off-axis to either side) and toe them in about 45 degrees, such that their axes criss-cross in front of the listening area. Now something interesting happens as we move off to one side: The near speaker still inevitably "wins" arrival time, but the FAR speaker "wins" intensity! This is because we are now well off-axis of the near speaker, but pretty much on-axis of the far speaker. These two different localization mechanisms approximately offset one another, such that we can still get a center image and a reasonable spread for the instruments even from well off the centerline. The key to this working is, that near speaker’s output must fall off smoothly and rapidly as we move off to the side. Therefore this technique is unlikely to work well with most speakers.
With this technique you can let your guest have the center sweet spot and you can sit to one side of them without the soundstage collapsing. Yes it will still be better right smack in the middle, but it won’t suck off to the side. At audio shows I use this configuration and when possible place one chair up against a side wall, to the outside of the speakers. People instinctively avoid that chair, unless the room is full. Then after the song is over I ask the person in that chair whether they could still hear a decent spread to the instruments, and invariably they say yes, and usually go on to say how pleasantly surprising it was. Some even say it sounded like they were in the middle, which imo is an exaggeration, but still an indication of how well the technique can work.
Duke
