Speaker shootout question -- do you position the same or differently, depending?


If you're comparing two speakers at home, do you position each the same or do you position each as (roughly) optimal for that speaker in your room?

I'm comparing a tower and a bookshelf now, and their design is different. It would seem that the best way to compare would be to figure out what is optimal for each and then compare them in (likely) different positions. 

What kind of process do you use for comparing two differently designed speakers?

128x128hilde45

The OP forgot to mention 1 critical thing in his opening statement that make a big difference and the brought it up later: “But for folks who may have another way of testing both their room and the speaker, e.g., when there is a lack of flexibility in the placement”.

If your speakers have a specific spot that they have to reside in because of lack of space or WAF, then that changes everything and if this is the case for this install, why not bring this up initially? Why would the OP state positioning the speakers optimally if you can’t?

 

There's no point in positioning the speakers in "roughly" their optimal position - actually, that's an oxymoron. Unless the speakers are radically different in their design, their optimum position might only vary slightly from speaker to speaker since, the major factors of dispersion and bass response apart all the other acoustic variables are remaining the same. I second Riley804's post - position each accurately using tape and listen carefully - with only one pair of speakers in the room at a time.

Put each where they sound best to fairly evaluate and remember that where they fall in your room will be one factor in deciding which to purchase.

FWIW, "roughly" optimal position is not an oxymoron. We can call it "nearly optimal" if you prefer. The point is that if one is using REW for SPL and Impulse, there are various levels of precision one can get -- within 8 db, at this or that frequency, or this level of smearing reflections above -20 db. If you have not used REW, you don’t know what I mean, but when one is trying to make sure "most of the notes" are there -- and not too "peaky" AND one is trying to avoid a level of reflection which would damage the accuracy of sound stage imaging, there are any number of compromises and different degrees of accuracy one could accept in order to go back to listening. It’s an iterative process - listen, measure, listen again.

So, you can see that I’m not in the "walking around the room, clapping" camp, nor am I in the "optimal is simply one thing" camp. This is a complicated, iterative, measuring-and-listening process -- even for one speaker -- so adding a second speaker in, of a different kind (tower not stand mount) makes it even more complicated.

And please don’t tell me I’m over-complicating it. You can say, "That’s too complicated for me" if you wish. But I hear the results of this process and they exceed by a large margin trial and error.

 

rbstenho -- I can position things in many places. My WAF is that she wants me do what I want. But I'm curious what others do when the are bound by a more constrictive arrangement, just in case I decide to move to a room that has more limitations.

((((I set my speakers equal distance from the rear and side wall )))

Maxboy,

 This advice is taboo in most well written speaker manuals

 never do equal front and side walls.

 The room nodes will ring like a tuning fork or a cow mooing.

 Best,

JohnnyR