Radical toe in once more


Hi all. I have bi-directional floorstanders, two way speakers with identical treble and woofer on the front and the back. Half of the sound goes to the front drivers, half to the back.

The toe-in of this type of speaker is very influenced by how the back sound wave and the reverberant sound behaves. These speakers often sound good with radical toe-in due to better room acoustics with a longer back wave towards the corners.

This is a huge topic, and my question is more restricted: what happens with the front firing sound?

Is there an "inherent" problem with radical toe in, when the main sound from the front drivers cross in front of the listener, instead of the more conventional setup where the crossing point is behind the listener - and if so, what?

Is this (potential) minus factor in fact low, if the listener is just a foot or so back of the crossing point?

 

Ag insider logo xs@2xo_holter

Something rarely addressed is the effect of floor and, more importantly, ceiling reflections. Crossing the axis of your speakers in front of you might get a more diffused soundstage (for the better?) because of changing ceiling reflections. Whatever, it does make a difference if you listen closely.

I am just in two minds, regarding the front wave.

 

If you had never heard of radical toe-in you'd be happy?  Then pretend you don't know what it is and keep things conventional.

Interesting topic. I will (hopefully) have new speakers next week. They are of the Planar/ribbon design. I have been told that they should be placed with no toe in, no absorptive materials behind them or at 1st reflection points and place them about 4-5 feet from the wall that is behind the speakers.

Very new concept for me, so, I shall see what this leads to.

ozzy

Dipoles and omnis have their own set of 'feeding habits', esp. in the spaces one makes the habitat....but half the fun (or in some cases, frustration) is like the real estate mantra:

"Location, location, location."

Omnis don't 'toe anything', whereas dipoles in irregular spaces are the polar opposite....pun intended...

...and crippling a speaker on purpose?  Voids warranties on contact, so keep that to older or 'vintage'...

I disconnected the tweets, mids, and xover in a pair of 3ways, but only wanted the woofers (which explains them being upside down....). 😏😉