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Speaker placement and soundstage

I've been thinking and that is not usually a good thing. The recommended speaker and listening position roughly forms an equilateral triangle. This positions the speakers 30° to the leaf and right for a general sound stage of 60°. Sure, some recordings have a very rich sound stage that can go beyond that 60°, but in the music I listen to, that is few and far between (progressive rock, arena rock, symphonic rock, etc.). The birds in Even in the Quietest Moments register a solid 60° to 80° left and right so my system can present a wide sound stage, but the "normal" 60° feels like sitting in row Z at a concert. I'm tempted to explore toeing the speakers in more and getting closer to create a wider field between the speakers knowing it might blow up that sensitive "beyond the speakers" sound stage. Has anyone gone down this rabbit hole?

markcasazza
danmar123's avatar
danmar123
631 posts
 

@toddsyr, thanks for those links. They came in very useful with my speakers. Altec 311/60s on top of LaScala bass bins. Now my horns are dialed in correctly. 

toddsyr's avatar
toddsyr
233 posts
 

@danmar123 You're welcome but I learned about it right here on Audiogon. The method makes a nice difference for sure and it's free! Once placement has been done then you do the room treatment.  It then gets even better. 

danmar123's avatar
danmar123
631 posts
 

I've been working with GIK for the last week to finalize my room treatments, but I'm not going to extend myself until after the summer. My bass bins are 9.5' on center with a brick fireplace in between, on a 13' wide room. We came up with 7 panels just in the front end & 2 in the rear wall.

toddsyr's avatar
toddsyr
233 posts
 

My room is really tricky. Even a door in the corner of the back wall. I ordered a total of 13 panels and bass traps. Some panels are for the ceiling.  Not all have arrived yet. They are produced on demand so be prepared for it to take a couple months for everything to arrive. 

fire_water's avatar
fire_water
254 posts
 

Like others have pointed out speaker placement is never one-size-fits-all, and upgrading your gear can completely shift the dynamics. I loved my Klipsch LaScala AL5 speakers, but upgrading my Accuphase DC-37 DAC to the reference DC-1000 suddenly highlighted a slight hollowness and glare in the presentation. By reducing the toe-in and pulling the speakers 4 inches further out from the front wall, the sound was completely transformed. Musuc has become incredibly engaging, yielding punchier bass, stronger note authority, a massive 3D soundstage, and much better coherence.

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