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

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.

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. 

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.

After experimenting with moving my speakers farther apart and less toe in, I was surprised how much better I liked the sound stage and the way the speakers "disappeared" during playback.