Hi mr_bill,
Closer than that... 
I'll get back to you soon, but in the meantime, give this post a read. It's pretty informative:
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?886-Near-Field-Listening-Acquired-Taste-or-Proper-Paradigm
Vinnie
mr_bill,
As a follow-up to my
near field listening, I have a fairly large bedroom system (what they sometimes call
a "bonus room" above a 2-car garage) configured as follows:
- I am facing one of the corners of the room, and my head is approx. 12 feet from that corner.
- Speaker front baffles are approx. 4 feet (48") from my ears
- Speakers are approx. 70" apart, and fully toed-in to each ear. If I lean forward, I can just begin to see the
sides of each speaker.
- Distances of each speaker's tweeter to each ear are within 0.5". I know this sounds neurotic, but let me tell you that
getting it this precise (at least within 1") is very important in making the speakers disappear (below).
- Chair height is adjusted accordingly to get the ears at the correct height (also important, and depends on speaker model).
- Walls / corners are well-treated with RealTraps.
- NOTE: Not all speakers sound good like this or are even designed for this kind of listening.
With the system set up above, vocals are very present 12 feet (in the corner I am facing - and sometimes beyond it),
soundstage is layered, focused, and in many recordings it extends beyond the walls. When adjusting balance with the LIO (in 1dB steps), someone singing sounds like they are actually walking on stage in an arc from the corner all the way around to the speaker as you fade L or R. When listening in near darkness (my favorite way), it gets spooky-real at times (high goosebump factor for sure!). When its dark, you don't see the speakers. You don't see the room (but now I'm seeing DHT glow and I love it). So you are not using your visual cortex as much and instead are using your ears / auditory cortex. That's another topic... back to the near field experience:
Since my speakers are well away from the walls, and I don't have the room to screw up the sound because my ears hear the
speakers well before any reflections ever come into play - listening this way means that I not only hear more deeply into the recordings,
but I also more precisely hear changes I make in the system (this is very helpful/important for me). For example, I can more clearly hear how the sound changes with internal part changes when developing, say, the LIO DHT PRE. A capacitor or resistor's sonic signature on the circuit is much more noticeable. The less the room comes into play, the better for me.
Sitting closer also means you don't need as much power to get the same SPL level to your ears, and you can play louder w/o
overloading the room.
Getting back to AXPONA 2016 (room 336), I'm always surprised (maybe I shouldn't be?) by how many people seem to be uncomfortable
at first when they sit down and the speakers are closer to them than what they are used to. Then you watch the look on their face
because what they are hearing does not sound like it is coming from the speakers - but instead far beyond the speakers, and in
layers. Vocals, for example, are either centered at or beyond the wall that they are facing (quite a bit behind the speakers, but centered on stage as if you were getting a private performance and have the best seat in the house!). Not all speaker are good at or even
made for this. Harbeths certainly are (they are used in mixing consoles in recording studios, which is definitely near field listening)
I've reached a point while listening over the years that I not only want great sound coming out of the speakers, but I really don't want to think about the speakers my equipment when listening - I want to be taken somewhere. I close my eyes, and I want to feel
an experience that is highly engaging and emotional, at times hypnotic, and tangible (you feel like you can walk out of your chair
and walk over to the performers - in their different locations on the stage). Yes, this is certainly "sweet spot listening" - but I *try*
to share it with my wife, and it still sounds quite good in the room when your not in the sweet spot. It may not be for everyone, and
it might not 'the best way' to do it for you. But if you are free to experiment, go for it!
Kinda funny:
I mentioned this to a crowd at AXPONA - once in a while when we have guests over who see the speakers and the listening chair in my room, I get a comment along the lines of "You mean you just sit there in your chair and listen to your music like that for hours?" I'm still surprised by how this seems odd to some people. My response is usually something like "Yeah, it's just like how you just sit there on your couch and watch television for hours!"
I do get up occasionally to stretch, drink some water, change an LP, etc.
It's just funny how watching TV or going to a movie and sitting still and watching is 'normal' - but it can seem odd for some to do the same with music.
Back to work for me ...
Vinnie
