[Desertpilot]

Last night, just to make sure I was not misleading anyone, I played a two channel album.  Carmen Gomes Inc., "Up Jumped The Devil", Sound Liaison Records.  Carmen's voice was centered perfectly.  Drums off to the rear left.  Guitar and Double Bass surrounding Carmen.  So, in my situation, speakers straight ahead is no issue for imaging.

Marcus

[doggie]

I visited a Spatial owner here in Tucson yesterday who listens to his X5"s in the nearfield. His speakers are out about 3' from the front wall and angled about 45 degrees from the MLP which is only about 5'-6' from the speakers. The speakers were toed in slightly. There was still a defined center image without a hole in the middle. And the drivers within each speaker seemed to integrate well. There were plenty of diffusion items on shelving directly behind the speakers. The perceived sound was spacious and  articulate. I was quite surprised to hear the X5's working so well with that configuration.

I continue to listen to my X5s with only slight toe-in. Center fill is very good although on some recordings it does seem as if a lot of information is coming from each speaker itself. Hard to say if this is just the recording's microphone/mixing at play.

The other thing that I notice is that sometimes an instrument will appear to move in the sound space when I doubt that it was in fact moving in the performance. I am wondering if this may be a product of the pass-off between the high and mid drivers with frequency changes in the crossover region?

Audiophilia is not curable...

[Desertpilot]

Audiophilia is not curable...

Isn't that the truth!