[dallaire1]

LMAO ! Let em fly ! I can't wait to finish my room acoustics and then see where things are at. My wife believe it or don't is a true audiophile ! she wants the room treated like a studio ! we spend every night listening together.

[Chewbacca]

LMAO ! Let em fly ! I can't wait to finish my room acoustics and then see where things are at. My wife believe it or don't is a true audiophile ! she wants the room treated like a studio ! we spend every night listening together.

That's a great feeling when your significant other can get in on the insanity, and truly enjoy it! I'm slowly turning my wife into an audiophile as well She's given me full control of the living room, and has even recently asked when we're getting more room treatments lol!

[dallaire1]

That's awesome !!

[Mr. Big]

My audio room is in my loft which overlooks my family room, so I have no wall behind till you get about 30' out. My front walls were taken care of due to my many years with Quad ESL speakers, and I never, ever have anything between my 2 speakers but my amp on its stand. That was audio 101 over 30 years ago.

[catluck]

I  note Tangram's responses with a comforted amusement.  They so recount my experience with the M3's.  Shifting soundstage to one side when speaks are not symmetric to sidewalls? Check.  No night/day difference when toe-in modified from severe to almost straight ahead? Check.  In fact, I had diffusor panels on the right sidewall (36" from right speak) and, well, not much of a discernable difference when on/off.  Left speak is 5' away from left sidewall and there's nothing I can do about it.  Strangely, on much content the "images" are perfectly centered. On other content image slightly right shifted (the speak closer to the sidewall).  Speaks about 50" from front wall so decent depth of field (but, of course, still have 42" flat screen about 38" behind front plane of speaks).  I'm nearly burned out on efforts to optimize speak placement and, strangely, am enjoying the presentation more than ever before. Listening to Serge Chaloff's "Blue  Serge" and entranced.  If you enjoy baritone sax really well recorded, this is the one.  So grateful to have this forum for the thoughtful voices and experiences noted.

[Desertpilot]

I tried, honestly tried.  Speakers were 11 feet from MLP and 9 feet apart.  I moved them to 9 feet from MLP.  Perfect triangle.  Ugh, music sounded like it was coming from the speakers.  I moved the speakers to 10 feet from MLP.  WOW!  Now I had a robust soundstage and very deep.  I like it better than the original 11 feet from MLP.  Toe-in is best at a moderate 15 degrees (several inches away from my shoulders).

I've only had one day of listening since moving the speakers but so far an improvement.

Marcus

[abomwell]

The equilateral triangle is not sacred. My understanding is that it was simply a suggested easy way to set up speakers when stereo was introduced. I've always enjoyed sitting within the triangle as far as possible just short of where the center image is lost or the speakers don't integrate.

[Tangram]

You are absolutely right. Many factors will dictate the ideal position, including personal taste. Start there and adjust accordingly.

[Tyson]

I find that an equilateral triangle is good but slightly canting it toward odd numbered ratios is a good trick.  So, for example, the speakers would be 5 feet from the back wall, 7 feet from each other and a listening position 9 feet back from the speakers is a good starting point. 

Depending on room size, of course.  If you're in a bigger room, then increase the #'s.  If in a small room, decrease them. 

[Desertpilot]

... slightly canting it toward odd numbered ratios is a good trick.

Tyson, this is a very interesting idea.  My initial position was 5 feet from front wall, 11 feet to the MLP and 9 feet apart.  I may try that position again and compare it to where the speakers are now.  I don't know why odd numbers would work.  But, heck, it's worth a try.

Marcus

[Tyson]

Tyson, this is a very interesting idea.  My initial position was 5 feet from front wall, 11 feet to the MLP and 9 feet apart.  I may try that position again and compare it to where the speakers are now.  I don't know why odd numbers would work.  But, heck, it's worth a try.

Marcus

The idea came about because with waves, overlaps tend to reinforce (and cancel) more strongly at even points, and have less at odd points.  I just applied that observation to the standard triangle we all start with.  Again, it's a good starting point, but every room is different and every pair of speakers is different, so really just trial and error is the best way. 

[abomwell]

I'm trying something new (for me) in that I'm sitting within a few inches of the rear wall. This is not common practice of course but it has been recommended by John Dunlavy and Jim Smith in his book Getting Better Sound. The wall behind my ears is mostly covered with a rug placed on top of 2" of rigid foam. The distance between the speakers is 83% of the distance from my chair to each speaker (another Jim Smith recommendation). I have floor-to -ceiling bass traps in 3 room corners, the 4th corner is an open doorway. The wall behind the speakers has 32 square feet of diffusion. The bass is remarkable especially considering it's a square room! The triangle is less than equilateral but the instruments have better focus and more body.

[Mr. Big]

All the comments show that all rooms are different. This is why reviews in magazines or anywhere are somewhat worthless when you go to purchase and listen in our rooms with our equipment. I take owners' feedback over any reviewer any day of the week, the major magazines for sure, they all are in business to promote those who pay to keep their magazine afloat, and surely it is not us with the ultra-low prices they ask for subscriptions.

[Mr. Big]

I keep reading trying to tame the Spatial speakers on bright recordings. Well, you can't in 40 years in this hobby no matter the format, but let's use vinyl, they had many recordings that sounded thin and bright and others that sounded compressed and dark with bass like mud. No speaker I owned ever changed the way they sounded. So the bane of Audiophiles we want recordings all to sound great but that will never happen. My M3's Sapphires can sound warm and sweet, then another recording brighter with much less bottom end, and that is the way it should be. It's not the speaker causing it, but the recordings themselves. Some recordings sound dynamic and others sound flat and not much microdynamics, those, of course, are the current recording of today and the really the past 10 years that are overly compressed for loudness. If all recordings are that way then look at your room, cables, etc, or just the type of music you enjoy is recorded that way. But in my year with my M3's once broken in that is a wonderful musical speaker with the only limits to the music played and its production sound quality, and setup.