[scottd132]

I am a new Super 3S owner. I have a difficult setup as the speakers are in a den 12*13*12 and flank both sides of a 6 foot sofa. To make it more challenging my listening position is off center to the right directly in line with he right speaker. I have played with toe in and distance from back wall but am looking for any information regarding ideal distance between the speakers and possible toe in. I have had to use my balance control on the McIntosh 4100 receiver to bring some soundstage center to my ear. However with my desire to try a different SET or SE Pentode Amp I will not have the luxury to center the soundstage. I am about 9 feet in front of the speakers so near field.

All of this sacrifice for the sake of a professional decorator in a new home.

Thanks

Scott

[opnly bafld]

Would it be possible to pull the left speaker out so that it is the same distance from you as the right speaker?

Lin

[Good Times]

There has to be something you can do, listening in front of one speaker is never going to work. To be blunt and brutally honest, if you can't move the speakers or your listening position, headphones would be a better bet if it's just you listening!

Seeing as the speakers are nice and light, can you move them for listening and then move back for when the room's aesthetics are a priority?

[Rocket]

Hi,

All of this sacrifice for the sake of a professional decorator in a new home./quote]

There in lies the problem.  Just tell you wife or partner that the speakers need to be positioned correctly.  Nothing that you do will correct the issue of positioning unless you fix this issue.  Sorry to be so blunt.

Regards Rod

[JLM]

I fired our interior designer (good ones are few and far between).

First off, you're in a horrible room (near cube) and will suffer from severe dips/peaks at multiples of 53 Hz.  So can you move the system to another room?

Second as mentioned above, proper stereo requires that you listen equal distance from both speakers.  A possible/partial mitigating factor is to rearrange the furnishings (the interior designer she doesn't live with you does she?) to allow for a equal distance set up that is non-symetrically skewed to the room (still won't take care of dips/peaks below the Schneider frequency, about 170 Hz for your room, where sound transmission behavior transitions from waves to rays).

But frankly if you can't move to a different room, headphones is probably your best solution and just have a secondary system around for casual listening (and send those poor speakers to a good home - like mine  ).

[scottd132]

Yes to all I know I have a challenge in placement and room acoustics. I have twelve foot drapes to dampen things a bit. It is what I have and yes headphones will work for serious listening especially when the kids are in bed. Lets assume I was sitting straight on, has anyone had luck with toe in or advise on the subject.

I am ordering a Trafomatic Aries and hope to see a larger more open soundstage than I currently have with the Mac receiver. We will see. At some point I will post a picture of the room and the new Amp and give you my thoughts. In the old house I had the formal living room as MY room and ran Canary 300B's and Cain and Cain Abby's and Baily sub. It was a nice combination, the room was larger and the dining room and entry were open to it so the air filled with sound and the soundstage was big and deep as well. Now I have a much different situation and I think the combination of the Super 3S and the Trafomatic Aries might be blast.

[raysracing]

Yes to all I know I have a challenge in placement and room acoustics. I have twelve foot drapes to dampen things a bit. It is what I have and yes headphones will work for serious listening especially when the kids are in bed. Lets assume I was sitting straight on, has anyone had luck with toe in or advise on the subject.

  Louis told me to place my 3's with no toe in 12" from the back wall and they improved in imaging for me.  With your off set position i'd position the speaker in front of you like that and then play with the other to compensate.