[zuluwarrior0760]

My listening space (also my living room) is approx 27x17.  The backwall
is actually a little less than 16' when a bookcase is taken into account....
The space opens largely on one side to a corridor and dining area/entry beyond....

My listening location is not very negotiable, it's about 11' from back wall.

I've tried Cardas Planar locations and bass falls apart and everything becomes
unfocused......

Magnepan's diagrams show with tweets in, I should aim the inner edge to ear
or thereabouts.........I use a laser to aim the center of the tweet right at my ear....
It seems I get the best compromise for bass and imagining with the speakers about 4'
from the backwall.....and about 2 1/2' in ea. side to center of panel....

My question is, what do the seasoned maggie pros have to say for where I should
start experimenting from here........I know there's a placement where I'm going to
say "oh my goodness, that's it".....but I don't think I've found it yet.......

Magnepan 3.7
Bryston 7Bsst2 amps
CAT SL1 Renaissance Phono Pre
Esoteric K03 SACD/DAC
Bryston BDP-2 Media Player
VPI Classic 3 TT with Lyra Kleos Cartridge
Cabling (Grover Huffman interconnects, Shunyata Pwr Cables, Bryston Spkr cables)
Power Cond: Shunyata Hydra 6

See below some renderings of my listening space......

[SteveFord]

Get a helper and put the speakers right next to one another and then move them apart until they sound right, go back and forth until they sound right and then toe in until they sound right and then angle them forwards and backwards until they sound right.
When you're done they should sound right!

[berni]

As for me, I would go for another setup. Move the speakers to each side of the fireplace and the sofa(listening position) in beetwen the opening. I would really be interested in that...

[rollo]

   That is a large space for 3.7 speakers.  They only go down to 35Hz at -3db  or more to begin with. Maggies are just known for deep bass. Accurate for what they provide but lots of Hz MIA. Easy boys. 
     You can try a little closer to front wall to reinforce the bass. Placing the speakers a tad closer together will reinforce the mid bass which maybe what is really not right yet. Again maybe.
      Try one foot closer together and tweeters on outside firing straight ahead [ toe in later ]. You have good space from side walls. Tweeters on the outside will yield a bigger sound stage. Once you dial the bass in if possible then toe in to achieve preferred imaging. If you have a break in CD with out of phase track use that to get an equal output from both channels. It will sound like it is coming from all around you and not leaning to one side. The Sheffield/XLO CD is excellent for that. BTW.  You will achieve perfect balance that way.
      If all fails to meet your expectations the only other option is a pair of subs. With the large opening on the left side pressurizing the room is a tough task. Subs just may be what is needed for that space.



charles

[MGbert]

@ZuluWarrior:

Try adjusting the tilt from vertical so an imaginary line from the dead center of the panel driver is in line with your ears.  Also try putting a mirror on the side wall so that you can only see the edge of the 3.7 from the listening seat.  Since these are dipoles, the edges are "nulls" - no sound radiates from them there, so early reflections from the side wall are effectively eliminated.  That could be a good thing in your case.

If possible, I'd also move the equipment rack to a side wall... maybe where the mirror reflection of the null is located.  Lots of folks find that the equipment rack where you have it can defocus soundstage a bit.

MGbert

[satie]

1st congrats on the speakers

things you can do to improve things:

1. get a pair of sealed subwoofers, the space the 3.7 are loading with bass includes the open space beyond the room - the dining area and kitchen. They are just not enough.

2. pull the speakers well away from the front wall (tweets in), note that you have a serious asymmetry so you should balance the speakers on multiple frequencies - start with 1khz or a mono recording, and move the speakers away from the fireplace (both of them) till the center image of the tone or music are balanced to the middle and the image is thin and stable.

consider reorienting to the fireplace wall with the speakers pulled 7-10 ft away and the main listening seat perhaps pulled back more - into the open wall section and beyond. In this case try both tweets in and tweets out. Pull the speakers apart till the center image becomes unstable and pull them closer till it gels again - probably 8-10 ft apart (edge to edge) depending on your listening distance.

 
 

[zuluwarrior0760]

My current placement is more or less etched in stone (I've far exceeded the wife acceptance factor already)
This also limits my ability to treat the room.

I tried the mirror/null point and the speakers from my listening position were aimed 3 feet past my opposite
shoulder, so I played with tweets in and out and I've settled on out.......female are a little sharper with tweets
in, but the entire presentation is more focused with tweets out and the stage seems to grow by 15% or so....
Currently I've got the tweets aimed straight at the earlobes.......

Placing speakers out into the room caused the bass to fall apart somewhat, likely because of the giant
hole in my room.....

As to subwoofers, I'm at my max in terms of clutter on that wall and there's just not a good way to hide them.....
plus I hate subs....

Where I have the speakers now, the bass is actually more than acceptable to me.....and now the image
is focused and wide......so I'm good for now......but next stop is 20.7's or 20.7i's depending on what they're
calling them when I buy......

 

[SteveFord]

Good plan!