Now that things have somewhat died down here, time for some catch up.
DIY Master Set is limited and difficult. This is not Professional Master Set, as done by those folks certified from Sumiko and the Sumiko seminars. As such, DIY Master Set is muchly limited. A visit to a store or person with a professional MS set is highly valuable, and I cannot emphasize this enough.
I've mentioned numerous tips, etc. during the course of this thread, but they are all scattered out. Based on my experiences in the past week, I can do a quick summary of little tips.
If you have difficulty finding a bass smoothing point, just set the anchor speaker somewhere is the "decoupled-isolated" zone. Matching with the second speaker will be difficult as there is now no bass smoothing point to find. But, you can get something of a match by trying to find the point where the sound stays stable in the middle when you move around the room. Or you can just sit off to the right, maybe even in line with the right speaker and try to set the second speaker so the voice in the BoaRH song is centered. Just remember that when you move in the room and the voice moves with you, you DON'T have matched speakers. A good point to start on this is to bring the second speaker out even with the anchor speaker, as in a conventional set, listen, look at the room, and move in small increments one way for an inch or two and listen for changes. If nothing works then move speaker in opposite direction from the beginning point. IF your room is fairly symettrical, you should find something within that range. You can fine adjust a "matching point" here with some very small toe adjustments or lateral movements, 1 or 2 mm only at a time. BE patient and diligent.
Now on to some questions and things that came up recently that I may/may not have answered well.
Toe in and lateral movements: I previously did not do them in the matching speaker set, but now I do, especially toe adjustments.
Rake angle: This is the MS term for tipping up the front of the speaker. This will spread the distribution of sound out more evenly into the room and lessen any beaming effect that is stronger at the on-axis intersection point. This is a final adjustment after everything else is done. Keep it to no more than 5 degrees up, less is a little better. It really can only be done if you have adjustable spikes under the speaker or stand.
Some terms: Evenness of frequency distribution came up. This was new to me. I had considered this more of a function of the speaker off axis response curves more than anything. BUT, if you get a real good Master Set with a good stable stereo image, there certainly is an evenness of frequency distribution. It's kind of a result of the set.
Distance of listener to speaker as a determining factor: This is a primary consideration in conventional setups. However, since there are two speakers and two ears, there is never equidistant measurement here. The best that can be done is two equal pairs, and that exists at only one single point. Any slight movement from that point, and there are 4 different distances from listener to speakers. However, in general, if you just sit exactly in the middle of the two speakers the stereo image does center up pretty well, but off this axis the sound moves when you move.
With MS you match the two speakers to each other in the room and the distance of listener to the speaker becomes inconsequential. But only when they are matched, otherwise it is like everyone knows, a big factor.
Some other things: The question came up about having the speakers farther out into the room and trying to match them ala MS. I experimented with this last week, and I couldn't do it. I'll just leave it at that as otherwise I just go into the MS mumbo-jumbo.
Sidewall reflection: MS is a close to the rear wall with extreme toe in set. Simple geometry will tell you about sidewall reflection points in the room. Setting up along the long wall of the room and well away from the side wall(s) of the room tends to keep sidewall reflections to a minimum. Sure they still may be there. But the sound may arrive too late to be of much consequence.
Small movements: I've written lots on keeping it small. Last week all my final adjustments were of the 1mm kind. Little movement can make big differences, but not all movements make changes. This all requires a lot of patience. Other setup methods do not emphasize these smallish movements.
Lastly, I have found Master Set to be the best musical playback sound that I have experienced. This is what has driven me to learn, as best I can, how to do it. If you think MS is just all mumbo jumbo nonsense, well, nothing says you have to pursue it, even as an adventure. It does only require just your time and interest, and patience. Other than that it's all free, but you do have to have all three.
