[Mass. Wine Guy]

I have a small living/listening room and new bookshelf Silverline Minuet speakers. I sit on a couch about eight feet in front of them with the speakers about6-7 feet apart. In terms of best imaging, should I just toe the speakers in diagonically toward me (sitting centered) until the speakers disappear? Or what?

Thank you.

[Big Red Machine]

Are they on stands out into the room?

An easy method is to point them straight out into the room and start incrementally angling them in toward your sweet-spot chair until magic happens.  They may end up facing directly at you or not depending on your room and the speakers performance.

[Mass. Wine Guy]

No stands yet. One is on a bookchest, the other is on a small table. Both are at about the same height.

[Stu Pitt]

As Big Red Machine mentioned, toeing in incrimentally is best.  Some speakers do better toed in to the extreme, others do best with no toe in.  The room may also have something to do with this.

My current speakers toed in all the way sound horrible.  The soundstage narrows quite a bit, and the highs overpower everything.  They sound best at about 1/4 of the way toed in.  My previous speakers sounded best a few degrees short of being toed in all the way.

You should get some stands when you get the chance.

[lonewolfny42]

You should get some stands when you get the chance...

+1....

[Mass. Wine Guy]

I absolutely want to buy stands. I'm rather, how you say, poor. Which stands have the biggest bang for the buck ratio? I saw something on one site that mentioned buying concrete bird bath stands from a garden supply store. Obviously rock solid and they won't resonate.

[lonewolfny42]

Cheap and cheerful....cinder blocks would work....





But....you can do better....here...their on sale.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=240-750

[Mass. Wine Guy]

I'd rather go with the cinder blocks unless they have a downside.

[decal]

Why don't YOU just experiment with the speaker placement and position them where they sound best to YOU? After all,YOU are the one that has to listen to YOUR system.As helpful as everyone wants to be,we don't have a clue what sounds good to YOU.It's all about YOU and I mean that in the most positive way.

[Mass. Wine Guy]

You who?

[mjosef]

Who's on first?

[Mitsuman]

You who?

You you 

[koyaan]

I'm partial to the fiddle with it till it sounds best approach. for a starting point ,though:
1. try to get the tweeters at about ear height from your listening position
2. keep them out from back and side walls, I like to givr mine 3-4 ft. space in all directions, then move them in and out till they sound best.
3. try to place them in an equalaterial triangle to your listening position.then move them around until a center image is in the center.
4. start with the speakers toed in to face your listening position, then nudge them out until you loose the center image,then nudge them back until you regain it.
5. if you get a good center image with the speakers facing directly toward the back wall, try moving them a little further apart until the image is lost, then toe them in until it's regained( or closer togeather if the image is week even when the speakers face your listening position).

This is easiest if you have a helper. What your after is the best soundstage you can get.

[Stu Pitt]

There's also the Master Set procedure.  I'll try that out one of these days.  Search here for it.

Audio Physic has a great section on their website that explains stuff and makes it pretty simple.

As for stands, I use Apollo stands with 3 columns (I think they're the A3).  They were $100 including shipping.  Last I looked, I couldn't find them.  I think it was racksandstands.com.  Apollo is still in business, and they're UK based.

Cinderblocks may work pretty well.  I think that'll depend on what the speakers like - solid, light, etc.  Buy some from the Home Depot and expirement. If they don't sound good, I'm pretty sure you can return them.

[timind]

Cinderblocks may work pretty well.  I think that'll depend on what the speakers like - solid, light, etc.  Buy some from the Home Depot and expirement. If they don't sound good, I'm pretty sure you can return them.

Unless you paint them green of course.

[timind]

Audio Advisor has a bargain with these at $50.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGLS02

[Mass. Wine Guy]

The Pangea stands look good. What do I do if I don't need the carpet-piercing spikes because of hardwood floors? Is 24 inches the most commonly used height?

Thanks.

[timind]

The spikes probably use a standard thread. If that is the case you could get a set of furniture feet from a hardware store and thread them in place of the spikes. I did this when I had my system in a room with hardwood floors.
Other options I have tried are hex bolts with pads or carriage bolts. These are super cheap at hardware stores and matching thread size should be easy. So many options.

[satfrat]

 
I see very little toe-in here in this 6Moons picture. It might be that heavy toe-in will collapse the sound stage and imaging. My Odyssey Lorelei's require minimal if any toe-in with their strong imaging helping hide the speakers while providing an expansive sound stage. On other hand, waveguide loudspeakers need to cross in front of the listener to image right.
 
I would email the manufacturer for advise on what they recommend, then I'd trust my ears on what I prefer. But I'm betting these bookshelves need minimal toe-in to image right,,, that's my guess.
 
Cheers,
Robin
 

[hifitommy]

there are some for VERY affordable money.  see link:

http://home-audio.audioadvisor.com/search?w=speaker+stands&x=0&y=0

just buy the size that puts the speaker roughly at ear level.