Question for Kenenth Swauger:

sgtgto

Hi:

I have two speakers in my front L and R soundstage with Cs400i for center channel. They are powered by a B&K 3 channel amp. I have for L and R RT2000s, and RT800s in parallel. They sound very good with the RT2000s on the outside and the RT800s on the inside of the 2000s with a separation of about 8". The R and L are separated by about 12'. Do you think 8" is about right for the RT2000s and the RT800s?

Thanks

Gary

[Deleted User]

Hello Gary,
Thanks for the very interesting question. Probably the way I would do that would be to begin playing a well recorded piece of music, something that I was very familiar with. Maybe a jazz trio or quartet, something that has a few instruments and a good stable image. I would have my system playing in two channel stereo, with both pairs of speakers playing. I would concentrate on moving just the two RT800 speakers, listening to how the front stage image was being reproduced. I would move the RT800s slightly closer to the RT2000 and listen to hear how that effected the soundstage. By very careful listening you should begin hearing how fairly small position changes effect the side-to-side image. The goal would be to find the relative position that gives the most well defined image.
Another approach would involve some way of listening to single frequencies from the two speakers. You would need some way to generate steady, pure tones. I believe I've mentioned, in previous Forum conversations, the audio signal generators made by the Tenma Company, for example. Either a signal generator or a test CD that provides steady single test tones would be used. You could work with one channel, at a time, listening to a 400 Hz pure tone being played by the left channel RT2000 and RT800, however the RT800's positive and negative connections would be reversed. Both the RT2000 and the RT800 would be playing the same 400 Hz tone (at a moderate volume, these are pure tones!) with the RT800 opposite in polarity to the RT2000. I would then move the RT800 slightly closer to the RT2000 and see if the level of the tone changed any at all. You might have to experiment with what the specific tone should be, it might end up being slightly higher or lower in pitch than 400 Hz, but that would be a good beginning frequency. The goal would be to find the placement that would give the most reduction or null point. If you had an SPL meter you could actually see the results. then once the distance has been found, of course reverse the connections on the RT800.
I hope this is helpful information.
Regards, Ken Swauger

sgtgto

Hi:

Thanks Ken, appreciate it.

Gary